The Death of Ian Thorson/Buddhists Behaving Badly

[Cleopatra7]

Although we usually snark on the Abrahamic religions, I think this story from the world of Tibetan Buddhism is worth discussing:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/22/the-buddhist-who-retreated-and-then-died.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/sex-and-death-on-the-road-to-nirvana-20130606

What strikes me about this story is how the three main players -- Michael Roach, Christy McNally, and Ian Thorson -- were all looking for "enlightenment" and freeing all beings from suffering by becoming bodhisatvas, but in reality they were all pretty terrible people: narcissistic, delusions of grandeur, domestic violence, using sex to manipulate others, and in the case of Thorson, being a deadbeat dad. The search for "enlightenment" was such that they could justify their bad behavior as the ends justifying the means. It's not too different from how our Christian fundies justify being jerks because they have to "save souls" and "speak the truth out of love."

[PennySycamore]

Michael Roach is NOT well respected among most Buddhists and was considered to have been running a cult.  On one now-defunct forum I used to be on, IIRC, you could not link to sites connected with Michael Roach. 

[Tim-Tom Biblethumper]

I saw this story on the ID channel show "Deadly Devotion".  
The series is about crimes committed by religious extremists, and is actually pretty good.