Most of the piece was self-indulgent babble.

The essence of the bullshit in this piece is that Dzongsar blames

students for rejecting and abandoning deluded gurus when those students find out about the delusion of their deluded
guru. It is not fair, it is not rational, and it is pure superstition to imagine that attending a ritual, no matter how
profound and meaningful when administered by a realized person to a group of well prepared students, creates an
irreversible bond when administered by foolish and deluded teachers. No one imagines that attending a monastic
ordination lead by a madman would have any force at all. Such thinking represents the worst example of the fetter of
attachment to rules and rituals. Indeed, this whole idea comes from such fettered thinking.

Why should we imagine that empowerments administered to poorly educated Western Dharma students by deluded
fools who imagine themselves gurus, whether Tibetan or any other ethnicity, would have any binding power via
samaya other than through accepting an irrational interpretation of how rites that impart Vajrayāna vows actually
function? Most people have no idea what is happening when they attend empowerments. They do not understand the
visualizations as they happen, and so on. Even if the gurus in question are realized, if the student does not
understand what is going on, no samaya is transmitted.

I would suggest, honestly, that there are probably few people who actually have samaya at all among so called
Vajrayāna students—— by and large because they have no idea what is happening during empowerments, direct
introductions, and so on. There is no magic bond created by an empowerment, none whatsoever. The only true bond
or samaya we have is our understanding of Dharma, how deep it goes, and our appreciation of the teacher and
community within which this blossoms.

The other samayas are relative. But it is the relative ones that receive all the attention. Even in terms of relative
samaya, samaya is something that gradually builds, matures, and becomes deeper as the student matures in their
understanding of profound Secret Mantra.

I would suggest also that there are very few gurus alive today who can actually impart samayas, since they have not
realized the meaning of the teachings they are imparting. I will discuss this in the conclusion.

When we think about debacles like Rikpa (as it presently exists), we should not even be discussing the issue of
breaking samaya. First of all it is bad for the students. It demoralizes them. Secondly, we are not sure that they have
samaya from Sogyal. It has yet to be determined that he ever was a qualified teacher. If he was never a qualified
teacher, they never received samaya. When we read comments such as the one below it is seem very questionable
whether Sogyal is a qualified teacher, (the part of the article which is not bullshit, apart from just a little):

 I know a little about Sogyal Rinpoche because I have visited several Rigpa centres and have witnessed the
Rigpa set-up first hand. To be frank, I didn’t see enough evidence to convince me that the appropriate
warnings had been given, or that adequate foundations had been laid, or that the fundamental teachings
were properly given. On several occasions it seemed to me that some of the students had been Christians
until perhaps the day before they attended the teaching, then suddenly, 24-hours later, they were hearing
about guru devotion, receiving pointing out instructions and practising Guru Yoga – it was as extreme as
that.

If that’s how it happened – if no proper warnings and no fundamental training were given prior to the
Vajrayana teachings¬ ¬– then Sogyal Rinpoche is even more in the wrong than his critical students. Why?
Because it is his responsibility to prepare the ground in accordance with the Vajrayana’s prescribed and
well-established foundation teachings and practice. There is no question that the person with the greater
knowledge, power and therefore responsibility is also more culpable when those obligations are not
fulfilled.

If Sogyal is in the wrong, and did not prepare his students properly, this automatically means he is an unqualified
teacher and his students have no samaya with him at all, apart from as a Vajra brother. If Sogyal is in the wrong, it is
axiomatic that his critical students are not in the wrong at all, from a samaya point of view, and thus this line is
bullshit because they have no samaya with him.
Dzongsar also says this, which is 2% bullshit, 96% ok, and 2% requires a little more comment. Ok part in green;
bullshit part in red, other part in orange:

 If the teacher and student have reached a genuine understanding about the path being practised, and if all
the necessary and appropriate foundations have been laid and a clear idea of possible consequences
conveyed, but the student still has a wrong view and acts on it by slandering and criticizing the teacher,
then, according to tantra, that student will face grave and unimaginable consequences.

But the same also applies to the teacher. In fact, if the teacher hasn’t laid the proper foundations, if the
teacher takes advantage of a student physically, emotionally or financially, and if the teacher gives the
highest yoga tantric teachings to those who have not established a proper foundation and as a result an
immature student breaks the most fundamental root samayas, then the teacher will also suffer extremely
grave consequences – consequences even more serious and terrible than those faced by the student.

With respect to the section marked in orange: the serious and terrible consequences to a student that has been taken
advantage of by a guru or teacher is that their trust in Dharma might be damaged for some time in this life or even
multiple lifetimes, and they may suffering secret obstacles which prevent them from applying the Dharma. This is
what renders the broken samaya of a teacher irreparable.

In short, people should consult the Rigpa Rangshar's chapter on samaya and cease laying blame on blameless
students who have the misfortune of choosing mad guides. It not fair, it is not just, it is not right, it is not rational,
and should not be accepted regardless of what the traditions seems to say on the matter because to take all this
literally is merely an expression of the fetter of attachment to rules and rituals. What do I mean by "literally?" By
"literal" I mean that empowerments given by gurus who are not truly realized have very little force. They have very
little force to produce realization in their disciples, for many, many reasons. Likewise, they also have very little
power to impart any real samaya.

The reasons why we see so much broken samaya today is not the fault of students, it is the fault of too many
unrealized teachers giving empowerments which they are not qualified to give in the first place.

Oh, and BTW, bringing up Naropa and Tilopa, etc. is bullshit. Please stop doing it. The twelves trials are just stories,
didactic stories to show what a huge egotist Naropa was. They doubtless have some basis, but they are exaggerated
way beyond anything anyone can reasonably accept as anything other than Indian/Tibetan dramatic hyperbole.