Welcome to Beyond the Temple
I’m Tahlia Newland (author, editor, artist & contemplative) and this blog documents my spiritual path after learning that my Tibetan Buddhist meditation teacher physically, sexually, and emotionally abused his close students. I left the group and the religion when I realised that the religious philosophy they espoused had enabled the abuse.
You can read the letter that revealed Sogyal Rinpoche’s abuse to the Rigpa sangha here: https://www.lionsroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Letter-to-Sogyal-Lakar-14-06-2017-.pdf
This experience led me and the others also affected by this to re-evaluate everything we believed. We came to reaffirm the need for us to trust our own wisdom, practice kindness above all, and move, in one way or another, beyond the temple that previously held us in thrall.
Details of Sogyal Rinpoche’s abuse of students in the Rigpa organisation can be found here. Posts on Rigpa’s (mis)handling of the abuse and ongoing issues are here.
For me, the focus of my spiritual path became my art, nature – I live on a rainforest permaculture property – and practicing being aware every moment, including trusting my inner wisdom to guide me. This led me to reenvisage Vajrayana practice (the Tibetan Buddhist style of meditation) as Imaginative Meditation a meditation practice free of religious trappings but with all the power of the practice on which it is based.
I share my journey with the hope that it will help others find their own way to full awareness.
“Dwell with yourself as your own island, with yourself as your own refuge, take no other refuge. Take the Dhamma as your island, take the Dhamma as your refuge, take no other refuge. “– The Buddha, Mahāparinibbāna Sutta.
The full story of how this blog came to be can be found in my book Fallout: Recovering from Abuse in Tibetan Buddhism.
The best of what I learned from Tibetan Buddhist meditation can be found in my book How to Meditate Easily Effectively & Deeply.
“Do not accept any of my words on faith, believing them just because I said them.
Be like an analyst buying gold, who cuts, burns, and critically examines his product for authenticity.
Only accept what passes the test
by proving useful and beneficial in your life.” – The Buddha, the Jnanasara-samuccaya