Rama computer cult
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The Rama Computer Students were led by Frederick Lenz who called himself the Zen Master Rama. He organised the group as a carrier development consulting company that leveraged Buddhism. He launched his own group when he started giving self-improvement seminars based on Eastern religions in 1980. He initially called himself Atmananda and based his teachings on Hinduism. Lenz called himself a spiritual teacher rather than a group or cult leader. Some of his followers denied that they were members of a cult. He concentrated heavily on recruiting for a time, which resulted in hundreds of new members. People continued to follow him and he held publicly advertised classes until January 1988, when he was swamped by bad publicity, generated by a minority of former students who took issue with his techniques. His classes were then aimed at a smaller group of people who were invited as potential recruits. He had sexual relations with some women followers[citation needed]. He taught meditation techniques in his classes which some students found extremely helpful[citation needed].
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[edit] Common characteristics of the group
It should be noted that all members of the group were unique, independent individuals and that no list of the group's "common characteristics" would have ever applied to all members. Even meditation, which was nominally the group's unifying characteristic, was not something that all members practiced assidiously all the time. Furthermore, since the death of Frederick Lenz in 1998, his former students have become even more diverse than ever. However, because members of the group did work closely together at times, there were some lifestyle choices and habits that were fairly common within the group.
- Members meditated at least twice a day.
- Members had very successful careers, often but not always in the computer industry.
- Members were pragmatic in protecting their personal safety and hence often used private letterboxes instead of home postal addresses when corresponding with people they did not know well. Members often gave out their letterbox addresses on a CV.
- Members were either single or divorced, preferring to focus on career.
- They often moved frequently (at least every sixteen months) to reflect changing geographical trends in the computer industry, the occupation of choice for many members.
- Members had unlisted telephone numbers, again for pragmatic reasons of personal safety.
- Members usually worked in temporary employment or were hired by an agency for contract work, finding that contractors were often rewarded with higher pay in the computer industry.
- Women wore power colors, such as red or black, and men dressed formally.
- More affluent members drove a red Mercedes 300 series (power car). Other members drove four-wheel drive cars or Lexuses.
- They owned houses in affluent neighborhoods. Sometimes the houses themselves were sparsely furnished, consisting of a computer, stereo equipment, and a futon, because they placed a very high importance on the choice of neighborhood and other items were of much lower priority. More successful members did have tastefully decorated homes.
- Members of the group studied some form of martial arts. Many were black belts.
- Members were very busy people with their careers and their Buddhist practice--although some certainly formed friendships outside the group, the group did form the core social network for many members simply because they spent a great deal of time with other members.
[edit] Name
The group did not have a single, specific legal name that was used throughout its history. Rama changed his style of teaching frequently over the years and although he consistently used the name Rama (sometimes in its longer form Zen Master Rama) from the early 1980s onward, he used many specific organizations through which he taught: Lakshmi Seminars, Rama Seminars, Power Trips Inc, Interglobal Seminars, Infinity Plus Consulting, and Advanced Systems Inc were but a few of the organizations that he taught through. The group was generally referred to in the media as the Rama computer cult or some variant of that term. The word cult, when used in reference to a spiritual group, is generally negative and used only by its detractors, but there also wasn't a clear term to use for describing the student body in a positive or neutral light, despite the fact that many remained with Rama throughout his many re-inventions as a teacher.
Rama himself referred to his group as the Rae Chorze-Fwaz, for example in novels such as Surfing the Himalayas and Snowboarding to Nirvana. The term Rae Chorze-Fwaz was not well-known outside the group, however. Rama described the Rae Chorze-Fwaz as a lineage dating back thousands of years although his detractors disputed this, claiming that Rama invented the term Rae Chorze-Fwaz and that the lineage did not exist prior to this.
[edit] Size
Membership has varied from a high of more than 900 followers to 250 between 350. Lenz would get rid of thirty or forty students at a time telling them that they were failing spiritually. Some members were expelled from the group for various reasons but they worked hard and contributed sums of money in order to be readmitted into the group.
[edit] Methods and doctrine
"Gain the competitive edge through Zen. Material success, if it's part of a balanced approach to life, is very healthy. I don't consider poverty to be spiritual. In my opinion, as a person who is psychic, money is important. A great deal of the teaching that I do is about money".
His idea was that you have taken care of your material world: your career, clothes, and personal belongings, then you can start a well balanced spiritual path. It is very hard to venture into the spiritual world if you have not taken care of the material world first.
Lenz’s doctrine evolved throughout the years that he was preaching. Originally he based his teachings on Hindu Mysticism, and then switched to Zen Buddhism. He claimed that in his past lives he was a high priest at the Temple of Light in Atlantis, a teacher in Ancient Egypt, and the head of a monastery in Tibet. He admitted that a great deal of the teaching that he does is about money. He promised an easy way to achieve Nirvana. Lenz claimed that his techniques were so powerful that an hour of being taught by him was worth a hundred years of traditional meditation. Lenz placed increasing emphasis on demons and claimed to be able to give members the power to control them.
"If someone gets in your way, if anyone is blocking your path, get rid of them!"
Lenz said that people born with a certain amount of energy life force and lose if as you grow older. Everything depends on your energy life force: success in sports, business, and school. He claimed that he would help to restore your energy life force so you will have success. In 1983, Lenz proclaimed,
"Whenever you make a mistake, remember that you are God. God doesn't make mistakes. God only has experiences."
Students were warned constantly that they were becoming entangled with dark forces that only Lenz could see. His followers thought that if they dropped out of the cult they would suffer forever in the 16th level of hell. In 1989, Lenz raised the tuition fee for his inner group called Advanced Systems, Inc., to $2,500 per month. He said that he had worked hard to protect them from the lower order occult demons and the strain had almost killed him.
The core teaching of Lenz surrounded the practice of meditation. Lenz taught a form of chakra meditation intended to help students gain greater happiness, achieve success in life, and attain Enlightenment. Lenz recommended the use of music to assist in meditation because the modern world is thick with human aura that any protection a meditation student could get was needed--the music, was designed to provide that protection. Lenz recommended meditating to music twice a day, in the morning and the evening, and provided different music for each session.
[edit] Organisation & finance
Membership of the group can be divided into three main sections:
1.The inner-inner circle: a small group with a range of talents who managed of the large amounts of money that was being collected.
2.“Senior” members: anyone with five or more years of membership.
3.Newer members: new members and expellees who want to get back in and supporters of Lenz
The cost of becoming a Rama student was $5,000 per month. The newest members had to live on $10,000. In 1990 120 of his members set up computer companies and raised $250,000. It is believed that in total he would have gotten about $10,000,000.
Lenz supporters counter charges that Lenz was interested primarily in money with two main arguments: (1) Lenz regularly held free or low-cost classes for beginners, and (2) in the 1980s he dismissed an estimated 400 students from his classes, explaining that he didn't think they were a match for his teachings, thus voluntarily giving up a large percentage of his income (perhaps as much as 50%).
