Today was the day we broke through the established Buddhist media's silence about the canonization of Sogyal Lakar as a saint on a level with Guru Rinpoche, the tantric magician who subdued demons to bring the Dharma to Tibet.  More likely, if Sogyal was around during the days when Padmasambhava brought the Dharma from his birthplace in a lotus in Odiyana, he would have been one of those obstructing demons!  Ah, but we have little time for levity, since it is clear that the powers that be are readying their responses to this Petition, and the Tricycle article is just the sort of statement that could cause us to rest on our laurels instead of battling on to our goal of 1,000 signatures.

The second headline of the article sounds good:"Buddhist groups are retracting statements praising the Tibetan Buddhist teacher following outcry from abuse survivors and their supporters."

If only that were true!  Let's look at the "retractions."

Check out the "retraction" from the Central Tibetan Administration: After affecting dismay that "our message has shocked and angered many in view of some controversies," they throw the propaganda vehicle back into overdrive and gun it for the Promised Land! Invoking Sogyal's "beneficial activities ... we make the strong wish that all his profound aspirations be spontaneously fulfilled without any obstacles and that his true reincarnation come swiftly, manifesting the same ability to benefit the teachings and sentient beings as his predecessor."  In other words, "Sogyal is a tulku, and he's going to come back and molest his students for their own benefit in a future lifetime."

Ringu Tulku's "retraction" is actually a retrenchment:  “I just expressed what I saw and felt in my own heart, but I equally respect all who feel strongly against Sogyal Rinpoche. I know that some people have felt very hurt by him. I cannot judge or criticise anybody because I know that people have different perspectives. It is futile to argue.”  Parse that out: "I spoke my truth," others "felt hurt," "I can't criticise," so That's all, folks!

Finally, there's a mention of a retraction at Dzogchen.net, but no statement of what it originally said, or where it was.  I will say this -- a site-specific search of Dzogchen.net for "Sogyal" produces no links.  So perhaps we can claim a qualified victory there, over an injury most of us didn't know we'd suffered.

Surely it is a minor miracle that the Petition has been mentioned in the establishment Buddhist press at all.  But don't be fooled by the "good news."  It's not good yet.  The wrongdoers are unrepentant.  Let's get to 1,000, and then we'll see what they say.  Share the link: http://chng.it/M9mTgKzvXQ