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CB Religion and Spirituality Ipswich Buddhist Centre cult behaviour, control, various abuses of nationwide triratna movement reported in uk press, risk of abuse, caution advised.
Ipswich Buddhist Centre

Ipswich Buddhist Centre review: cult behaviour, control, various abuses of nationwide triratna movement reported in uk press, risk of abuse, caution advised. 8

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My experience of the Ipswich Buddhist Center (then the FWBO) included some long spells of stable friendship, many meditation retreats, the chance to deepen my own practice and to explore the Buddhist way of life so there was a lot of positive as well as the negative (described later).

The FWBO had retreat centres all over the UK so I was able to do several intensive meditation retreats each year. So for a period of almost four years I meditated a LOT every day – as in like two or three 40 minute sessions daily, plus the six to eight hours a day of meditation on retreat along with almost daily puja (devotional practice).

These meditation retreats brought about numerous mystical experiences where I would be in a blissful state for days at a time. I also had many transcendental experiences with the Pure Awareness meditation – namely become aware of awareness being aware!

Despite the control issues that I found prevalent in the FWBO – my experiences of meditation retreats with them were always very powerful and life enhancing.

Then I went to live in the Buddhist male community run by the Ipswich Buddhist Centre. To call it a community was a bit of a stretch – a Buddhist house-share would be a better description as all of us were living separate and independent lives and there was not always much in the way of common practice.

The FWBO made a big deal about ‘processes’ back then and thus there was five months of ‘hoop-jumping’ involved just to be able to live in the community which turned out to be little more than several Buddhist guys sharing a house in a somewhat untidy manner. I recall having to clean out a very mouldy fridge on the first day of my arrival just to be able to put my freshly brought shopping away.

My time with the Ipswich Buddhist Centre was a mixed bag. In time, I came to see the FWBO as a cult-like and controlling movement as my following sharing will allude to.

In the beginning I found it a very helpful movement for developing a structured meditation practice and I did have some amazing retreat experiences and a lot of really good friends. I was popular with many within the movement save for some within the Order, which on some level were obviously challenged by my lifestyle.

At the same time I was on a fast track to development (non-returners operate at x5 or even x10 the usual karmic processing speed as they need to sort everything out in one lifetime) and wished to explore my sexuality and my spiritual path in tandem. Those processes were running so fast that many in the movement appeared not to be able to handle it.

The FWBO taught the idea that stream entry (the path to Nirvana) could be had in seven lifetimes with effort. Seven lifetimes seems a lot when a big dose of spiritual practice, self-awareness and a lifetime of karmic detoxification can do it in one – two at the outside – if you have positive karma from previous lifetimes behind you.

In any case, the Earth’s biosphere is dying and there are not seven more lives on Earth left!

Looking back I see that the themes of self-sacrifice, self-degradation, renunciation of greater wealth, sexual ethics issues and an unbalanced compassion were the main impediments to a faster track to enlightenment within the FWBO.

If you are going to wait for everyone else to become enlightened before you take it for yourself – not only does one forget the notion of free-will (some being choose to suffer through many lifetimes as part of their own learning) but one must also then necessarily become a ‘central karmic processing station’ for humanity which must process all kinds of denser karmic energies that have nothing to do with oneself.

One must therefore wait for all the wars to resolve, all the conflicts within every individual to dissolve and every single karmic seed within the entire collective to experience fruition and resolution – a rather tall order given that some souls may choose to incarnate 50 or even 100 times more before entering Nirvana!

If one is also going to give ones money away or become monetarily renunciate at the same time then one just creates poverty alongside vibratory degradation which serves no-one. In reality one has to focus solely on one’s own process AND have plenty of abundance as well.

So at the time I also took work in the Ipswich Evolution Gift Shop which was run by Windhorse Trading – one arm of the FWBO, set up in order to create profits to give away to good causes including supporting the running of the local Buddhist centres. The shops sold a range of things like candles, wind-chimes, picture frames, cushions and other similar items.

In retrospect it seemed unusual that the Buddhist centres could not sustain themselves financially – but the deeper cause was the matter of self-sacrifice and giving the Dharma (spiritual teaching) away for free or cheap to those who did not respect it.

People could come in for meditation class, put pittance in the dana (collections) bowl and then go back out into the world to carry on their usual activities.

Many a time I saw such individuals donate the smallest amount possible (or nothing!) and then head to the pub after class.

The Order (all those ordained in the FWBO) believed that helping others took precedence – even if their own position was weakened in the process.

Thus the FWBO needed a stream of volunteers and low paid workers to keep its businesses and centres operational. So Buddhists who worked in the shop received support salaries (another term for a low wage salary) which included some payments for retreats.

It seemed back then that mixing work and spiritual practice may not be such a bad idea
– although in due course I came to regret the choice to do it in this movement.

At the time I also wanted to be ordained as a Buddhist until several years later I saw that looking to any kind of external power for an affirmation of ordination is a recipe for disaster, simply because the control agendas of the movement cloud the truer awareness of Higher Reality. I have received a lot of criticism for being a ‘self-proclaimed’ Master – but if we cannot trust ourselves how can one look to the outside for any kind of validation with regard to where we are at in our spiritual process.

Of course, people can abuse that prerogative – thus the decision to call myself a Master almost ten years later was not taken lightly.

I saw a lot of hypocrisy in the movement. Those with high paying jobs who donated large sums to the centres and who confessed to not having a meditation practice were mysteriously fasttracked to Ordination. Those who questioned the Order were sometimes subjected to ridicule, emotional abuse and severe restrictions were placed on their freedom.

In my opinion and experience the FWBO was an abusive movement within which I experienced deriding treatment, chastisement, disrespect and severe emotional abuse. It was only after I had fully left the movement and detoxed from that toxic control energy several years later was I able to recognize that it was unhealthy abuse.

My only regret was that I did not see the signs sooner before investing a lot of my time into their centres and businesses. It is mentioned here in the benefit of public interest. I am also well past organizations threatening to sue me for not keeping quiet. In every instance this has happened in my life invariably I have been able to speak the truth later without reprisal – despite gag orders and the like.

Problems started for me when the Order began to attempt to interfere in my personal life including my relationship decisions. There were lots of silly rules about what one could and could not say in the centres. If it challenged some invisible ‘status-quo’ or some
unspoken rule one could not say it.

There were ways you were expected to behave – except there was no way of knowing what those expectations or rules actually were because in reality they only existed in the minds of the Order members who made them up as they went along to maintain their position of illusory superiority! (cult dynamic)

I say illusory for anyone that needs to control other beings in order to stay in a position of power does not have access to true spiritual power. I was once chastised by the entire Ipswich Order for saying something inappropriate at a party – although none of them to this day would ever admit to what it was. Things you did, shared or mentioned would be noted by the Order (in most instances mentally), only to be used against one later when one wanted a new work contract in the shop.

Thus the decision making process that was used in order to select people was based
on peoples personal preferences, tainted by their unresolved control issues as well as being highly illegal.

Each morning before we started work in the shop there would be a ‘tune in’ where we would share our processes and say what was going on for us. There was a core team and a team of part timers. What the part timers shared could be used later against them if they wanted to secure additional work. There were a seriousamount of silly rules in place – so many it was surprising the shop managed to operate for so long.

It finally closed in 2015.

Anyway, in those days I was still exploring my relationship life along with with my sexuality – like we all do at some point in this reality. It is part of being human. So I was still signed up for ‘internet dating’ and I would go and meet women in different towns – much to the disdain of the local Order.

Beware of the Ipswich Buddhist Centre if you like internet dating!
Of course the Order had their own relationships and some of them running classes were also dating students on the side, something I would never advocate as a Spiritual Master.

Others in the Order had admitted to having gay sex with the founder of the movement Sangharak[censored]a. Just Google the FWBO Files.

I will not name those who admitted to such things but suffice to say there were many who shared such things with me – enough to show me that those who were ordained in the beginning were ordained out of favoritism because they consented to casual gay sex with Sangharak[censored]a.

Thus I saw the movement had no serious spiritual credibility as it was tainted by serious breaches of the sexual conduct precept. I am not gay myself and have no issue with homosexuality in itself – but sexuality and spirituality rarely mix well and can give rise to a host of serious ethics violations and abuses.

One of my own relationships became serious so I gave 11 weeks’ notice to leave the shop team. Those 11 weeks were hard work as my girlfriend at the time was sick and lived 200k away. I only had to give 4 weeks’ notice but I felt I owed the shop team a favour so I stayed longer. Such a decision later proved to be to my detriment.

When I left the shop to start with everything was fine and no complaints were ever made.

….

I ended up going back to Ipswich for a year or so – which in retrospect was not such a great plan in light of what unfolded later. At the same time the Order did specifically invite me back to Ipswich and the Ipswich Buddhist Centre and thus invited me into their movement to be a mirror for any lessons that I later embodied for them.

So in 2007 when I wanted to work in the Evolution shop again the main Order member involved in its running – Saddharaja – became really challenged despite the Order inviting me back to the area to work and live. He sanctioned an illegal interview process in which I had to agree to not do internet dating and I was asked about my sexual practices. The shop team and himself claimed that previously I did not do much work, did not fulfil my
responsibilities and (to quote them) needed to be put in a very small box.

If I did not comply the box would get smaller and smaller!

I needed the work at the time so I was in a bit of a tight situation but very quickly things started to go downhill with this kind of control in place. If I was friendly with a female customer there was a follow-up interrogation to see whether I was trying to chat her up and it was forbidden to have a girlfriend visit the store in working hours (although others had the same privilege and used it often!).

Thus working with the movement the second time around was like being in an emotional straightjacket. Relationships with females outside of the movement became very alluring as a result and I went on to have secret dates on my days off that the shop never found out about. There was also a big deal about those in the movement should be looking to meet their need for emotional intimacy within the Order.

The only trouble with that approach was that emotional intimacy and friendship was dangled in front of someone in a ‘carrot and stick’ manner – thus if one complied with the
expectations and demands of the Order one got friendship, if one did not – one got chastised, ridiculed or badly treated in some other way. Thus the notion of spiritual friendship within the FWBO was very conditional – at least in my experience.

Once I saw through that charade, finding emotional intimacy in friendship outside of the movement became far more appealing and thus the earlier resistance around going alone to Glastonbury started to dissolve. Hence there is a strong lesson here for readers – if one feels one needs something in the external around oneself (for example a community of friendship) – be aware that very same external entity/group/individual that one may end up giving your trust to may well become a major impediment to ones further progress.

On the path of emotional healing one can enter into a vulnerable phase where one is open to adverse forms of external manipulation or control. It will be very difficult to avoid that until one has enough self-awareness. One also invariably needs the lessons that external control and manipulation bring in order to become more emotionally balanced, healed, integrated and autonomous in one’s life.

Things like free-will of the individual, the freedom to pursue relationships and different career paths were in my opinion not respected in the FWBO and the Ipswich Buddhist Centre. There was a strong undercurrent consisting of the push to become ‘as FWBO as possible’ – by this I mean that it was expected and was also seen as desirable to become fully integrated into the FWBO and their philosophies. Anything ‘non-FWBO’ was perceived as a threat to the movement and thus there were a lot of strange notions floating around – one had to be politically correct in what one said, one had to seek
permission to do things in one’s life and once one was in the FWBO it was an unspoken thing that it would be a one way trip into lifelong subservience.

In the end I began to see the light and saw the movement for what it was – a thousand or so Buddhists that had followed a leader embroiled in sexual controversy and scandal. It seemed to me also that the movement was a magnet for emotionally wounded men (me alike at the time) and many of those individuals compensated for their emotional deficiencies by controlling or abusing others whilst hiding behind the structure of the FWBO, which in reality means nothing in the higher scheme of things – it is just a self-created label.

Toward the end of my time in the movement I began to feel rebellious and defiant toward these silly rules in the FWBO – silly in that they did not always apply to others, had no sound basis for existing, seemed to be invented on the spot and served to do nothing other than to impede the natural evolution of an individual.

Above all – some within the movement then went on to lie about making the rules up at all! The following lyrics from an Enigma song say it all:-

Don’t submit to stupid rules. Be yourself and not a fool
Don’t accept average habits.
Open your heart and push the limits

So at the end of 2007 I decided to resign from the Evolution shop. The team was falling apart, others did not want to work there either and a major recruitment struggle became manifest. Saddharaja obviously knew that he was on the wrong side of employment law, had violated my own rights as an individual and in the final days offered me a job in any Evolution shop nationwide.

So I considered a job offer to return to Ipswich volution after a break to think about it.

Two weeks later during the retreat I was visited by an angelic presence in the middle of the night, which I later named the Angel of Whitestar. For in the presence of this loving light my heart was able to open on a very deep level and the fear of death finally collapsed. In that collapse, there was an explosion of love and the expansion of consciousness which lasted for the rest of the retreat.

The Angel of Whitestar showed me a future for my life that included care work and ultimately humanitarian work. In that moment I knew it was over for me and the Evolution store. I also felt deeply in my being that I had to take them to Tribunal for relationship and sexual discrimination. In the same moment I knew that I was no longer interested in Ordination with the FWBO.

Within days of returning to the UK, I withdrew my ordination request and later filed tribunal proceedings against Windhorse Evolution. Here is where things started to get interesting because once I decided I wanted to leave the movement things changed considerably. Some within the Order began to insinuate that I had a lot wrong with my life. Others tried to ridicule my spiritual journey and the choice to move forward. One individual even tried to lecture me in the importance of making life-time commitments.

Of course, the spiritual path IS a lifetime commitment – but commitment to one movement is certainly not required. I have learned in my life that making onerous lifetime commitments is pointless because one can never see so far ahead. On the fast track to enlightenment and ascension things change so fast and so rapidly one can only surrender to the process rather than to force a lifetime commitment to something that cannot possibly serve one’s spiritual needs for so long. I also did not want to live in Ipswich for the rest of my life just to please a movement so I could get ordained and then remain in a stifling and constrictive movement for life.

So there is a balance between commitment and responsibility to strike in one’s life if one is to evolve further. In the end, one is one’s own guide.

The FWBO was big on talking about your processes with others and consulting the Order before making decisions but I always did my own thing – to their disdain. The rebalancing between the movement and I became extreme to the point where I ordered a specially made T-shirt which read something like “I am not past internet dating” and I wore it to the Buddhist centre on many occasions. Yet it was still harmonious enough on the surface for me to stay in the movement for many months whilst I prepared to leave.

Glastonbury was a big heart opener for me. I spent many months just there being myself and exploring all of those pent up emotions. There were many days of ecstatic merging with the Universe. I felt surrounded by invisible angels and totally permeated with love.

Work was challenging as I could not get satisfactory references from Evolution despite them having previously offered me a job anywhere country-wide.. For many months I worked part time in minimum wage jobs maxing out my credit cards just to stay afloat. I could not even get a job in a card shop. So I lost a lot of money and in retrospect this is what Tribunal cases are for – to compensate those who suffer through illegal and unjust employment practices.

The Tribunal process had started and it was not long before I received intimidatory legal letters suggesting that I drop the case, otherwise I may have to pay the legal costs incurred by Windhorse Evolution. Back then, I did not have much self-respect or confidence and thus it was not so difficult for them to bully me into dropping the case even though they would have undoubtedly lost. .

I also could not afford proper legal representation back then and the Evolution shop team had destroyed a lot of the evidence including vital emails and internal memos. In my opinion, it was done with intent in order to cover up the truth and most (but not all) of the Ipswich Buddhist Centre rallied to their defense in order to try and suppress the scandal.

So Windhorse lawyers suggested I sign a ‘gag-order’ which prevented me from ever talking about what happened. So readers may wonder why I am writing about it many years later, as many in the movement have been very upset and/or challenged about my version of events in recent times. In my opinion, the ‘gag-order’ was presented under conditions of duress (sign this or pay all of our costs – which I later found out very rarely happens anyway) and there was no opportunity for me to seek fair legal counsel.

gag-order

I have also witnessed enough companies in my life pull the same kind of nonsense – ie doing something unethical or unjust to me and then threatening to sue me in return if I ever talked about it. In the end, suppressing or intimidating someone into silence rarely turns out well for the bullies – as sooner or later that same person will speak up adamantly when they recapitulate the lost energy from the situation.

On one level they would have had no idea that I would become a spiritual teacher myself, yet on another level the FBWO subconsciously needed a mirror in order to face the demons of the past (cult behaviour and sexual ethics scandals), things that were still present in the movement when I was there.

It was only at the beginning of 2015 that I felt the recapitulation had not been completed – amplified by the fact that this movement had never apologized for their conduct. I have had to do a lot of forgiveness – self-forgiveness for allowing this movement to abuse my basic rights as an individual. After a lot of reflection I felt mentioning the FWBO and The Ipswich Buddhist Centre was warranted.

It also serves as a statement that interfering with people’s basic rights to explore relationships and bullying people into silence is not OK regardless of what one legal structures one uses or hides behind to maintain that agenda.

Absorbing that kind of abuse is damaging and it can have effects many years later if one does not stand up to it. Fortunately there is a very deep and strong healing that can be had when one is able to forgive oneself for playing a part in that story of energetic degradation.

One is then free and invariably can speak up without ill effect – gag-orders or otherwise – providing one’s intentions are pure and one is speaking up for the greater good. There is always scope for forgiveness toward the abuser – but that is not actually required, contrary to popular belief. Forgiving oneself is all that is necessary. Forgiveness is removing oneself from the story. The outer abuse then either transforms or goes elsewhere to do its thing.

The other can be forgiven if they wish – but invariably they will need to acknowledge the behavior and apologize for it first.

It would certainly be a twisted Universe if ultimately I get sued and experience further suffering for exposing a cultish movement by telling the truth now. Somehow, I doubt the FWBO (now the Triratna Buddhist Community) would want that kind of adverse publicity. In my opinion, which is also the opinion of others – the Ipswich Buddhist Centre is not a true Buddhist movement but a pseudo-Buddhist movement that all other Buddhists tend to shy away from.

It can offer friendship and meditation classes, but for those serious about the path the themes around self-sacrifice and control can prove a serious impediment to real freedom.

I can share that when one seeks to suppress or control the emotional evolution of an individual – there will always be a repercussion when that same individual finally finds that expansion.

If one picks on someone called ‘Free Spirit’ to do that too, there is obviously going to be some kind of consequence later. So on one level – I feel the Order really asked for it – yet I also appreciate that the gravity of the lesson was probably more than they had anticipated at the time.

I also experienced my own upset and sense of injustice at the time and worked to own my part in the story, yet the FWBO continued to ignore the lessons and my concerns – even years later when I sought a formal apology, and then went on to help a criminally fraudulent company put me in jail, which was unsuccessful, because he himself had a dishonest deposition and because Spiritual Masters are immune from the karma of dishonesty.

In the end, I believe that the FWBO and the Ipswich Buddhist Centre needed a strong mirror and thus the Universe conspired a set of scenarios to bring the movement and I together for a time, so that these lessons could be presented for resolution.

As of 2016. their apology is still outstanding.

In 2017, an article appeared in the UK press about this Buddhist sect in which it reports that the movement had to report allegations of abuse to social services.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/19/buddhist-sexual-abuse-triratna-dennis-lingwood

8 comments
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user2460433
, US
Apr 19, 2023 10:20 am EDT

The Ipswich Buddhist Centre kept maliciously interfering in an ex-mitras private affairs as revenge for a historical Tribunal case regarding Windhorse Trading and several OM’s, which alleged sexual discrimination. That mitra later took up brahmachariya and they tried to assist others to try and coerce him to have sex, to then get evidence to prosecute for rape.

Word has it they were funding malicious civil rape proceedings which failed and the solicitors were condemned by the ICO. They were then violating his privacy, lying about him in private communications, violating the privacy of a police family in England and then assisting others to stalk him in a witness intimidation dispute. The authorities had to get involved and the centre was denied injunctions.

Anyone that speaks out against Bhante’s history, the FWBO files, sexual coercion issues or calls out any OM for malicious behaviour, is then made a target for malicious denigration.

Then for years they will purposefully and maliciously make trouble for them, then deny it, lie, and play the victim.

Testify about Triratna sex abuse to the authorities, or defend yourself against any kind of cultish behaviour, then the level of maliciousness ramps up.

Munisha, Saddharaja, Buddhasiha, Jnanamitra and also another trustee at Ipswich for some years waged a campaign of maliciously interfering in an ex-mitra’s legal business and then violating a police family privacy in England. It involved fabricating untruths in legal proceedings, breaking a non disclosure agreement in 2015 on the closure of Windhorse Trading, making false statements in legal proceedings to try and procure a malicious conviction, aiding and abetting witness tampering in another dispute, and then trying to coerce an ex-mitra to finish brahmachariya so another party could then say it was rape.

The evidence showed when warned not to get involved, they chose to, and then tried to get an ex-mitra arrested on various fudged up criminal charges, and tried to assist another to prosecute for civil rape, on malicious motive, and failed. The solicitors failed to get an injunction for Ipswich Buddhist Centre and the police had to intervene to stop them violating the privacy of a police family in England.

An ex-mitra obtained a Google Privacy Order against Ipswich Buddhist Centre blocking them from identifying him and his family on the internet. The defence raised in a police investigation was the centre was trying to deliberately interfere in an ex-mitra’s brahmachariya religious freedom rights, to assist another third party to prosecute for rape, in revenge for a very old workplace dispute that involved sexual discrimination at Windhorse Trading on the part of an OM named Saddharaja.

It is a long story but the truth will be made known in due course.

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Padmaloka Ordination Team
Surlingham, GB
Oct 24, 2020 7:29 am EDT

We on the Padmaloka Ordination team have decided to reevaluate the process that involves mitras asking for ordination in the Triratna Buddhist Community. We have decided to remove the restrictive rules on mitras in the ordination process being asked to abstain from romantic and sexual relationships and we apologize for the breaches in personal freedoms that were committed by the Order.

We accept that the rules were selective, ill-founded, unjust, based on prejudicial bias and they had nothing to do with the actual ordination process. In light of the allegations made we deem the behaviour controlling and cult-like and we can assure others this behaviour will not be allowed to happen again.

We have sent out an appeal for all Order members to be honest in their dealings with others and to report any transgressions directly to us for immediate action. Lies were told about mitras in bad faith and we are sorry.

We will expel any Order member involved in interfering in the personal relationships of mitras and we condemn those involved in the behaviour. We accept that in 2008 a mitra withdrew his request for ordination in light of the prohibition on internet dating and we have spoken to Saddhajara about his involvement who has expressed deep remorse for his mistakes. He will be resigning from his work as a Public Preceptor.

We will be sending an investigative committee to Ipswich to speak to the Ipswich chapter about the serious nature of the complaints. We can confirm Amoghavajra has stepped down as Chairman of the Ipswich Buddhist Centre as a result of the scandal and Buddhasiha no longer runs meditation classes in Ipswich.

Padmaloka Ordination Team
Lesingham House, Surlingham, Norwich, United Kingdom

Spiritual Master Free Spirit
Spiritual Master Free Spirit
, GB
Jun 20, 2023 6:03 am EDT
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As a legal comment, this is also a phoney apology. I never received such an apology from Padmaloka.

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Truth Out 2017
, US
Oct 23, 2020 9:30 am EDT

The Ipswich Buddhist Centre was served with a cease and desist notice in October 2020 and they were told to stop the posting of defamatory lies against whistleblowers. Several members of the centre along with several others were caught out telling defamatory lies and then telling poor me victim stories. They had to take back defamatory claims that a whistleblower was a mentally sick nutta. They were also ordered to pay damages and they had to reverse back many donations made to them in good faith after they were involved in maliciously discrediting donors to their charity as mentally sick nutters. They were also served with a Trademark Infringement Warning Letter. They also had to apologize for the behaviour.

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Fettered Spirit defamation withdrawal
Ipswich, England, East Anglia, GB
Oct 22, 2020 6:02 am EDT

I wish to delete the comment I posted on July 11 2017 with the screen name FetteredSpirit where I posted the complainer was Clearly a nutta but I have lost my sign in information to delete the comment. I did it without checking the facts properly and researching the background about what happened. It was a knee jerk reaction on hearsay and making false judgements about people. I regret what I posted and I accept it is defamatory. If there is any way to take down the comment then I would. In the meantime I unconditionally take back what I said.

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The Ipswich Buddhist Centre
Ipswich, England, East Anglia, GB
Oct 21, 2020 6:14 am EDT

The Ipswich Buddhist Centre is deeply sorry for what happened and the hurt caused. We have formally apologized to the person involved and reached out to reconcile the differences.

We do not condone the behaviours complained and it no longer happens at Ipswich. We respect sexual freedom of choice and we allow all individuals to find their own way in their relationships.

We accept in the past we got it wrong, interfered with people's personal lives and we accept full responsibility for our shortcomings. We cannot undo what happened but we will learn from it so that it does not happen in the future.

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FetteredSpirit
, GB
Jul 11, 2017 1:52 pm EDT

Clearly a nutta

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Ghost8013
,
Jun 01, 2017 7:04 am EDT

Here is the letter I wrote to the Ipswich Buddhist Centre, shared for public interest reasons:-

Dear All,

As you can now see, taking 10 years to formally apologize to someone for abuse is disadvantageous to the party involved in the abuse, worse so when the same parties worsen their situation by being dishonest in an unsuccessful attempt to help a criminally fraudulent company cause me losses and my death (the same company that some of your Order members bad mouthed me to has now been implicated in inciting death threats, a very serious matter indeed).

It is most embarrassing for you all no doubt that the UK Courts refused to entertain the case citing abuse of process issues and problems with witness testimony (much of it was proven to be false and made in bad faith, just like yours). It is also no doubt very embarassing that there is proven evidence that you lend complicit support to companies involved in criminal fraud and other forms of abuse, and that you condone the behaviour, and express sympathy when their abuses fail. This embarrassment is undoubtedly compounded by the BBC Inside Out program and Bhante’s confession.

As I explained to you in 2015, helping those who would conspire to harm me would be very karmically disadvantageous and detrimental indeed, and here are the end results:-

https://ipswich-buddhist-centre.pissedconsumer.com/bad-integrity-cult-behaviour-controlling-behaviour-bad-mouthing-201705301053733.html

The Ipswich Buddhist Centre — Cult behaviour, bad-mouthing, dishonesty, anti-relationship, not recommended for those who pursue romantic relationships

Ipswich Buddhist Centre — cult behaviour, sexual discrimination scandal, anti-relationship, not recommended for those who pursue romantic relationships

Ipswich Buddhist Centre — buddhist cult, bad mouthing people behind their back, bad integrity, anti-relationship, caution advised

Buddhasiha Ipswich Evolution Store — telling lies about people behind their back, refusal to apologize

The above postings (with 25+ more in the pipeline (including some extensive commentary on Buddhasiha’s and Saddharaja’s unfitness to lead retreats and calling for their resignations from the Order) have been made to ensure that you have to live with the karma of your abuse and disrespect toward myself for you have now learned that the karmic buck of the original abuse rests with yourselves (making you fully responsible for your own detriment I might add)

You will find none of the postings can be removed (bar one with a notary letter, but you did not want to write a notary letter, so why should I and plus I could never be coerced by a lawyer to lie in a notary letter, the last company that tried lost GBP 25, 000 in legal fees and were stuck with the true PC review).

Thus it is clearly a karmic lesson for you all in that ignoring a problem does not make it go away, nor does insulting those who reflect back to you the dysfunctions in your movement, as expanded upon here:-

https://ipswichbuddhistcentre.wordpress.com/the-truth-about-the-ipswich-buddhist-centre/

You could ignore them, but then people will see that you do not apologize and draw their own conclusions.

It would appear that the karma of bad mouthing me is severe, especially when it involves direct dishonesty with no interest in correcting yourselves, as is the karma of trying to interfere with my relationships, and then ‘punishing me’ in 2008 by bad mouthing and causing me losses, because I left your Sangha to pursue a romantic relationship and because I would not stay in Ipswich.

There is also proof your movement does this often and other bloggers have the same opinion:-

https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/2017/02/19/whitewash-dishonesty-culture-of-abuse-in-the-triratna-buddhist-order-tbo/

(see paragraphs 3-5 and attached)

There are also extracts from a book on Buddhist ethics which points out why downfall is the only end outcome of abusing a Spiritual Master, and also serves as a strong moral and ethical argument as to why yourselves are responsible for your detriment.

Now you will find you cannot ignore the matter as in around 6 weeks from now, the IBC will find Page 1 of Google rammed full of the indelible complaints and in the midst of a scandal and will remain like that for some years.

As to why the IBC are at the centre of the scandal, it is clearly because Buddhasiha was the one behind the heterosexual abuse, and the rest of the IBC rallied around to help and to support the abuse.

The IBC may consider suing but it and the wider movement probably would not want the messy PR consequences (deliberate dishonesty in a lawsuit is fraud and can result in prison sentences) and we also now know that the Court is on my side and not on the side of those who abuse people, hence I stand by my earlier opinion that you are now in zugzwang (namely that you have lost the dispute) and you may be well advised to take the loss in good sport and to take on board the lessons.

The core problem is that your leader is morally and ethically compromised beyond repair and the sooner you deal with that, the better.

Bhante’s karma, unfortunately, . will bring about the end of your movement. I sense after his death, your movement will become weak and divided. The bigger problem you have is the sheer number of people that think what he did was okay, and by thinking that, their behaviours become dysfunctional, and that’s where the abuse starts. You also have a problem that the bulk of the senior order also slept with Bhante and have been ethically compromised also.

You also have just 24 hours remaining to send me your apology PDF letters.

I would be within my rights to state online that you have declined to apologize should I not have received them by the end of tomorrow.

I have also CCd the East Anglian Daily Times and the Guardian in the public interest so they can see if you want to apologize or not.

Kind Regards

Free Spirit