The Spiritual World Has a Sex Abuse Problem
Why do male teachers keep misusing sexuality?
Imagine you get an opportunity to meet your spiritual teacher for a private discussion about your practice.
In that venerated space, he asks you to touch his penis, telling you it’ll help you with “non-attachment” or that “true love is giving yourself to everything.”
When you reveal this outrageous conduct to others, no one believes you or believes that what he’s doing is wrong.
Your teacher, Joshu Sasaki, one of three major Zen figures who sexually abused their students, won’t be held accountable for years.
Sex scandals in spiritual communities are, sadly, nothing new. In 1983, Richard Baker, then-head of the San Francisco Zen Center, was ousted for having affairs with several students. In 1994, Amrit Desai, the spiritual leader of Kripalu, suffered a similar fate.
But the past several years have distinguished themselves.
- In 2016, Bikram Choudhury, the founder of a popular form of hot yoga, was sued by several former students and his former attorney for sexual assault and fled to Mexico owing over $6 million.
- In 2017, Sogyal, the author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, was revealed to have abused his students…
