It's difficult to take back things you've said.

[xiphias]

On trying to right a past wrong.

In Judaism, we have a lesson that lashon ha-ra is a devastating sin, because its damage is almost impossible to undo.

Yet icarusancalion is nonetheless making the effort. I know her mainly because she writes fanfics that Lis enjoys. But she also is a Buddhist, and used to be a Buddhist nun. And left her temple, Kunzang Palyul Choling, under hostile terms.

She's has recently come to accept that that hostility was because of her actions. She has spent years saying bad things about her teacher, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. And she's now realized that the things she was saying when she was posting as The Buddha From Brooklyn, and as Longchenpa, were, at best, misleading, and really more like lies.

The Internet being what it is, those rumors and lies are almost impossible to take back. But she's trying.

She's asked people to link to her apology to Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. She's hoping that if enough people link to it, the truth will overtake the lies.

It's a difficult task. But she's trying.

In different religious traditions, we have different terms for the process she's going through. Redemption. T'shuvah.

I don't know what the Buddhist term is, off the top of my head -- I'm sure some of you who are Buddhist know. But I know that I wish her well on this attempt.

Comments

[jehanna.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing this, not just for the signal boost, either.

[fatpie42.livejournal.com]

I don't get it....

In that article I can't actually see what they've done that is wrong. She claims that she's 'told lies', 'broken vows' and 'done bad things' but I can see nothing to express what these lies were, what vows were broken nor what bad deeds were committed. As such, I find it very hard to understand what she is talking about...

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

She wrote a book claiming that the temple was a cult. She filed a lawsuit claiming that her teacher was abusive. She spent decades telling everyone that they were an abusive cult -- and she made all that up because she was mad at them.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'll edit the post tonight and be more specific. The Tibetan Buddhist community is relatively small and the book, The Buddha From Brooklyn, is very well known. So within that community my story is well known. I didn't provide enough detail for those who haven't read the book.

[pykors.livejournal.com]

Your post lead me to stumble upon this fascinating article:
http://jsafe.org/pdfs/Lashon%20Hara%20and%20Abuse.pdf

I may be Goyim, but I am constantly impressed with the logical depth of Jewish moral philosophy.