For a Buddhist monk, Wearing robes is a symbolic indication of the practitioner’s renunciation – from worldly life and commitment to the spiritual path, it is a indication of the practicing of minimum 250 dharma precepts ( and 350 for nun) on daily basis, moment to moment. In the Dharmaguptake -Vinaya (Four-Part Vinaya), the basis for Chinese Buddhism, the Bhikkhu precepts are 250; while other schools, such as those following the Mahisasaka-vinaya (Five-Part Vinaya) or the Sarvastivada-vinaya (Ten-Recitation Vinaya), list 251, 259, or 257 precepts respectively. 250 remains the most well-known traditional figure. Therefore Buddhist robe is a uniform of status indication on the journey for spiritual enlightenment, and in the eye of social customs. If someone wear the Buddhist robe but frequently carry out behaviors that violate the basic code of conducts, then he/they are not only tarnish Buddhism, they are also violating basic secular laws for they misled public expectation in the west.
The research carried out by journalist Élodie Emery and documentary filmmaker Wandrille Lanos refines the perception of Tibatan Buddhism which is adorned with so many virtues, including poverty. Buddhism, a veritable multinational company, has its own head offices, by-products (including meditation), subsidiaries (Buddhist centres for the wealthy), communication strategies and agencies specialising in crisis management. One of the case in point is the documentary: Abuses in Tibetan Buddhism which is shaken by serious scandals – This is not Right, teachers should not have sex with students, because of its practices often violation of dharma precepts and heavily involved with mental manipulation and embezzlement. Thanks to its revelations and the quality of its contributors, this edifying documentary helps to unravel the “flowery” Western view of exotic Tibetan Buddhism. It reminds us that this religion requires total devotion on the part of the student, who must certify to his master that he will keep secret the initiations to which he must submit: an ideal breeding ground for covering abuses of all kinds with a blanket of silence. The Lama Sogyal Rinpoche, who became the head of an empire after the publication of his bestseller The Tibetan Book of Life and Death, was nevertheless denounced by many victims for his immoderate taste for luxury, his violent authoritarianism and his sexual excesses. In the back rooms of monasteries, “People take charisma for a spiritual quality.”
This Tibetan monk returned to a world that had completely changed after spending 12 years in a Buddhist retreat, here he opens up to talk about Tibetan Buddhism, Abuse & Denial: What No One Wants to Talk About. And in June 2025, he announced giving up his robe NOT because failure of the Buddha Dharma, nor a rejection of monastic values, nor giving up his spiritual practices, but for the reason he does not have the environmental and social cultural support of living like a monastic existence. Recently he kindly warn people to Beware of Spiritual Psychosis–Don’t let your meditation drive you insane!