The New Kadampa Tradition - a podcast by Sarah Steel

In 1996, journalist Madeleine Bunting wrote for The Guardian UK: “Most of the 130,000 Buddhists in this country are in the caring professions, or are academics, or are part of an ex-hippy culture; they are trusting, idealistic and naive. They thought Buddhism was immune to the fanaticism and hypocrisy which riddles all religions. The controversy surrounding the NKT is shattering illusions that Buddhism was the one fail-safe religion.”

Twenty years later, clinical psychologist Dr Michelle Haslam joined the NKT under that very same illusion – one that she now feels obliged to help truly shatter herself.

Full research sources listed on each episode page at www.ltaspod.com. You can support the creation of this independent podcast at www.patreon.com/ltaspod.

With thanks to Audio-Technica, presenting partner for season 3 of Let's Talk About Sects.

If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, you can find support or donate to Cult Information and Family Support if you’re in Australia (via www.cifs.org.au), and you can find resources outside of Australia with the International Cultic Studies Association (via www.icsahome.com).

Credits:

Written, researched and hosted by Sarah Steel

Music by Joe Gould

Links:

• Geshe Kelsang Gyatso — biography by Tenzin Peljor and Carol McQuire, Tibetan Buddhism in the West blog, 2015
• Interviews in Cambridge, Meeting Children in London — His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, 19 September 2015
• To the Tibetan Buddhists around the world and fellow Tibetan compatriots
• within and outside Tibet — undated open letter with 15 Tibetan official signatories
• Separate document regarding Geshe Kelsang's personal situation — Kelsang Gyatso statement on NKT letterhead, June 2008
• Recovery from The New Kadampa Tradition – A Resource Centre — website by Dr Michelle Haslam and former NKT members
• Potential harm to mental and physical health through exposure to The New Kadampa Tradition (NKT-IKBU), Version 4 — by Dr Michelle Haslam, 17 January 2020
• Dr Michelle Haslam: Plagiarization & Misrepresentation of Research — website attributed to “Dr Robert Harrison”, archived as at 23 January 2020

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