When harm arises at the CENTER of the Dharma, what is “care”?

I wish we could all begin with trust and love for each other. But we can’t. There has been too much damage to too many bodies for too many generations.

But we all can begin with respect, caring, and a willingness to help.”

Trauma is anything the body perceives as too much, too fast, or too soon.”

I don’t mean ‘cult’ here in the automatically pejorative, sensationalistic sense but rather in the sense of a self-enclosed entity that is both overattached to its core beliefs and almost impermeable to outside feedback and internal dissension…The range of cultic behavior is enormous: ego can arguably be a cult of one; plenty of couples function as cults of two; and various religious and political movements are cults of the many.”

Boundaries make freedom possible by clarifying what must be worked with, not just personally and transpersonally, but also interpersonally. Since everything – everything! – exists through relationship, it is crucial that we learn to work well within relationship, both with others and with our own needs, states, and identity. This work is not possible if our boundaries are not clearly delineated and skillfully maintained.”

Boundaries is a slippery word…Today, we teach that setting boundaries is making clear what’s okay and what’s not okay, and why. Vulnerability minus boundaries is not vulnerability.”

The difficulty with Buddhism, and the difficulty in making any cultural change is that there is no norm for [internal accountability and governance].  Because if we have a person who is all-knowing, then we cannot hold them accountable.”

There will be a reckoning someday in Buddhism worldwide that, because of survivors who have not been silenced – or will not remain silenced; because of allies who will not be silenced, there will be a reckoning that happens in these communities as more and more of them face the pain of lawsuits.”

My call to action for all of us today, is listen when survivors speak without rushing to defend the teacher and the institution; just listen. Learn what the law can do for survivors, positively, for Buddhist leaders in a negative way because – this is not as a threat – but it can act as a tool for justice and safety and it often doesn’t end well for Buddhist communities. Lead your communities for transparency and inclusion.

In order to address our safety fully, professionals have to draw from a deeper well to determine the priorities and parameters between us and them. Indeed, within the spirit of the codes is the ethos of care, which guides our expectations of the relationship. The ethos of care has its own implicit boundaries, which prohibit actions that betray trust.”

Boundaries define formally and informally how professionals are to exercise their power inside the relationship. When professionals maintain these limits, the power differential presents no problems. However, when professionals abuse the privilege of their power, they violate the boundary that protects the space and place us in jeopardy.”

For anger to enhance intimacy, it needs to be met with non-defensive, empathetic listening…in which agreement or disagreement with what is being conveyed remains secondary to our empathy and caring for the other.”

To tell students that directly expressing anger, regardless of how it is expressed, is not a good thing, as some spiritual teachers (ranging from Buddhist elders like Thich Nhat Hanh to New Age positivity pushers) are inclined to do, is a disservice to their students who may then muzzle and mute their anger in the name of spiritual correctness.”

As we shed our blinders and clearly see our pain – our anger and hurt and frustration and moral outrage – we reenter a realm of love that had been closed off but from now which we can now freely give and receive.”

‘[I]f what you are doing is upsetting me, my job is not to focus on your behavior but only to investigate what my being bothered says about me’…This is not only a misguided reading of the art of allowing things to serve our awakening, but a far-from-compassionate response to those who have offended us. For in not doing what we can to bring people face to face with the consequences of their actions, we are actually depriving them of something that they may sorely need. Furthermore, in letting them off the hook, we are doing the same for ourselves.”

Safeguarding Policy – Plum Village

“The purpose of this document is to provide a summary of the current understanding and approach of the Plum Village Safeguarding Council for defining harm, responsibility and appropriate responses…(Version 1, 21.01.2026)”

Teachers are human. They are not equipped for the altitude atop the pedestals we place them on, and we should never put them there.

But it’s not just about pedestals. It’s about power—specifically, about whose power gets centered and protected.

Detecting a boundary violation is difficult because it is a process rather than a single event. It grows like a cancer beneath the surface of the relationship’s legitimate purpose and is hard to recognize until it emerges as a serious, blatant problem.”

To the brave and brokenhearted

who have taught us how to rise after a fall.

Your courage is contagious.”

Significantly, it has been scholars who are not primarily trained in Buddhist Studies who have written most about sexual abuse in the tradition.”

Anger is moral fire. Whether it is destructive or constructive is in our hands…and in our hearts.”

As we become more intimate with the anatomy and history of our anger, and as we learn to express it cleanly – that is, without blaming or shaming or aggression – its fieriness serves rather than hinders all involved by potently addressing behaviors and issues that are obstructing not just our well-being but that of others.”

Turning toward our pain is an act of radical caring – and not just caring for ourselves – because in doing so we cease to fuel our avoidance and those addictive behaviors we have used to keep ourselves removed from pain.”

Spiritual bypassing is often characterized by an insistent emphasis on not taking things personally…Plenty of what passes for healthy detachment is far from healthy.”