Patricia Okoumou, with Rise and Resist organizer Jay W. Walker, talks in her first television interview about due process, the rights of immigrants, and climbing the Statue of Liberty to protest Donald Trump’s family separation policy. Advertisements

[Editor: The discussion that has taken place in the Comments section on Noah Levine and ATS/Refuge Recovery needs some background for clarification. The complicated history and relationship between ATS and Refuge Recovery is summarized here, in the 2017 Budget Report: https://refugerecovery.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/RRAnnualBudget2017.pdf [Editor: What concerns me most is the whole issue of “teachers” and especially “paid teachers”… Read More Teachers and Refuge Recovery

Leaked notes reveal Buddhist leader coerced female students into sex: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h9A4S-k2602Aaz1Etmpl3R6Sjcq_wP3pCkQt-sxy85c/edit Stories of drunken parties and sexual misconduct are emerging from his inner circle. Published in Think Progress, Jul 6, 2018, 8:00 am A senior official in the Buddhist group Shambhala International admitted Monday that its head, prominent Buddhist teacher and author Sakyong Mipham, had… Read More Kalapa Council Admits Facts of Sakyong’s Sexual Assault

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo & Lama Tsultrim Allione discusses the allegations of sexual abuse by Shambhala head Sakyong Mipham. Recorded at Tara Mandala, July 1, 2018. Maybe Shambhala should demand that Mipham Mukpo step down as spiritual leader and install Pema Chodron as spiritual leader of the International sangha?

A Five-Part Series on Sexual Exploitation in Buddhist Communities Part 4: What a Shame!: The Social Psychology of Convert Buddhist Communities Part 1: BPF Rising Up to End Sexual Abuse in Buddhist Communities Part 2: Studies of Sexual Exploitation in Buddhist Communities Part 3: Why Convert Buddhist Churches Act Like Incestuous Families Research on guilt… Read More What a Shame! The Social Psychology of Convert Buddhist Communities

This report by Buddhist Project Sunshine includes the stories of three women who came forward to share the truth of their experience in Shambhala as victims of sexual assault by Sakyong Mipham. In addition to their own experiences of sexual assault, they were also witnesses to the Sakyong’s pattern of sexual assault of many other women… Read More Sexual Abuse in Shambhala 2018

Poet Dionne Brand gave the commencement speech at the University of Toronto for the graduating class of 2018. Dionne Brand is a Black Canadian poet who was born in Trinidad & Tobago. Brand attended the University of Toronto and earned a BA in English and Philosophy, and an MA from the Ontario Institute for Studies… Read More Dionne Brand: A Shimmering Alertness to the World