Mon 1 Jun 2009
Oops… but wait, you’re a Rinpoche
Posted by Michael McAlister under Fundamentalism, Writing
[2] Comments
Poor Osel Hita Torres (or, until recently, Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche). Dale Fuchs from the Guardian reports that as a toddler he was seen as the reincarnation of the beloved Lama Yeshe and so ascended the throne to be worshipped by monks everywhere. Trouble was, he wanted to grow his hair long, wear baggy jeans, watch movies, and listen to Hendrix.
Can you blame him?
[Mr. Torres] is now studying film in Madrid and has denounced the Buddhist order that elevated him to guru status. “They took me away from my family and stuck me in a medieval situation in which I suffered a great deal,” said Torres, 24, describing how he was whisked from obscurity in Granada to a monastery in southern India. “It was like living a lie,” he told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. Despite his rebelliousness, he is still known as Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche and revered by the Buddhist community.
(Bows, Buddhist Channel.)
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:51 am
I am currently in Spain and have read the original report in “El Mundo”.
Some English language extracts on the Web (such as the article directly above) either imply or claim that Mr Torres “has completely renounced his former association with the Foundation..”, but that is not the impression I got from the “El Mundo” original. Mr Torres seems to have promised to his lama (Zopa) to one day return to the Buddhist fold.
I am not certain on this point because my Spanish is not good, but since I have a keen interest in this subject I hope a complete English translation will be made available, or at least that people with more insight will comment here.
We need more news like this. Westerners, disillusioned with “their own” religious institutions, often turn to Buddhism, thinking that it is purer and that its institutions are not corrupt. But Tibetan Buddhism has its own skeletons in the closet, past and present, and ironically, quite similar to the monstrosities committed by the Christian church(es).
The main reason most Westerners have no clue is because the mainstream media deliberately hush up anti-Dalai news. But search beyond the Dalai Lama–Richard Gere glitz and you are likely to very soon discover absolutely appalling facts about Tibetan Buddhism. I do not wish to mention anything specifically, but it is enough to pay attention to little details and they will soon take you to the larger picture…
Little details such as this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osel_Hita_Torres
“In May of 2009, Hita gave an interview for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo … Extracts appeared the following day in the The Guardian (UK). At this time, references to “Lama Osel” suddenly disappeared from the FPMT’s website. [3] [4]
[However, the removed pages are still available in the Google cache:]
Google cache Osel Birth http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:dGZbwnuBAzwJ:www.fpmt.org/teachers/osel/birth.asp+osel+fpmt&cd=4&hl=es&ct=clnk&gl=es
google cache Teachers Osel http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:k-OgKBFCyd4J:www.fpmt.org/Teachers/Osel/+osel+fpmt&cd=3&hl=es&ct=clnk&gl=es
”
(Bravo, Wikipedia, god job!)
—
Again, if anyone spots a complete English translation of the El Mundo report please let us know…
June 2nd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Great post, mike.
As you may have already noticed, I’ve carried your response over into the blog.
Bows.