Sogyal Rinpoche in disgrace. Part 2: Hans Knibbe

www.bodhitv.nl
(Dutch below)
Hans Knibbe is clinical psychologist, writer and spiritual teacher at the 'School voor Zijnsoriëntatie’ in Utrecht, The Netherlands. In the early eighties he studied with Sogyal Rinpoche for four years. He left because he found Sogyal psychologically immature. He also struggled with the way Sogyal treated his students. Hans Knibbe: ’I think a teacher should be skillful in expressing his unconditioned nature to you. He should address you in a way that isn't harmful to you and evaluate whether it's beneficial for the other’.
In juli 2017 publiceerden acht voormalig studenten van de Tibetaans boeddhistische leraar Sogyal Rinpoche een kritische brief over zijn gedrag. De leraar werd beschuldigd van seksueel misbruik, fysieke mishandeling en een extravagante levensstijl. Wat doet dit nieuws met zijn leerlingen en andere betrokkenen? Menno Bijleveld interviewt een aantal van hen met elk een verschillend perspectief.
Radio- en filmmaker Menno Bijleveld was 22 jaar student van Sogyal Rinpoche. Na het lezen van de eerste brief is hij opgestapt bij Rigpa. Met deze serie wil Menno ervaringen en visies van (voormalige) studenten en andere betrokkenen van Sogyal Rinpoche aan bod laten komen. Bovendien hoopt hij dat gaandeweg slachtoffers van zijn gedrag zich melden, zodat hij ook hen kan interviewen.
Deel 2: Hans Knibbe
Hans Knibbe is klinisch psycholoog, schrijver en spiritueel leraar bij de School voor Zijnsoriëntatie. Hij was vier jaar in de leer bij Sogyal Rinpoche, maar ging weg omdat hij hem in psychologisch opzicht onontwikkeld vond. Ook had hij moeite met de manier waarop Sogyal met vrouwen en studenten omging. Hans Knibbe is zelf ook leraar en zijn werkwijze is gebaseerd op dzogchen-meditatie en guru yoga, vormen van beoefening die hij leerde van Sogyal. Hoe blikt Knibbe terug op de tijd bij Sogyal Rinpoche? En welke rol spelen de methoden die hij van Sogyal leerde nu nog binnen zijn eigen onderricht?
Dit interview is het tweede deel in een serie van 3 interviews.
De redactie van Bodhitv staat open voor feedback en vragen. Dat kan via een reactie hier, of privébericht op onze Facebookpagina, of per mail: [e-mail]
Achtergrond: Sogyal Rinpoche in opspraak
Sogyal Rinpoche was van 1979 tot augustus 2017 spiritueel directeur van Rigpa, een boeddhistische organisatie met inmiddels 130 meditatiecentra wereldwijd. Daarnaast verwierf de leraar internationaal bekendheid en aanzien als auteur van de bestseller “Het Tibetaans boek van leven en sterven.”
De schrijvers van de brief zijn zich in hoge mate bewust van Sogyals positieve publieke imago. Aan het begin van de brief benadrukken ze dan ook hoezeer zijn publieke voorkomen contrasteert met zijn gedrag achter de schermen:
“This letter is our request to you to stop your unethical and immoral behavior. Your public face is one of wisdom, kindness, humor, warmth and compassion, but your private behavior, the way you conduct yourself behind the scenes, is deeply disturbing and unsettling. A number of us have raised with you privately, our concerns about your behavior in recent years, but you have not changed.”
Het gedrag waar de acht studenten hun leraar op aanspreken, wordt in de brief zeer expliciet beschreven. Van het slaan van studenten met rugkrabbers, via verzoeken tot strippen en orale seks, tot het urenlang televisie kijken onder het genot van dure maaltijden. Hoewel Rigpa en Sogyal Rinpoche nauwelijks serieus reageerden op de aantijgingen, stapt Sogyal in augustus 2017 op als spiritueel directeur van Rigpa.
www.bodhitv.nl

[@moonmissy]

We should all assess the spiritual teacher with the same rules we assess the normal man. The Buddha said this.. watch his behaviours, words and see if they’re congruent! People want someone or something to lean on.. lean on the Buddha, dharma and community.. never on any single individual

[@nancyhooper7715]

Thank you for this. I was a student of his as well. Thankfully, I now realize, I moved overseas. I did wonder about behaviors that seemed “off” for a Rinpoche. I’m glad it didn’t go any further in his direct presence. Bless all who have been hurt.

[@papasmurf159]

Impermanence was his final teaching, deliberately or not.

[@Ss-zl1ru]

Guru yoga is not about the flesh bag of the teacher; you are not being devoted to the human teacher but to the teaching/the wisdom/the transmission. the human teacher is not perfect; it's a human being ffs. If you still think guru yoga is about thinking the teacher is God or perfect you are seriously delusional. People looking for a mamma of papa they never had in the teacher and projecting their own need for the teacher to be a source of never ending love and compassion need to do some soul searching and grow tf up. If you still don't understand dependent origination (i.a. there is no fixed " teacher" you and the teacher come into being at the same time influencing one and other) and how it shapes your relationship to everything you have got some growing to do...

[@avalon6467]

How condescending of you. No one wnts a mama or papa, but they do expect a teacher and so called high lama to act with ethics and compassion.

[@28105wsking]

For those of us who come from families of divorce, there is a really deep psychological desire to be Daddy's or Mommy's good little girl or boy. This need gets in the way of developing a mature relationship with the lama, since its all roses and falling in love at the beginning. That gets in the way eventually. Sitting Zen is really tough and takes great personal discipline. Thru that discipline, you come to understand what the Dharma is really about and the emotional baggage falls away. But meanwhile, it takes time to see it for what it is: reasonable and understandable, but not appropriate after a while.

[@vinay7397]

That’s was very fascinating, the Dutchman is clearly very intellectual and he saw that Soygul is psychologically immature, I think that is a danger with eastern teachers who often don’t have worldly experiences except their monastic life, that’s how Soygal descended into depravity, he was seduced by the dark side of ‘the force”.

[@frontier9]

I appreciate this the more I view it - yes, immature patterns and habits need to be revealed to prevent us from falling into traps.

[@28105wsking]

I am extremely grateful for this video, for the intelligent and knowledgable questions and the wonderful answers. I have been so confused personally by how to mature and proceed in my practice. Professor Knibbe has answered all my questions very profoundly. The more I review this, the deeper layers of clarification I find. Because I don't have any background in psychology, I found Professor Knibbe's answers echoed all my own feelings and gave me the vocabulary I needed to express them. That gives me clarification and also helps me deal with the clinging attachment I still feel, regardless of my confusion and disagreement. I can better accept my confusion because I have clarification. Thank you so much for ending years of confusion. Recently, I heard HHK say that in this degenerate age, devotion to Padmasambhava and the practice of Guru Yoga is very important. Of course, the lamas have always said this, but now I see why! So it is really wonderful to hear Professor Knibbe say the same thing has been his own experience and has helped him in his own practice and maturing journey. Many, many thanks! It has almost given me back my spiritual heart, which I thot was dead. Why do we give men such power over us? I really have to be careful how I respond to men and religion. My underlying assumptions were not realistic. Just to add, I am not in anyway connected to Sogyal or Rigpa, but personal disappointment is something we all deal with in relationships, even in the Geluk tradition!! Cultural assumptions are such a problem.

[@wisdominspiredlife]

This does not define his life of inspiring and educating others. While people were hurt, us mere mortals cannot fully understand the karmic elements that played out here as part of God's plan.

[@s.r.howell1297]

That helped. I read his book and was personally inspired to find a teacher. I still feel hurt and I wasn't even a direct student. Can't imagine how they must have felt.

[@jeromevalin7927]

As Padmasambhava was human, how can we be sure that he was absolutely free from the behavior and habits that were those of Sogyal who is supposed to be his reincarnation ?

[@AmritaMandala]

Really really good.

[@28105wsking]

Thankyou. This was a big relief to me and validated my own feelings.

[@nawangjinpa9471]

Why an English title to an interview in Dutch?

[@Bodhitv]

Because we added English subtitles to the video, to make the video accessible for non-dutch speaking persons. An English title makes it more likely for those people to find this video.

[@SanneBurger]

Mooi, helder interview. Dankjewel.

[@stevenkok1926]

BODHI HEART IS ONE'S HEART COMPASSION.

[@stevenkok1926]

THE DISINTERESTED PURSUIT OF TRUTH.

[@stevenkok1926]

BODHI IS CONSCIENCE.

[@hedfuka8608]

Sogyal Rinpoche was an authentic teacher,he helped probably thousands upon thousands of people through his unique understanding of the western mind,was he perfect..? ...of course not,he was human after all. Compared to the abuse handed out by the Catholic church...I wouldn't be so quick to judge ,and wish his students had confronted him many years ago. .

[@JJ-uo9tj]

It's so sad to see how the Western world glorified the lamaism for years, and now the people suffer from the consequences😮 Please stop using "Budhism" to describe Tibetan Lamanism! China warned the world more than 70 years ago about human abuse and killing in this Tibet Lamarism, but was ignored by the Western world, until recent years!