{"id":170632,"date":"2018-07-12T01:00:49","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T05:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=170632"},"modified":"2018-07-12T01:00:49","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T05:00:49","slug":"new-allegations-surface-against-nova-scotia-based-buddhist-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/07\/12\/new-allegations-surface-against-nova-scotia-based-buddhist-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"New allegations surface against Nova Scotia based Buddhist leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A Chilean woman alleges Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche dragged her into a bathroom, groped her and tried to remove her clothes during a dinner party in Santiago, Chile, in 2002. (Photo By robertivanc – robertivanc’s flickr account, CC BY 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HALIFAX \u2014 The spiritual leader of one of the largest Buddhist organizations in the western world is facing fresh sexual misconduct allegations as a Halifax law firm prepares to launch an independent investigation into claims against him.<\/p>\n

A Chilean woman alleges Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche dragged her into a bathroom, groped her and tried to remove her clothes during a dinner party in Santiago, Chile, in 2002.<\/p>\n

The unnamed woman came forward with her account of the alleged incident after multiple women accused the Shambhala International leader of sexual misconduct in a report published last month.<\/p>\n

Her claims are included in a new memo by Carol Merchasin, a lawyer who oversaw a preliminary investigation into the initial claims against the Halifax-based Buddhist leader.<\/p>\n

The unnamed woman says she was working as an assistant cook at a dinner party when a Mipham, who was described as \u201cvisibly drunk,\u201d invited the staff to join the gathering while he read poetry.<\/p>\n

According to Merchasin’s memo, released Wednesday, he took her hand and dragged her to a bathroom, where he locked the door and prevented her from leaving.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe groped her breasts and began trying to remove her clothes,\u201d says Merchasin’s report, which is based on interviews with the woman and a corroborating witness. \u201cHe forced her hand to his genitals, even though she told him ‘no’ several times.\u201d<\/p>\n

After roughly 15 minutes, she says she managed to push Mipham away from the door, unlocked it and escaped.<\/p>\n

She says she immediately described the alleged assault to the cook, and the next day she says she spoke about the incident to a person who was travelling with the Shambhala leader.<\/p>\n

That person, referred to as a corroborating witness, was able to confirm the story the woman first recounted in 2002, Merchasin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found this woman very credible,\u201d she said. \u201cShe reached out immediately after the incident to others, telling them the same story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The allegations follow Mipham’s alleged \u201cpatterns of behaviour\u201d detailed in the report last month, Merchasin said.<\/p>\n

In that report, by former Shambhala community member Andrea Winn, several women accuse him of heavy drinking and using his attendant to \u201cprocure women students for his own sexual gratification.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of the allegations has been proven in court and no charges have been laid.<\/p>\n

Mipham’s lawyer said he received the new report and was reviewing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the moment, and so as not to interfere with the independent investigation, my client will not be offering any comment at this time,\u201d Michael Scott said in an email.<\/p>\n

However, Mipham said in a letter Tuesday that he takes responsibility for the pain the Buddhist community is experiencing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel a tremendous amount of sorrow for the pain, confusion, and anger that our (community) is experiencing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The spiritual leader has stepped back from his duties pending the outcome of a third-party investigation.<\/p>\n

The Kalapa Council, the leadership body of the Shambhala organization and its more than 200 meditation centres worldwide, will also be stepping down through a \u201cphased departure.\u201d<\/p>\n

A source close to the organization confirmed that Wickwire Holm has been contracted to conduct the third-party investigation into claims of harm against any Shambhala teacher, including Mipham.<\/p>\n

A lawyer with Wickwire Holm did not respond to multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The report on Mipham’s alleged sexual misconduct came after a report in February detailed alleged abuse in the Buddhist community.<\/p>\n

Winn, who says she was a victim of sexual abuse as a child growing up in the Shambhala community, said the first report alleged decades of sexualized violence.<\/p>\n

It also encouraged women to come forward with allegations against the spiritual leader, she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HALIFAX \u2014 The spiritual leader of one of the largest Buddhist organizations in the western world is facing fresh sexual …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":170634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[53156,47795,53157],"class_list":["post-170632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","tag-buddhist-leader","tag-buddhist-organizations","tag-sakyong-mipham-rinpoche","mauthors-brett-bundale","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}