Rigpa (Sogyal Rinpoche, post-2017)

Rigpa grew from Sogyal's late-1970s London teaching circle into a global organisation with main centres in France (Lerab Ling), the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and Australia, and an estimated 30,000+ students at its mid-2010s peak. The August 2017 open letter — signed by eight senior Rigpa students (including Mary Finnigan, who had publicly raised concerns since 1995) — alleged that Sogyal had punched, slapped, and kicked students; sexually exploited multiple women presented as 'consorts'; demanded financial extraction beyond ordinary donation; and used 'crazy wisdom' framing to defuse criticism. The Dalai Lama publicly stated in August 2017 that the allegations were credible and that 'Sogyal Rinpoche, my very good friend, but he is disgraced.' Lewis Silkin LLP, commissioned by Rigpa under public pressure, conducted a nine-month independent investigation that interviewed 25 complainants. The September 2018 Lewis Silkin report confirmed the central allegations on the balance of probabilities, identified governance failures that had enabled the abuse, and recommended structural reforms. Sogyal stepped down from active teaching in August 2017; he died of pulmonary embolism in Thailand in August 2019. Reformed Rigpa governance (2018+) introduced an external complaints process, restructured the board, and renounced 'guru devotion' as a basis for excusing teacher misconduct. The 2019 book Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism (Mary Finnigan and Rob Hogendoorn) remains the canonical journalistic treatment.