Waterstones’ Naivety Helps the Spread of the New Kadampa Tradition
updated: July 15, 2010
One of the most important features to spread the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) and to attract new members has been since some decades now to get the 22 books of Kelsang Gyatso “into every book shop in the world” (NKT magazine Full Moon No. 7 Spring 1993), and to give talks in bookshops to “inspire” potential new members to follow NKT’s “pure Dharma” and Kelsang Gyatso respectively and finally exclusively (up to the point where they will be completely separated from mainstream Buddhism and the true masters of Buddhism.)
NKT puts the way to hook people into the NKT by Kelsang Gyatso’s books and talks in bookstores that way:
Benefits to the person buying the book: in these talks we introduce shoppers to our Spiritual Guide—listening to teachings Geshe-la enters their heart, buying a book Geshe-la enters their home! The book will continually remind them of Kadam Dharma, and provide them with a source of refuge. Some people share stories of years elapsing between buying a book and coming to classes—and say that having the book in their home as a constant reminder was the decisive factor in making that happen. (see p. 7 in the NKT-document provided below)
To cast in that way for new—and often just ill informed—potential students appears to me as one of the most successful means of the New Kadampa Tradition to increase the number of their followers. Potential new recruits have usually (naive) faith in the good reputation of Buddhism and the Dalai Lama and might not even think about potential risks of following an unhealthy and highly controversial ‘Buddhist’ group. (The issues of the missionary drive and the growth and financing of NKT, which include the imperative of spreading Kelsang Gyatso’s books, have been explored already a bit in another article and in Kay’s research.)
In general, I think, it is correct to say that most people will abide in pseudo-security feelings that there is not any risk for them to attend those talks because they are just listening in a mainstream bookshop some explanations about Buddhism or meditation. What harm could there be? One can leave at any time the bookshop and it appears unlikely that there could be any harm in the future by participating those bookshop talks or buying the books of Kelsang Gyatso. But actually this is the way how many have been attracted into the NKT and were finally caught in the traps of powerful destructive dynamics of a very unhealthy group which circles exclusively around a single person who is totally isolated from the Buddhist community and genuine Buddhist masters.
Because the people are coming “innocently” to those bookshops and usually they have neither ideas about NKT’s controversial background, and that the NKT is seen by most as not abiding in the mainstream of Buddhism nor are most of them protected by having a good understanding of what Buddhism actually is all about, it might be helpful to shed some light on the present situation, and to pass on some information which allow to have more freedom of choice based on knowledge and proper background information using NKT’s own documents.
After campaigning for 2 years worldwide against the Dalai Lama via NKT’s front group Western Shugden Society, the NKT is launching now a huge campaign via the publisher Tharpa in USA and UK. Tharpa Publications is a property of the NKT and publishes exclusively the books of ‘Geshe’ Kelsang Gyatso and the educational material for the NKT organisation and NKT’s followers, including posters, postcards or propaganda material like Tibetan Situation. Since the books about Tibetan Buddhism by Kelsang Gyatso are usually written well, touching basic ideas of Buddhism often in an inspiring way, and the cultish structure of NKT shines through them only slightly, these books are of extreme benefit for NKT to attract new members who are open to Buddhism or who are interested to do something to improve their lives. So it comes to no surprise that after the loss of many followers—due to NKT’s internal sexual scandals and the protests against the Dalai Lama—NKT leadership decided to try hard to attract new members for the sake “to expand their empire”.
Of course the NKT leadership is telling their members that they are helping millions of millions of sentient beings by spreading “the pure Buddhadharma” (=NKT) in “these extremely impure times”. Followers of the NKT is told by the leadership they must serve the organisation because this is the only way “to accumulate merit” and to “attain realizations”. Them is also told that they would not be successful in retreats because of “lacking merits” and due “to the extremely impure times” their endeavour wouldn’t bring big results. But if they teach others the “pure Dharma” (=Kelsang Gyatso’s books or teachings) or work for the organisation as directors, teachers, education program coordinators and all the other needed tasks to run such a huge organisation, they would serve their own enlightenment the best.
What is for others “empire building” is for NKT a noble activity.
So to ‘expand the empire’ (critics) or to ‘spread the pure Kadam Dharma’ (NKT) NKT is launching via the own publisher Tharpa a huge bookshop campaign, cooperating with Waterstones and many small bookshops.
Waterstones themselves do not see any problems with this, arguing about “freedom of speech” makes them no problem to help NKTs further expansion. Tharpa will also work hard to make sure that the upcoming 23rd book of Kelsang Gyatso Modern Buddhism will become a best-seller. Internally the book is seen as “Geshe-la’s last teaching.”
A person from within NKT leaked recently a document Waterstones and other bookstore managers should try to read first before signing contracts with the NKT. Maybe they think twice after having read it about their collaboration with the NKT.
During the last official NKT festival at KMC-New York, there was a workshop on bookstore talks given by Kelsang Togden, the new US Director of Tharpa Publications. He provided a 14-page handout detailing the mechanics and strategies behind the Bookstore Talks.
The document goes into tremendous detail and even includes an introduction letter template designed to be sent to bookstore managers prior to making in-person contact. You can read this 14-page document below but be forewarned: reading it will require a strong stomach. For example:
“Make prayers for the people coming to the talk – and imagine or visualize that everyone in the audience will feel compelled to acquire the book at the end of the event.”
“Introduce yourself, the author (citing Geshe-la as your own Teacher), and the book – holding the book up for all to see. If other titles are available for sale in the bookstore, give a brief description of what they are.”
“Your motivation is to benefit them by helping get Dharma in their hands. If you really believe this, you can be upfront about your motivation: “I’m here tonight to help you understand the great benefits of taking this book home, reading it, and gradually integrating the instructions into your daily life.”
“Encourage people to acquire the book before they leave. This is the most important part of your talk as to whether people will pick up a book on their way out.”
“Point to where the books are located, preferably on their way out to make it easier for those who are timid.”
“Make yourself available and approachable. Invite people to the center or recommend other titles depending on their interests. Show that your happiness comes from cherishing them.”
However, some Waterstones managers seem to be naively enough to refute concerns by former members stating: “…the events in any case are purely a meditation exercise aimed at the general public and are not about religion or the New Kadampa Tradition.”
No, that is not true.
If you still have doubts, just read page 7 and 12-14 (Guidelines and Suggestions for Teachers on Bookstore Talks) of the document below.
The event is about the NKT gaining footing in a visible, mainstream venue in order to recruit new students.
And the stores have no idea…despite how much they research. And they can’t be blamed, either. They are taken in like many were or are blinded by their greed for profit.
Here is the document by Tharpa Publications:
- How to Organize a Successful Bookstore Talk (*.doc) – Handout Manual April 2010
The document above, which is the latest NKT information leaflet for people organising bookshop talks makes clean clear on pp. 7, 12-14 what NKT’s/Tharpa’s motivation for organising these talks is. This particular document applies specifically to the recent bookshop tours organised in UK shops.
What is good to look at is the deceptive packaging on the CDs—the New Kadampa Tradition promote the ‘Living Meditation’ CDs—which are all readings from Kelsang Gyatso’s books spoken using hypnotic techniques. One will see from this document that simple ‘meditation’ does not come without a backlog, an actual ‘author’, but these CDs do not name the author. In this context the problems going along with NKT’s presence at places of UK society’s most sensitive nerves (National Health Care, school kids education in religion and chaplaincy) should be reminded again! (see: http://www.nktinformation.com/ and this short comment) Also one should note the fact that NKT deliberately started to hide their name from advertisement for meditation classes, not mentioning any more that NKT are running them. (A hint to this new mode of behaviour by NKT was already given in Bluck’s research.)
May this information enable Waterstones, book shop managers, and Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike to look behind the NKT machine and to be more aware of the background of these “purely meditation exercises” (Waterstones) before organising NKT talks for the general public or even recommending NKT’s meditation classes to the sick. It is difficult even for the intelligent and informed to find out about these backgrounds, and this is even more difficult when products are ‘repackaged’ and hide their origins. It is difficult (but not impossible) to disconnect ‘Meditation’ from the ethos of the persons leading these meditations but on these CDs they do appear to be completely disconnected from ‘religion’, the NKT, or any particular agenda while aiming at the same time to “introduce shoppers to our Spiritual Guide – listening to teachings Geshe-la enters their heart, buying a book Geshe-la enters their home!” (Tharpa Handout, p. 12)
On the other hand ethical double standards and to tell people only half of the truth (if at all) has been ever since one of the signs of the so called “cults” or questionable companies with no ethical standards.
see
- Warning signs of destructive cults based on M. T. Singer’s research on cults
A last note to clarify another common confusion with respect to meditation
First of all there are many meditation practices, not all of them are helpful to everybody. In certain circumstances—dependent on the mind setting / situation of the practitioner and the meditation technique itself—meditation can also be harmful, e.g. teaching to a person suffering on depression “death and impermanence” or “the hell realms”. NKT teachers are even teaching high level practices, like “Tonglen”, to mentally sick people!
Research which found out that certain meditation practices are helpful refer to specific types of meditation which are seen by the NKT as less important (like breathing meditation) or they are not trained at all in these techniques (e.g. mindfulness on the body).
Many former members as well as Buddhist teachers outside of the NKT agree that NKT practices cause nervous illnesses. Usually NKT members are also under stress and have a lot of tensions and pressure and cannot relax at all. Riding on the wave of “research found out meditation to be beneficial” NKT expands their activity to attract those seeking mental or body relaxation without being properly qualified for this task and based on questionable or ambivalent motivations.
This does not exclude that people cannot have very good experiences, inspiration and feeling enthusiastic about what NKT is giving them. In fact most of the followers of NKT were attracted because they felt inspired in the beginning. But the point is that those bookshop talks and the promotion of the books are just a hook to get new people into the NKT and then they will undergo finally the powerful and destructive dynamics and subtle distortions of Buddhist teachings which will very likely harm them in a long term perspective.
Yes indeed, Waterstones, bastions of free speech who refused to withdraw some works in the name of that noble principle also have a rather disgusting underbelly. Take for instance their disgusting decision to cancel a book reading by a gay poet owing to threats from a notorious homophobic preacher. Stephen Green, of fundamentalist group Christian Voice, said the decision by Waterstones to cancel an event at a Cardiff store featruring a gay Welsh poet was a triumph for “the Lord.”"We have a duty to our customers and booksellers regarding events that we organise, and we felt it prudent in this case” http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9573.html/
So, the bastions of free speech felt compelled to protect people from hearing gay poetry but dont feel the need to act when it comes to protecting people from the potential negative consequences of cult involvement? Double standards? You got it. And the reason why? Well, as Waterstones themselves said, they have organized events with the NKT in the past and they have been very successful So, it seems that what it boils down to is £££££ and $$$$$$. How sad, that such a wonderful group, fighting for the free speech of the underdog in this confused and controlling world should sacrifice their moral principles for money.If, that is, they actually ever had any moral principles?
Why should they care about the documented mental illness and suicide attempts reported amongst ex followers of the NKT-after all theyve got bills to pay……for champagne, expensive holidays in the mediterranean for their MDs, What did the Sex Pistols call it? ‘Cheap holidays in other peoples misery’ Exactly.
If you ever doubted that this seemingly hip book chain was ever actually driven by anything other than its own concern for financial gain, take a look at http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article1945931.ece
My advice? Buddhists and supporters of the Dalai Lama worldwide unite-They have clearly had their warning-now, lets all boycott Waterstones. Id like to be the first to state publicly that, as a result of their scandalous and cynical involvement with the NKT cult business machine, I WILL NEVER SHOP AT WATERSTONES AGAIN!
J Arthur
July 14, 2010 at 10:53 pm
But there is good news!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/14/waterstones-michael-holroyd-expert-view
Expert view
Waterstone’s: the steady decline of a chain of superb bookshops
Michael Holroyd
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 14 January 2010
The best thing that happened to bookselling during my time as a writer was the brave initiative of Tim Waterstone in establishing a chain of superb bookshops throughout the country. They were well-placed, inviting, efficiently-run and a wonderful improvement on WH Smith, the newsagents which were little more than pretend bookshops.
It was a bad day for authors when Tim Waterstone decided to sell his bookshops to WH Smith and retire. Four or five years ago there was a rumour that he might be tempted to come back and buy up the rival bookselling business Ottakers. But he did not come back and high street bookselling in this country has declined so rapidly since then that it seems in danger of disappearing.
What has gone wrong? The ending of retail price maintenance was a great blow to small independent bookshops. Waterstone’s, which had bought Ottakers, was filling its windows and tables with cut-price paperbacks and three-for-the-price-of-two options, and appeared to be in a strong position. Publishers were obliged to pay, and pay heavily, for good positions for their titles in their shops.
But fundamentally Waterstone’s had no real interest in books and was not looking to the future. The future lay with internet bookselling which Waterstone’s has eventually started, but where it will find difficulty matching the super-efficiency of Amazon. Its policy of looking backwards and following what sold well last year or the year before has now hit the buffers. Celebrity books sold badly last Christmas and their sales dipped steeply. It is no surprise to hear managing director Gerry Johnson has left the sinking vessel. And it is too late now, I reckon, for his replacement, Dominic Myers, to call on Tim Waterstone
J Arthur
July 14, 2010 at 10:58 pm
I don’t think we can deliberately blame Waterstones. They were subject to the usual NKT deceptive friendliness without an explanation of the motives behind a ‘simple talk on meditation’. It is indicative of the techniques of cults – the Scientologists did a gig outside the main shopping centre of my town recently – with deceptive handouts collecting money to help drug addicts come clean – the address on the publicity was the central Scientology venue. The NKT have similar techniques – they no longer put their name on the publicity.
Hopefully Waterstones will realise. But there are hundreds of other small bookshops that have no idea. Keep your eyes peeled. The NKT may try to set up a talk in your area…
Carol
July 15, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Thank you Carol,
I think blaming others is never a good idea and also incorrect or unrealistic. All in all things are dependent arisings.
In the complex process of dependent arising phenomena the key factors on the side of Waterstones to have been stepped into this trap may have different main reasons:
- NKTs skills to deceive others,
- as well as naivety or lack of knowledge
- greed for profit
J. Arthur focuses on the latter point. For me this is ok, however, usually there are mixes of motivations and there are many factors leading to the arising of certain phenomena like this bookshop tour.
I agree with you about what you say with respect to compare NKT with Scientology, though Scientology is far more aggressive and I think also more harmful than NKT, NKT becomes more and more the “Scientology of Buddhism” by using the same strategies, e.g. front groups or to hide the attraction of money and new members by activities accepted in the societies while hiding their name from those activities etc.
Thank you for your comment!
tenpel
July 15, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Recently i spoke to my teacher about resentment I was feeling towards some people that had deliberately set out to harm me. I asked whether I should apply antidotes to transform it. His response? Why should you do violence to yourself when what they did to you was wrong?
I get the ‘everything is a dependent arising’ thing-straight from Shantideva. The point is this-the two principle components in this dependent arising were Waterstones and the NKT. Both were motivated by greed so BOTH did something wrong. So, just because its a dependent arising, that doesnt mean we should suspend all judgement and get into the Christian forgiveness thing. The reality is not that Waterstones didnt do anything wrong because its a dependent arising, The reality is that the dependent arising was made up of various components, each of which was doing wrong. All This sutrayana type analysis is fine, but to think that is the only Buddhist way of seeing things is a very Western, Christianised perception of a religion(very NKT) with numerous techniques for dealing with delusion. In the case of ex NKTers, thinking it was a dependent arising can lead to people blaming themselves for what happened to them.No, what the NKT does is wrong-even if the NKT is a dependent arising and even if their existence as victims contributed!
V4 Vendetta
July 15, 2010 at 8:57 pm
maybe you have misunderstood me a bit here. seeing the dependent arising of things – or at least to try to see it – helps (at least me) to not blame anybody, including myself. This does also not mean to me, that because things are dependent arising one should not judge things as being harmful or wrong.
I agree with you that the main factors of Waterstones’ and NKT’s collaboration is quite likely both’s greed for profit.
Personally I would never use the reasons of dependent arising to blur the facts or harm, I use it to get a better understanding of things and to allow myself to have different perspectives.
I agree with you “what the NKT does is wrong-even if the NKT is a dependent arising and even if their existence as victims contributed!” and I think also Carol agrees with that.
tenpel
July 15, 2010 at 9:25 pm
I hope this doesnt make people think I am advocating hatred here. Its just that, as they say, there is more than one way to skin a cat. TPel very rightly points to the dangers of misuse of traditional Buddhist teachings leading to an increase rather than decrease in delusion. The same could be said for the analysis of difficult situations into ‘mere dependent arisings’ or ‘not blaming’. Westerners are SO intellectual and such practices can sustain and perpetuate ego clinging, albeit the illusion of being a nice, calm person (another Western misconception of what Buddhism is IMO) There are numerous methods of dealing with delusion provided by the traditions and (again IMO) many can be used to reinforce rather than transcend ego-’healers’ using tonglen is a great one. I actually heard of someone bragging about how they could heal others by taking on their suffering. My point is not that any of the suggested methods of dealing with problems is wrong but rather that there are many types of people and methods and each person must find their own way. Tibetan Buddhism was always tailored by the teacher to the individual in the original setting. Nowadays, it seems to have become very much an ‘off the peg’ mass produced affair. As they say, one mans meat is another mans poison. The methods alluded to above are only two or three out of 84000 different methods. Lets not be like the frog in the well who thought the universe consisted of the sky and the moon. When he eventually emerged, the shock killed him.
V4 Vendetta
July 15, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Hopefully the bookstore chain has access to the recruiting manual from Tharpa. If they don’t perhaps it could be provided to them. Then, they can decide themselves whether this statement:
“the events in any case are purely a meditation exercise aimed at the general public and are not about religion or the New Kadampa Tradition.”
Is in fact true or not. If they don’t have access to all the information it would be hard to hold them completely accountable as they are not experts in Buddhist studies, but rather businesspeople.
If they have all the information, as a business it is their right to make the decision, though it would indicate a bit of insincerity on their part in terms of the statement you posted above.
K.
Khedrup
July 17, 2010 at 6:17 am
I completely agree with you Khedrup.
But its up to British citizens to do this.
tenpel
July 18, 2010 at 9:26 pm
When the NKT were holding a bookshop talk in my local area (UK) what concerned me most was the deceptive nature of their approach to publicising the event.
Great Deception No 1: in looking at their publicity material it would be virtually impossible for most people to have any idea that the Buddhist group organising the talk was the NKT and therefore have no opportunity to associate the group with the practice of Dogyal and the fact that the group openly saw the Dalai Lama as a non-Buddhist and his teachings as impure.
Great Deception No 2: for a group who openly state they have no connections to Tibetan Buddhism – and whose monks and nuns ordination is like night and day compared with those ordained according to the Buddhist Vinaya – they continue to wear the Gelug Tibetan robes which the general public perceive to be identical to that of the Dalai Lama and his ordained sangha.
Great Deception No 3: Waterstones are accountable for allowing the NKT to deceive the public. My partner visited Waterstone’s a week before the event enquiring about the bookshop talk. The bookstore manager said it was a talk on meditation and when asked who was organising it they did not know? So my partner informed them who it was and said that they should look in to this group. I rang Waterstones on the day of the talk and asked who was organising the talk (yes I was being deceptive) and the reply came back – ‘oh I don’t know’ blah blah blah – when I told her that I knew who was organising the event – the defence about freedom of speech came back and you can always ring head office blah blah blah. Waterstones had opportunity to clarify to the public who was organising this event – but they chose to plead ignorance and didn’t inform their staff.
Everything is appearance to mind and appearances can be deceptive therefore I do not need to blame anyone.
In terms of conventional truth it does exist and it does function – it works – it is deceptive. Does that mean I should forget conventional truth and ignore it because ultimately it does not exist?……… Not IMHO.
NKT Insider
July 18, 2010 at 8:57 am
The obvious solution is for supporters of the Dalai Lama to boycott Waterstones (And WH Smiths who own them)-They might sell lotS of NKT books but you can bet your bottom dollar they sell more Dalai Lama books. Since their obvious primary concern is $$$ then the loss of saleS of Dalai Lama books would certainly outweigh any profit they make off Gyatso’s NKT brainwashing manuals. I repeat BOYCOTT WATERSTONES AND WH SMITHS UNTIL THEY STOP RUNNING NKT EVENTS
Anon
July 23, 2010 at 6:56 pm