Adelaide Fosters commentary on Dagri Rinpoches statement (English)

[vajralight]

Here is Adelaide Fosters commentary on Dagri Rinpoches statement, where he denies sexual molestation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7zmHvREnsg

[Tracy]

Thank you for sharing the video of Ms. Adelaide. It's amazing how sexual misconducts are covered up by organisations such as FPMT, the Dalai Lama's office and the CTA. They refuse to look at the problems or try to solve the problems. Problems are always swept under the carpet in the hope that no one will see it and there will be no confrontation.

It is very disappointing to know organisations people are relying on are not providing protection to the public. Even though there are numerous reports on Dagri Rinpoche's behaviour, nothing was done and victims were shooed away. The message sent to the abusers is, it is ok to continue doing what they are doing; to the victims is, they have to deal with it themselves and too bad that something bad happens to them.

This kind of culture should not be encouraged. Many people are interested to learn and practice Buddhism. Many of them have problems in their lives and they hope to find solutions in Dharma. All these scandals are not helping people to gain confidence in Dharma but putting people off. Preservation of Buddhism is not possible if this is not going to change.

[Tenzin K]

Spiritual house is somewhere people find hope, solace, peace, and faith for their spiritual practice. Many people pay high respect for such places and as well as people working around there. When bond developed, people will regard as a safe home, not just a home but a home that safeguard their body, speech and mind.

What happened at FPMT is really tragic. People are looking a real and pure spirituality but ended encountered a sex offender that ruin not just their life but is their spiritual life. This directly affects Tibetan Buddhism and a lot of people will lose their trust and imagine people that have to taken blessing, vows, or initiation from him? How would they feel after knowing the person they requested for blessing, initiation, vows is actually a sex offender that been looking after victim for past 10 years

[SabS]

Thank you for sharing this video by Adelaide Foster which is quite clear how Dagri Rinpoche tried to reason himself out of his wrongful molestation activities. Kudos to her for daring to speak up for her friend Jakaira Perez and for the safety of religious practice for women. If the case of Dagri Rinpoche continues to be swept under the carpet, then he and many others will be allowed to continue with their harmful actions. In fact, they may be emboldened by the non-actions against them to escalate their molestation activities. I really do hope that Lama Zopa, FPMT and the Dalai Lama's office really launch an honest investigation into Dagri Rinpoche's crimes and to take action against him. After all, he had broken his monk vow and should be disrobed if he still maintains that he had done no wrong if the allegations were true. If one woman, maybe there could be doubt but when there are 3, then there must be truth in these allegations. So better don't delay in the investigation or until having to be pushed into it. Give the public their reassurance and their trust back.

[Drolma]

If it was not because of the Indian woman, Dagri Rinpoche would still be out there molesting women and get away with it because the authority decided to cover him up. The Indian woman is not a Buddhist or Tibetan, she does not have any motive to accuse Dagri Rinpoche of molesting her. Therefore, I believe Dagri Rinpoche really did molest her.

This is unbelievable that Dagri Rinpoche can still tell lie about the meeting in Dharamsala with Ms. Jaikera. He started by saying that Ms. Jaikera is suffering from mental illness to discredit her. But this is normally the case isn't it? Men will accuse women of having mental problems so they don't have to be responsible for the crime they have committed.

This is good that Dagri Rinpoche is charged and will be persecuted. He must have harmed so many women in the past 10 or 20 years. He thinks he is a Rinpoche and he can get away with it, he is completely wrong! Now he has to pay for the price. This is a wake up call to the Tibetan community, they have to remember sexual abuse is not right and they cannot do what they like!

[SabS]

If it was not because of the Indian woman, Dagri Rinpoche would still be out there molesting women and get away with it because the authority decided to cover him up. The Indian woman is not a Buddhist or Tibetan, she does not have any motive to accuse Dagri Rinpoche of molesting her. Therefore, I believe Dagri Rinpoche really did molest her.

This is unbelievable that Dagri Rinpoche can still tell lie about the meeting in Dharamsala with Ms. Jaikera. He started by saying that Ms. Jaikera is suffering from mental illness to discredit her. But this is normally the case isn't it? Men will accuse women of having mental problems so they don't have to be responsible for the crime they have committed.

This is good that Dagri Rinpoche is charged and will be persecuted. He must have harmed so many women in the past 10 or 20 years. He thinks he is a Rinpoche and he can get away with it, he is completely wrong! Now he has to pay for the price. This is a wake up call to the Tibetan community, they have to remember sexual abuse is not right and they cannot do what they like!

It is really sad that it takes one that is not related to Dagri Rinpoche as a Tibetan or a practitioner, to have validation in her report against his sexual molestation. It shows that the Tibetan Leaders do not even care for their people or women other than just lip service. They hold the criminal higher cos he is a Rinpoche and a teaching lama with monetary values. Such a shame! And the probability of Dagri Rinpoche having committed the offenses are very high as those women who had reported thus far have no connections with each other, other than sharing the same disgusting offense under his hands. Other victims should also come forward to clear up this case once and for all. It will greatly benefit the people who had been victims but most importantly, is to prevent the possibility of women and the young ones who may face this in the future. That would be the greatest kindness given by the victims.

[Tracy]

Like what she said, Tibetans don't like to lose face, they want to look good. When sex scandals happen in their community, they want to cover it up, especially when a so-called high lama is involved. Their thinking is very short term.

Because of how short-sighted they are, they have protected their own face but created more harm to the female community. Ms. Jakiera is only one of the many who step forward to recount what Dagri Rinpoche did to her. There must be many out there who are still very traumatised that they don't want to talk about it.

Whatever it is, the cover-up of these criminals by CTA and the authority in Tibetan community have caused them more than they have gained. It was shocking to many to see how corrupted Tibetan leadership is and how they don't care about the Tibetans. Instead of gaining more trust from the people, people have more doubts and many are trying to stay away from them.

[Drolma]

I don't think Dagri Rinpoche only abuses foreigners, he must have done the same to the Tibetans. But knowing how Tibetans love their face, they will not step forward to testify against Dagri Rinpoche. In traditional Asian society, it is a big shame to be abused sexually.

It is indeed very brave and kind for these women to speak up. They have put aside their face, they don't want other women to go through the pain they have suffered, so they decided to re-live the painful memory. We must give credit to them on this basis.

Dagri Rinpoche is a monster. FPMT is the greater monster for covering him up and let him continue to harm other women. If FPMT did the right thing to stop Dagri Rinpoche from harming more women, all this negative news will not happen. People should really relook how sincere FPMT is when it comes to spiritual practice.

[Alex]

I don't think Dagri Rinpoche only abuses foreigners, he must have done the same to the Tibetans. But knowing how Tibetans love their face, they will not step forward to testify against Dagri Rinpoche. In traditional Asian society, it is a big shame to be abused sexually.

It is indeed very brave and kind for these women to speak up. They have put aside their face, they don't want other women to go through the pain they have suffered, so they decided to re-live the painful memory. We must give credit to them on this basis.

Dagri Rinpoche is a monster. FPMT is the greater monster for covering him up and let him continue to harm other women. If FPMT did the right thing to stop Dagri Rinpoche from harming more women, all this negative news will not happen. People should really relook how sincere FPMT is when it comes to spiritual practice.

It is unbelievable for a well known Dharma centre like FPMT to cover up something as serious as this. They have failed to protect their own dharma sisters by letting someone like Dagri into their organisation. It is just a matter of time where Dagri will abuse the people at FPMT. Since FPMT know about some of the allegations that was directed towards Dagri, why did they let him teach at their centre?

Obviously, FPMT does not care about the females in their organisation because fame and benefits is much more important. Dagri is very close to CTA and His Holiness and having him on board can bring alot of advantages to their centres.

That is why they are willing to subject the females in their organisation to such danger and risk just for the sake of getting close to His Holiness and CTA. It is just like the Dorje Shugden all over again. They abandoned the sacred practice that was given by their founder Lama Yeshe just to get on the same side as His Holiness the Dalai Lama.