In the face of an array of structural forces – institutional, legal, and cultural – that routinely silence, shame, blame, and marginalize survivors of Buddhist sexual violence, we realized that survivor testimony must be actively sought and given special weight and attention in order to prevent it from disappearing.”

[A] feminist survivor-centered approach, [which] prioritizes relationality, care and empathy.”

Survivor-centered approaches ‘actively center the perspectives and needs of survivors of sexual violence. As a feminist approach, this reframing critically addresses and dismantles the hierarchies of knowledge and truth that tend to structure how we think about and research sexual violence.’ “

We also explore the implications of a survivor-centered methodology for Buddhist Studies, arguing that only when Buddhist Studies scholars push against normative disciplinary formations to listen for and to marginal Buddhist voices will our scholarship cease to reinscribe normative Buddhist constellations of power – the same dynamics that tolerate and engender abuse.”

[I]t is only by making women’s well-being central that we can explode this myth: that speaking out, immediately and in public, is the only authentic form of agency. Quiet endurance, confiding in one trusted person, practicing a healing ritual — all of these can be part of how people begin to move forward.”

A person-centered approach respects each meditator’s definitions of well-being and harm, and their personal goals for practice. It’s a central part of a trauma-informed approach, which helps support a sense of empowerment, agency, and autonomy.

It can be as simple as offering options.”

[So many women] gave me incredible strength….And I thanked them for it…I [also] received thousands of letters from all over the world…and [these women] thanked me for talking about [my abuse] because now they were no longer afraid to do it as well. I got so many messages from women telling me, ‘thanks to you, I’m going to file a complaint.’ “

First of all, don’t lose your self-confidence. Listen to that voice that takes you in the right direction. I had doubts, everybody has doubts, I had doubts at times. But I would tell [other survivors]: don’t have shame, don’t be ashamed, don’t be afraid, confront your aggressor. We all have a force, we all have a strength inside that we can use to help us stride forward. Keep your eyes on the future, look ahead. Look ahead and stand tall in your dignity.”

It’s possible that Buddhist ethics and Buddhist authority structures could support transparency, accountability and the centering survivors…however both our ethnographic and our  textual research has shown us that this hasn’t been the norm historically or in the contemporary Buddhist world. Again and again, Buddhist organizations and the teachers that lead them move to protect themselves, their revenue streams and the reputation of their lineages at the expense of survivors.”