REGARDING SANGHA JEWELS AKA DUKE OKKELBERG/ABBY CITRON OF NKT.

[icy]

This is not trash talking. We ought to think further what harm this scam can do in time to come if it has not been investigated and exposed now.  We need to appreciate that this issue has been brought to the public so people around the world would be prevented getting cheated out of their kindness and generosity.  I do not appreciate my hard earned money to go finance a scoundrel neither would anyone in the right mind not agree with me.   Besides, it is important that the reputation of the Shugden monasteries be protected and not be destroyed by this scoundrel.  It is the lineage of our precious protector that is already facing the adversity of the illogical ban now been attacked by this dangerous scam.  Did anyone think of this implication?

[Maleficent]

This is really bad indeed for our Shugden cause.  See what ex-NKT survivors sings about this in their 'Kelsangs Worldwide'.  Can we all report abuse for that profile to be taken down?  I guess we need as many people as possible reporting it.

[thaimonk]

Lets hope Sangha Jewels is closed completely. The people behind Sangha Jewels should never solicit money from the public again. Until now they have not shown records, statements or accounts. Definitely something is seriously wrong. It's easy to close down and just take the money and leave.

Let's hope their announcements is not another ploy to somehow misappropriate the money via the monasteries again. I don't really trust their announcements because they sure like to highlight and market themselves still. Sangha Jewels this and that. What do you all think?

It is shameful what they have done.

But let's keep a sharp watch what they are doing. Many Tibetans and non-Tibetans do not trust them at all anymore. They should really never do this again. So many people have been misled and hurt by all this.

[christine V]

Duke have destroyed the reputation of a Buddhist don't even mentioned that he is wearing a robe. How other people will trust further on fundraising via online when they seen this? Many donors like me, have doubt to even donate online and to even unsure where the money will be go to. But, sometimes as a donors we choose to keep silent and not ask where the fund going to is because we still have trust that the money have landed in good hand.

Duke have been staying in Shar Ganden for long. Doesn't he have any heart to see how the young monks the monks there suffered from the ban? A refugees in India, out from own homeland, discrimination from CTA, get insult from others people everyday, life threatening and  not even a proper food to eat every day, yet , Duke willing to add salt into wound and make the situation worst. 

I thanks people who have reveal his criminal and stopped further negative karma manifest.

[thaimonk]

I heard even NKT has stopped support of Sangha Jewels long ago. They have checked and seen discrepancies. NKT works so hard on proliferating Tsongkapa's lineage and removing the ban and they can also deal with problems of this nature. Very kind and caring.

Sangha Jewels aka Duke aka Losang Tenpa really went online and influenced negatively the minds of many to give him support or rather money or years. He aligned himself with many unsuspecting generous NKT people and really tricked them. In the end, he kept much of the money and never showed any statements.

People say never mind he was a criminal arrested 17 times and he can change, but he didn't change. He has damaged the reputation of some of the monasteries that believed in him. Duke never did anything for the ban or increase of Tsongkapa's teachings online. He saw a window of opportunity and used it for his personal financial gain. But he made a mistake as I read somewhere, he shouldn't have been overconfident and start creating schism and creating factions within the Shugden practitioners. One day people will not remain quiet about his misappropriations and speak up. One day people will have enough of all the untruths and schisms he has created. Too bad.

He became a monk for what and now I don't believe he should wear monk robes. Sorry.

[Blueupali]

Okay, somebody, tell me why we are saying "Abby Citron of NKT" I never heard of her; she doesn't work for the NKT in any way that I know of... anyone can join a church or Buddhist temple.... like would you say Abby Citron of the Methodist Church if she were implicated in a scandal but wasn't working as a representative of the Methodist Church?  What if she went to church once or twice, would you need to make everyone think the Methodists are involved?  What does the NKT have to do with any of this... nothing.... nada... but someone wants to put our name next to anything scandalous they can think of.
  So, as for telling people about it--- yes it's actually superbad karma to be stealing from the 3 Jewels and people need to know this is happening so they can not fall for a scam, okay.  We have church scams sometimes in the U.S.; they used to be very common with TV evangelists.
  I understand the sarcasm that 'no one would care if the 'monk' were friends with people..." but really, I would care because I don't want him getting heavy negative karmas in his future lives--- stealing from the Buddhist Sangha--- oh dear... no way.... we don't accept that as something we can continue...

[kris]

@geoff, thank you for exposing the crimes by  Duke and Abby. I can see that there are quite a lot of efforts are being put in to investigate the case, and to alert others so that people especially the sponsors are not being cheated. All I can say is that most of time, people are more trusting and less defensive when dealing with people in spiritual organisation. Although this lesson is very expensive, we need to learn from this experience and not let people like Duke or Abby to take advantage.

[lotus1]

Thank you for exposing the issues and crimes by Duke and Abby. The Sangha Jewels has caused a lot of damage to the Buddhist society especially the Dorje Shugden society that has been facing a lot of discrimination and schism due to the ban. With this Sangha Jewels issues, sponsors like me would be very cautious and many may even stop all the sponsorship to the monasteries. Besides, he has given more reasons to anti-Shugden and CTA to create more harm to the Shugden practitioners. Duke should provide all account statements and information about the fund received and all the paypal accounts and the funds publicly and to the monasteries.

[DharmaDefender]

Another one to watch out for, from this Robert Carey chap. People nick images online all the time, I dont know why its such a big deal for him.