Ösel Tendzin

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Not to be confused with Tenzin Ösel Rinpoche.

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.[1][2] He may have transmitted HIV to a student who did die of AIDS.[3][4] (The young man's girlfriend, who also contracted HIV, is reportedly still alive.) There was also concern that others close to Tendzin knew that Tendzin was HIV positive and sexually active, but kept silent. Tendzin admitted that he was responsible and said 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.[5] According to Trungpa's wife Diana J. Mukpo recent biography, Trungpa ultimately regretted choosing Tendzin as his heir (at one point calling him "a disaster"), and talked to her about stripping him of his role, though Trungpa died before taking any concrete steps.[6] Rick Fields the editor of Vajradhatu's publication, the Vajradhatu Sun, has written that the Regent and the Board of Directors stopped him from publishing the events, which he says led to Fields' firing and/or resignation.[7] Ösel Tendzin died of AIDS in 1990.

[edit] Bibliography

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

[edit] References

  1. ^ New York Times (1989)
  2. ^ Hayward (2007) p.407-409
  3. ^ Butterfield (1994)
  4. ^ Dart (1989)
  5. ^ Mukpo (2006)
  6. ^ Mukpo (2006)
  7. ^ Fields (1992) p. 366
  • Butterfield, Stephen T. (1994). The Double Mirror: A Skeptical Journey into Buddhist Tantra. ISBN 1-55643-176-7
  • Dart, John (1989) "Buddhist Sect Alarmed by Reports that Leader Kept his AIDS a Secret", The Los Angeles Times, March 3, 1989[1]
  • Fields, Rick (1992). How the Swans Came to the Lake. ISBN 0-87773-631-6
  • Hayward, Jeremy (2007) Warrior-King of Shambhala: Remembering Chogyam Trungpa ISBN 0-86171-546-2
  • Mukpo, Diana (2006). "Dragon Thunder: My Life with Chogyam Trungpa" ISBN 978-1590302569
  • Week in Review Desk, "HEADLINERS; A Church's Turmoil," The New York Times, February 26, 1989[2]

[edit] External links