Ösel Tendzin

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Ösel Tendzin (Tibetan: འོད་གསལ་བསྟན་འཛིན་; Wylie: `od gsal bstan `dzin) (died 1990) was a controversial western Buddhist, born Thomas F. Rich in Passaic, N.J., Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's principal student and "Vajra Regent." Tendzin directed Vajradhatu (which later became Shambhala International) after Trungpa's death in 1987. Many in Trungpa's community (sangha) felt angry and betrayed when they learned in December 1988 that Ösel Tendzin had contracted HIV and continued to have unprotected sex with his students, without informing them, and transmitted it to a student through oral sex, resulting in the subsequent death from AIDS of the young man. (The young man's girlfriend, who also contracted HIV as a result, is reportedly still alive.) There was also concern that some others close to Tendzin also knew that Tendzin was HIV positive and sexually active, and had kept silent. Tendzin admitted that he was responsible and claimed that Chögyam Trungpa had told him to keep his HIV a secret and that his tantric practice would prevent him passing the HIV infection onto his students. However, according to some of Trungpa's close students, this was a fabrication on Tendzin's part; they maintain that Trungpa actually instructed Tendzin to stop having sexual relationships with his students immediately, but Tendzin chose to disregard his guru's instruction. According to Trungpa's wife Diana J. Mukpo, Trungpa ultimately regretted choosing Tendzin as his heir (at one point calling him "a disaster"), and talked openly of stripping him of his role; however, Trungpa passed away before taking any concrete steps towards this end (Mukpo, 2006). The Regent and the Board of Directors, suppressed efforts by editor Rick Fields to cover the issue in Vajradhatu's publication, the Vajradhatu Sun, leading to Fields' firing and/or resignation. (Fields, 1992, p. 366) Ösel Tendzin died of AIDS in 1990.

Ösel Tendzin should not be confused with Tenzin Ösel, the Spanish-born tulku of Thubten Yeshe.

[edit] Bibliography

Buddha in the Palm of Your Hand, Shambhala Publications. Boston, 1982. 0-87773-223-X

[edit] References

Butterfield, Stephen T. (1994). The Double Mirror: A Skeptical Journey into Buddhist Tantra
Fields, Rick (1992). How the Swans Came to the Lake. ISBN 0-87773-631-6.
Mukpo, Diana (2006). "Dragon Thunder: My Life with Chogyam Trungpa" ISBN 978-1590302569