Rigpa (organization)

• 1. Introduction

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  Rigpa is an international Buddhist organization whose story stretches from a single centre in north-west London to 41 countries, and from celebrated gatherings with the Dalai Lama to a damning independent investigation into abuse and cover-up. Founded in 1979 by Sogyal Rinpoche, it grew into one of the most prominent vehicles for Tibetan Buddhist teaching in the Western world. But underneath the retreats, the published books, and the thousands of students, a different account was accumulating. What exactly happened inside Rigpa's inner circle? How did an organization dedicated to compassion end up commissioning a report that described a pro-active cover-up by its own management? And what does it mean for the tens of thousands of practitioners who passed through its doors?

• 2. From London to the World

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  Sogyal Rinpoche spent five years teaching in the West before giving the name Rigpa to his work. At that early stage, the organization consisted of a single centre in north-west London, then known as Dzogchen Orgyen Chö Ling. By 1980, he was teaching across the UK, France, the United States, Ireland, and Holland, and centres began opening in major cities in each country.

  Rigpa's first retreat centre, Dzogchen Beara, was established on the west coast of Ireland. A programme of Easter and summer retreats took shape alongside it, giving students a rhythm of practice that extended beyond weekly classes. Each national branch was set up as a non-profit organization, giving the network a formal legal structure as it expanded.

  The 1989 teachings in San Jose marked a turning point in the organization's public profile. Five and a half thousand people attended, making it, at the time, the largest gathering of practitioners and masters of Buddhadharma in America, and possibly in the entire West. Rigpa had invited the Dalai Lama on several occasions before that, including Paris in 1982 and London in 1984, but San Jose signalled something new in scale.

• 3. Lerab Ling and the French Centre

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  In 1992, Rigpa opened its main retreat centre, Lerab Ling, near Montpellier in the south of France. Teachers including Thich Nhat Hanh, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, and Penor Rinpoche taught there in the years that followed, drawing students from across Europe and beyond.

  In 2000, the Dalai Lama visited Lerab Ling for five days of teachings entitled The Path to Enlightenment. More than 10,000 students of Tibetan Buddhism attended from around the world. Those teachings were later published in a book called Mind in Comfort and Ease: The Vision of Enlightenment in the Great Perfection.

  Lerab Ling was officially recognized as a religious congregation in 2002. Four years later, in 2006, a traditional three-storey temple was completed on the grounds, including a seven-metre high statue of Buddha Shakyamuni. That same year, Rigpa's first three-year retreat began, with over 300 people remaining in closed retreat at Lerab Ling from 2006 to 2009. In parallel, more than 3,000 students followed a home retreat programme in their own countries. Work began in 2007 on a Spiritual Care Centre at Dzogchen Beara, on the Irish coast where the organization had started building its retreat infrastructure decades earlier.

• 4. The Book That Changed Everything

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  In 1993, Sogyal Rinpoche published The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, and its success carried Rigpa into a new phase of growth. The book's reach gave the organization a wider audience and a clearer public identity, drawing people who might never have attended a Buddhist retreat.

  A Spiritual Care Education and Training Programme grew out of this expanded interest. In 1996, Rigpa presented a conference on care for the dying near Munich, which had a considerable influence on the emerging hospice movement in Germany. The convergence of Buddhist teaching and end-of-life care created a distinctive niche for Rigpa in a field that was then finding its footing.

  Rigpa's Tibetan calendar, first published in 1979, had already made the organization well known in the Tibetan Buddhist community. Later publications included View: The Rigpa Journal, which began in 1994. In 2012, Rigpa's translation group published To Dispel the Misery of the World, a book on lojong by the Sakya master Ga Rabjampa, with a foreword by Khenpo Appey Rinpoche, who had been Sogyal Rinpoche's own tutor.

• 5. Study, Practice, and the Shedra

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  Rigpa's graduated study and practice programme moves students through several distinct levels, and can take years to complete. It begins with foundation courses in basic meditation, using samatha methods such as resting the mind on the breath or on a picture of Padmasambhava, alongside mantra recitation.

  From there, the curriculum moves to Mahayana teachings and the tonglen practice of giving and receiving. Students then progress to Vajrayana preliminaries, including Taking Refuge and bodhicitta, described in the tradition as the mind of awakening. More advanced students study sadhana practices tied to the terma revelations of Tertön Sogyal, the predecessor of Sogyal Rinpoche, and take up Dzogchen meditation.

  The Rigpa Shedra, a formal study college, was established in 2001 at Lerab Ling. It offers courses based on traditional Buddhist texts, taught by lamas including Dzogchen Rinpoche, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku, and Khenpo Pema Sherab. A more intensive version, Rigpa Shedra East, is based in Pharping near Kathmandu and runs under the guidance of Khenpo Namdrol. It operates for four months a year, and the full curriculum takes nine years to complete. Rigpa also runs a separate programme, Rigpé Yeshé, for member-parents who want to raise their children within the Buddhist tradition.

• 6. Allegations, Investigation, and Cover-Up

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  In July 2017, former students sent a letter setting out allegations of physical, sexual, and financial abuse by Sogyal Rinpoche. The Union Bouddhiste De France responded quickly, suspending the membership of Rigpa Lérab Ling and Rigpa France on the 3rd of August 2017.

  Rigpa commissioned an independent investigation by Karen Baxter of the UK law firm Lewis Silkin, framing it as an opportunity for witnesses to come forward and be listened to in an open, impartial and sensitive way. The report's findings, assessed on the balance of probabilities, were direct. Some students of Sogyal Lakar who were part of his inner circle had been subjected to serious physical, sexual, and emotional abuse by him. Senior individuals within Rigpa were aware of at least some of these issues and had failed to address them, leaving others at risk.

  Karen Baxter described one senior manager interviewed for the report as guarded, hostile and inconsistent. Another senior member of the management team was found to have been involved in a pro-active cover-up. The UK Charities Commission had made its expectations clear: organizations with safeguarding problems must investigate, cooperate with authorities, and put right what they can before moving on. Rigpa acknowledged the gravity of the report and committed to implementing its recommendations.