Case
No. 31/2017: Ken Wilber
ETHICAL JUDGMENT
Dear Prosecutor, Public Defender,
Ambassador and Jury Members of the International
Buddhist Ethics Committee (IBEC) and Buddhist
Tribunal on Human Rights (BTHR), regarding the Case 31-2017 against "Ken Wilber", on September 19,
2017, it is hereby recorded that the trial of the Ethics Committee has been
concluded to analyze the violation of Buddhist Ethics and Human Rights
perpetrated by the accused. This Case has been carried out based on the legal
implications of the Universal Declaration
on Buddhism as Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
After the analysis of the
presentation of the Case and the validation of an enormous amount of evidence,
it has proceeded with the voting of 8 members of the Jury, who have judged "Ken Wilber" as Responsible for the serious crimes of Academic
Dishonesty, Spiritual Scam and False Buddhism, Violation of Buddhist Law, Crime
against Buddhist Cultural Heritage and Violation of Human Rights.
In the first part of the Evidence
of the Case, it has been analyzed the fact that Wilber illegitimately presents himself as the creator of Purna (Integral) Buddhism, or at least
he generates the illusion of being it, which is a fraudulent act that may be
considered as theft (adinnadana) by
the Buddhist Legal Code (Vinaya), cheating those who buy his books by
presenting a false spiritual vision that manipulates the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Buddhism and violating the Buddhist Law and the collective rights
of the Spiritual Commune (Sangha), which constitutes a violation of
International Human Rights Law. Plagiarism would be demonstrated by the misappropriation of Purna
(Integral) Buddhism, publishing this idea as if it were the creation of his
own original work. This practice of academic
dishonesty is considered a very serious immoral offense, even deserving the
penalty of expulsion in certain fields, such as associations, companies and
educational institutions. Even though plagiarism in itself is not penalized by
Criminal and Civil Law, certainly the use of ideas from others in order to gain
economic revenue may constitute the definition of fraud. While within academic circles plagiarism involves academic
fraud, in the same way, in Buddhist fields plagiarism involves spiritual fraud,
both fields sharing the creation of internal disciplinary committees where the
act of expulsion is often considered as an adequate punishment in addressing
this immoral behavior that makes the responsible person loses all credibility
and integrity.
In the Vinaya Pitaka, theft (adinnadana) is considered one of the
most serious crimes of the Buddhist Legal Code along with murder (manussaviggaha) and self-adjudication
of paranormal powers (uttarimanussadhamma).
In addition, the Sutta Pitaka
prohibits not only the act of theft (adinnadana),
but also other acts committed by the accused, such as lying (musavada),
intemperance (surameraya), slanderous speech (pisunavaca), discourteous
discourse (pharusavaca) and false heretical visions (Micchaditthi) such as
those of the eternalism (sassatavada). Buddhist
Spirituality also condemns the fact to consider misunderstandings and erroneous
practices as Truth, which is something that Ken Wilber constantly makes, according to the evidences.
Accordingly, as developed by the International Buddhist Ethics Committee
in the second part of the Case, even if Wilber
was the legitimate creator of the Purna (Integral) Buddhist model before
than the Maitriyana, even faced with this remote possibility, all Charges for
which he is accused can be adequately demonstrated by examining his thinking,
word and conduct, allowing to evaluate whether Wilber has academic, ethical, and spiritual legitimacy to pose a
new pathway of Buddhism. In this sense, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee has objectively
demonstrated that throughout his life Wilber
has violated the Buddhist precepts, conveying a wrong vision of Buddhism and an
erroneous vision of Meditation. It has been shown that throughout his entire
life Wilber has trained with and
provided spiritual support to various spiritual teachers who showed abusive,
psychopathological, discriminatory and criminal behavior. It has been shown
that throughout his life Wilber has
transmitted an inadequate or incorrect
kind of Spirituality, simultaneously developing a system of dishonest
academic thought with traits of pseudo-religion, pseudo-science and
pseudo-philosophy. It has been demonstrated that throughout his entire life Wilber has not only maintained
right-wing political ideology, but he also had defended ethnocentric ideas, the
latter being a clear violation of human rights. In addition, it has been
correctly proved that the motive or the root cause of this misbehavior on the
part of Wilber is a narcissistic
personality that is prone to sectarianism, perfectly explaining his need to
manipulate Buddhist Spirituality for his own selfish purposes.
By carefully analyzing the public
works of the accused, the International
Buddhist Ethics Committee has found that Wilber totally lacks knowledge of Buddhist Spirituality, to which
he mistakenly considers as a religion and
cult. During his Spiritual Path, Wilber
has violated the five essential ethical precepts of Buddhism, resorting to
physical and verbal violence, he has consumed alcohol, has stolen and
commercialized concepts, has maintained inappropriate sexual behaviors, has
lied about his spiritual status, and also about the sources of his
philosophical visions. The wrong understanding about Buddhism of the accused is
of immense proportions, since he has come to claim that, in comparison with a
modern sage, Siddhartha Gautama was half enlightened,
even claiming that Gautama did not fully realize the non-duality of Nagarjuna, which demonstrates a level of disrespect
and deep ignorance about Buddhist Philosophy. In introducing his alleged new vision, Wilber not only ignores that Buddhism has already had its own
systems of justice and medicine for thousands of years, but he also manipulates
Gautama's spiritual tradition by stating that Buddhism should be linked to the world of business and money in
industrialized society, because according to Wilber, in case of maintaining an attitude of detachment toward
money, then Buddhism would be hypocritical,
pathetic, retarded, regressive, low-cost and obscene. This antispiritual
aberration is nothing more than a capitalist manipulation against the Buddhist
Spirituality, trying to pervert it by means of immoral and superficial ideas. Wilber not only perverts Buddhism by
introducing a totally anti-Buddhist concept, which is the project of the soul in union with God, but he also says
that the Spirit existed before the Big Bang, appealing to the most vulgar,
pseudo-scientific and deceitful kind of metaphysics that exists, for as the
Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso has stated, Buddhism criticizes all kinds of vision
about an eternal transcendent being, soul or fundamental substrate of reality. Wilber not only violates Buddhist
Spirituality by introducing eternalist,
substantialist, and theistic traits, but also disqualifies the best
thinkers of the world - within whom Gautama is found - who do not postulate
such transcendent Spirit. Wilber not
only insults Zen when considering it as a weak and incomplete system, but he
also states that meditation can worsen a psychopathology and that therapy would
be much better, which demonstrates the profound ignorance he has on Buddhist
Psychology, even going so far as to say in a completely delusional way that those who meditate and simultaneously lift
weights progress more than those who only meditate, stating that the
contemporary technologies of the brain allow the subject to be able to enter
deep meditative states in just minutes. Wilber
not only creates maps of Buddhist spiritual traditions that he did not study
properly, but he also states that Buddhist meditation does not allow to see the
patterns of his model, so according to the accused, Buddhism is full of invisible pathologies that promote
narcissism, which is a statement that demonstrates that Wilber creates a distorted and
commercial vision, developing a corrupt and dishonest Pseudo-Spirituality that
conveys deceit and ignorance instead of Truth and Liberation. Wilber not only manifests that Buddhist
meditation is incomplete and that his method of meditation is the only
integrative form of contemplation, but also says that meditation causes the
human being to grow in God, which demonstrates that his methods are closer to
commercial self-help than to Buddhism. Wilber
not only lies by saying that Buddhists have performed terrorist acts with sarin
gas in Japan, but also in his presentation of Purna (Integral) Buddhism, Wilber
states that Adi Da was an example of a postmodern
master, even though this false spiritual master has been charged with
terrible criminal activities such as repeated sexual assault, brainwashing,
scamming, torture, drug addiction, kidnapping, violence, theft, psychic abuse
and psychosis. Wilber has come to
claim that the criminal Adi Da knows more about Buddhism than the very Gautama,
characterizing such criminal as a religious hero and a supreme enlightened
spiritual master, which shows Wilber's
participation in this damaging cult as a disciple of this false spiritual
teacher. Wilber has not only
criticized Adi Da for his isolation, but has also explicitly and publicly
endorsed the extreme violent methods of Andrew Cohen, who is another false
spiritual teacher with authoritarian and sectarian tendencies that fosters a
cult of personality. Wilber not only
censors or insults most of the critics of his works and borrows ideas from
other authors without recognizing them the credit, but also has created a cult
group to his personality where rational autonomy and critical thinking are set
aside, following the same sectarian behavior than Adi Da and Andrew Cohen. Wilber not only manifests that
Aurobindo and Nityananda were enlightened sages, although they had clearly
psychotic behaviors, but also he presents a totally delirious and childish
scheme that classifies reality into a hierarchy of colors, proving that his theories
are neither scientific nor philosophical. Wilber
not only separates Spirituality from ethical development, which gives rise to
debauchery and abuses, but also his own model of Spirituality confuses the maps of reality with the territories or experiences of the Real. Wilber not only says that God is behind
everything that happens in the Cosmos, even behind the results of democratic
elections, but he also develops dogmatic, deceitful, elitist, reductionist and
intolerant ideas. Wilber not only
teaches an egocentric and narcissistic pseudo-philosophy, but also constantly
transmits errors, lies, deceptions, inaccuracies, manipulations, circular
logics and irrational arguments, violently reacting to corrections and
intellectual debate. Wilber not only
discredits and misinterprets theories through academic dishonesty, criticizing
disciplines without being appropriately studied them, in addition to taking
advantage of the naivety and ignorance of his followers by creating false
eclectic syntheses, but he also constantly falsifies or fabricates scientific
data that were never made, which is considered one of the worst acts of
academic dishonesty. Wilber catalogs
his critics as inferior, although they have already refuted almost all his
theories, thus violating the procedures of scientific method and philosophical
debate. Wilber not only supports
negationism of global warming, which states that climate change is a conspiracy
of scientists, but he also produces a total abandonment of science by
supporting a creationist vision in which the evolution of Universe is driven by
a Spirit or God, ignoring the fact that the contemporary theory of Multiverse has destroyed any kind of
creationist argument. Wilber not
only does not convey a superior reason, but is also part of a movement of
metaphysical and pseudoscientific irrationality with less knowledge than a high
school child, proving that the motivations behind his books are commercial,
dishonest and lacking in integrity. Wilber
not only considers in an Eurocentric way that Western technological
societies are superior to agrarian societies, but also has a fascist vision
with respect to native tribal peoples, to whom he denies access to the highest
levels of reason and Spirituality, being an idea that violates the
International Law for being used frequently in the exterminations and ethnic
cleansings that occurred in history. Wilber
has a right-wing political vision and very close to the North American
imperialist capitalism, supporting leaders such as Tony Blair even though they
participated in genocides and war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
All this bad behavior and
manipulation of the Buddhist Spirituality that Wilber makes intentionally distorts and partially destroys the
integrity of the Buddhist Peoples' cultural tradition, which constitutes a
violation of cultural human rights, as it is expressed in International Law
conventions. As has been developed in the jurisprudence of the Case Yoga Beer, the attitude of cultural
colonialism against indigenous peoples that destroys their values, knowledge
and traditions constitutes a violation of human dignity or Buddha-nature. Since
conservation, promotion, protection and development of the tangible or
intangible cultural heritage is one of the supreme human rights, Wilber's actions are totally
condemnable in the light of the juridical systems of Buddhism and also to the
International Law.
Following the Buddhist Legal Code
(Vinaya), the International Buddhist
Ethics Committee makes an act of
disapproval (Tajjaniyakamma) against Ken
Wilber for creating unnecessary disputes and conflicts, for having immoral
habits and not practicing good habits, for not having righteous visions and
despising the Buddha-Dharma-Sangha, so it is sanctioned that the accused should
refrain from teaching or giving spiritual guidance to others indefinitely, much
less giving commandments to others or establishing himself as spiritual
authority.
The International Buddhist Ethics Committee considers that the root of
all this bad behavior is that Wilber not
only reveals pathological traits of narcissism, hysteria, sarcasm, arrogance,
fear, anger, egocentrism, defensiveness, vulgarity, immaturity, paranoia and
authoritarianism, but in addition he promotes a corrupt and commercial vision
of Buddhist Spirituality, believing to be enlightened when in fact he evidences
traits of an advanced narcissistic disorder. In the present case, it has been
perceived that Ken Wilber has the
psychic characteristics corresponding to narcissism disorders, which by their
intensity, frequency and reiteration cannot be considered merely as errors, but
as patterns that are a product of an extreme individualism that go against the
traditions of the Spiritual Commune (Sangha). The fact that a thinker is
obsessed with staying young and strong is already something of a frivolous and
superficial mind attached to the culture of image. However, the real problem of
narcissistic omnipotence is that it achieves imaginary satisfactions, which
produces the real effect of failing to adequately respond to the stimuli of
life in terms of stages or evolutionary needs of the human being, since every
object and subject that does not match with that satisfaction or imaginary
completeness is considered as an enemy by the narcissistic subject. From the International Buddhist Ethics Committee's
perspective, Wilber's narcissistic
disorder is due to a fixation or attachment to a phase of child development
that was not adequately overcome, which corresponds to a structural pathology
in which the child internalizes objects that fail to fulfill the adequate
function of Self. This narcissistic disorder is characterized by inhibition of
empathy, disinhibition of anger and pathological lying, activating a glorious,
omnipotent and childlike image of self in order to unconsciously attempt to
construct the missing aspects of a healthy psychic structure. The International Buddhist Ethics Committee
states that Wilber suffers from
pathological narcissism for being excessively self-centered, which distorts
both external relations with others, by responding defensively to them, as well
as distorts inner ambitions by making them disproportionate and grandiose,
having an exaggerated dependence on the admiration and homage coming from
others. Another characteristic feature of this pathological disorder suffered
by the accused is the inability to learn along with the chronic experience of
loneliness not shared with others, which is expressed through the illusory
feeling of being alone on top of the
world. Using the most basic knowledge on clinical psychopathology, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee
reveals that Ken Wilber's
narcissistic personality disorder is clearly evident in the fact that he
experiences a huge sense of self-importance, exaggerating his achievements and
abilities by waiting to be recognized as a higher being; Narcissism makes Wilber to feel like a being with a
unique and special status that can only be understood by an elite of people,
being attached to fantasies of success and unlimited power where he is
recognized by his brilliance; Narcissism causes Wilber to demand excessive attention or admiration, being
pretentious and lacking empathy; Narcissism causes Wilber to envy others, and also that he believes that others envy
him, showing arrogant behavior and proud attitudes, in addition to react to
criticism with rage or humiliation. This means that the psychic disorder
suffered by the accused not only drives him to exaggerate his achievements, but
also to the underestimation of the achievements of others, possessing a
self-esteem so vulnerable and involuted that makes him feel that criticisms are
an outrage. For this reason, the narcissism disorder often leads to social
withdrawal, making the accused to feel his vanity and self-admiration are a
self-sufficient way of existing, although this individualistic and selfish
bubble lacks enriching bonds with others, which are often eluded by fear
frustration or anguish they may provoke, which would make that Wilber questions the omnipotence he
feels. Narcissistic personality disorder is evidenced in Wilber by a pattern of illusory grandiosity in thought, word, and
behavior, having a level of need for admiration and attention that is not in
line with adult life. When he believes himself to be superior to others, the
accused demands special treatment and attacks others when he does not receive
it, especially seeking to discredit the persons who overshadow him, since
narcissistic disorder implies a strong self-esteem that simultaneously hides
true deficient self-esteem. Although the narcissistic personality disorder
causes the accused to be very intelligent and usually manipulating people so
that they believe he is right, this disorder also drives him to feel that he
always has answers and expert knowledge in all subjects, although he does not
really know the discipline in question, which is obviously a weakness that
leave him vulnerable in the face of critical knowledge of genuine scholars. Thus,
Wilber often defends himself from
critics by means of a very simple narcissistic defensive mechanism, by arguing
that the others are one or several steps below him, which is a huge lack of
empathy showing an underdevelopment of mirror
neurons, which are those in charge of putting in the place of the others.
Suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder is not only regrettable but
also contrary to Buddhist Spirituality, because it is a constant yearning for
fantasies of fame and brilliance that will never materialize. Because the
accused suffers from narcissistic disorder, he probably does not attend any
kind of therapeutic practice, because this disorder makes the individual feel
as if he has not flaw or void at all, perceiving that the world and not he
himself is the one who is wrong. In this way, the narcissistic personality
disorder is one of the most challenging or almost intractable pathologies of
psychology, maintaining a structural inability to depend on therapeutic help,
as this type of disorder makes the individual feel that seeking help is an
unbearable humiliation. There is, however, the possibility that in the future
Wilber may experience improvement and even Cure, which depends on decreasing
envy and contempt for others, developing altruism and mature capacities of
wisdom and compassion. From the perspective of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee, the psychic structure of
the accused corresponds to an archaic and primitive Ego because the development
of an adequate psychic structure was hampered in childhood possibly due to the
lack of empathic care of the caretakers, which led to a deficit in the formation
of healthy and mature relationships. In this sense, Ken Wilber's love relationships are dominated by childish
tendencies and narcissistic attitudes related to an immature structure of the
Ego as a possible consequence of the lack of empathy on the part of parental
figures. The International Buddhist
Ethics Committee makes available to the accused all the help he needs in
order to be able to heal himself, since Buddhist Spirituality has the
capability of guiding Ken Wilber
toward the growth of a mature and altruistic psychic structure. Thus, the
Ethical Judgment offered is centered on showing that the great pathological Ego
of the accused must be urgently replaced by the mature development of the Self
capable of establishing healthy and adequate relationships with others.
Therefore, it is recorded that the International
Buddhist Ethics Committee does not consider Wilber to be ill or lacking in skills, but simply as someone with
disorganized resources, as he has not been appropriately guided (neither by his
parental figures nor by his masters) to be able to reconstruct the material he
already has. This psychological evaluation by the International Buddhist Ethics Committee, based on the accused's
backgrounds and the seriousness of symptoms, does not have the Purpose (Dharma)
to humiliate him but rather to help him find the Path of Righteousness and Cure
(Nirvana) by means of a diagnosis of the causes of his suffering, since the
presence of egocentrism and the absence of empathy are leading Wilber through a psychopathological
pathway, which is the same pathway followed by those he admired, such as Adi
Da, Cohen and other false gurus. Undoubtedly, metapsychological practices, such
as Buddhist Psychology and Psychoanalysis, can help the accused to relate to
others in a wiser and more compassionate way. Instead of practicing Hindu
meditation, which certainly strengthens narcissism, it is recommended that the
accused practice Buddhist Meditation and Psychoanalysis.
Thus, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee urges Wilber to initiate a therapeutic process under the guidance of a
qualified professional, while simultaneously training properly in Spirituality
- not simply reading books - in order to attempt to eradicate the causes of his
immoral behavior. Even the great philosopher Aristotle understood that virtue
is not acquired by reading books or by being in solitude, but it is acquired
through the practice of virtues, deliberating with others about the nature of
good. Therefore, Ken Wilber is
offered the present Ethical Judgment as a way of Buddhist teaching on Righteous and Adequate Spirituality,
which is a practice that the Maitriyana incorporates into the Noble Path of
Buddhism. If Wilber is trained under
the guidance of a genuine Buddhist master then he will surely have a true
understanding of meditation, wisdom, and the ethic of Spirituality. In short, Ken Wilber has much to learn about the
implications of Purna (Integral)
Buddhism of Maitriyana.
The attitude of Buddhism toward
other spiritualities or religions has always been critical tolerance and empathic
adaptability, recognizing the supreme human right to freedom of thought and
expression. However, being empty of dogmatism does not imply the debauchery of
allowing false ideas to be propagated about Buddhist Spirituality, reason by
which the spiritual commune (sangha) has corrective and restorative procedures
to purify itself from false visions. Even Gautama has repeatedly stated that
his teachings must be accepted after a critical examination and never accepted
only out of respect for him. This means that Buddhist Spirituality can accept
or reject certain types of visions after analyzing them rationally and
experimentally. In this sense, in implementing the practice of the adequate
understanding or philosophy (samma-ditthi) it is clearly distinguished that Ken Wilber's thought is an unfounded
faith (amulika saddha) rather than a rational faith (akaravati saddha).
Although Buddhism rejects materialism, undoubtedly its pursuit of Truth is
closer to the scientific method and farther from the metaphysical method of Wilber.
In the Sandaka Sutta the Buddhist
Spirituality establishes the existence of four false pseudo-religions (abrahmacariya-vasa) and also four
non-consolatory religions (anassasikam).
By stating the need for spirituality to have moral values, freedom,
responsibility and non-inevitability of Salvation, it is argued that the four
pseudo-religions are materialism, amoral religious philosophy, religious
philosophy that denies free will, and metaphysics of deterministic evolution
that affirms the inevitability of the Liberation of all beings. In this way,
according to Buddhist Spirituality, Ken
Wilber's model is a pseudorreligion
because it supports religious philosophies without any moral, at the same time
that it raises the existence of a Spirit that determines the evolution of
beings. On the other hand, the four non-consolatory religions, according to
Buddhism, are religious philosophy with an omniscient founder, religious
philosophy based on revelation, religious philosophy founded on metaphysical
speculation, and pragmatic-agnostic religious philosophy. In this way,
according to Buddhist Spirituality, the model of Ken Wilber is also a non-consolatory
religion because it has speculative arguments and metaphysical foundations,
failing to transmit the good life
through the Noble Path. Indeed, the
fundamental requirement for a Spirituality to have Free and Enlightened Beings
(Arhats-Bodhisattvas) is that Spirituality has its basis on the Noble Eightfold Path, as taught by
Gautama to the wandering ascetic Subhadda. Ken
Wilber not only fails to follow the Noble
Eightfold Path, but also fails to Buddhist Spirituality for being an
individual who has not abandoned the preconceptions about soul as an aspect of
personality. Wilber fails Buddhist
Spirituality for being convinced that there is a permanent or firm spirit
within the Cosmos. Wilber fails
Buddhist Spirituality for not having study and a clear understanding of the
Buddha-Dharma-Sangha. Wilber fails
Buddhist Spirituality by not following a pure ethical life. Wilber fails Buddhist Spirituality for
having behaviors of greed (lobha), hatred (dosa) and ignorance (moha), instead of practicing charity and compassionate
wisdom (karuna-prajña). Obviously, greed is not only sensual gratification but
also attachment to egocentric goals, such as greed for power, fame and
recognition. Wilber fails the
Buddhist Spirituality by maintaining eternalist metaphysical ideas that have
already been surpassed and transcended by the Middle Way of Gautama two
thousand six hundred years ago. Thus, in the Majjhima Nikāya, Gautama taught a Middle Way that abandons the
opposite poles of eternalism (sassatavada)
and nihilism (ucchedavada),
considering that both systems are not faithful to the Truth and do not free
people from suffering, but are tied to greed, aversion and unconsciousness.
Although Buddhism assumes the integrative and tolerant perspective of
inclusivist pluralism, never considering that Truth is achieved through a
single tradition, it certainly considers that Spirituality should never have
selfish and substantialist tendencies, because otherwise it would lead to
narcissism and to prejudice instead of leading to Liberation and Awakening.
Buddhism offers a model of
alternative civilization based on pluralism and integration, teaching the power
of understanding and cooperation among all nations and religions of the world.
In this way, the Maitriyana promotes interspiritual harmony through overcoming
the superficial divisions between doctrines and traditions. This means an
inclusive, dialectical and reconciling attitude that works for the harmony of all
sentient beings, embodying the voice of peace, justice, education and health in
society. While Baumann rightly considers that the Globalized and Postmodern Buddhism is the Integrative Buddhism, he is undoubtedly confused when thinking that
this integral vision is expressed by the interdenominational
Western Buddhism of Govinda and Sangharakshita, or Goldstein's, who
actually propose an eclectic or syncretic
Buddhism. This means that modern Buddhism, which eclectically takes
elements from different traditions, is not really the Purna (Integral) Buddhism proposed by the Maitriyana, since it
should never be confused synthesis with a mere mixture of diverse elements. In addition, the
Maitriyana proves to be the broader pathway that exists not only because of its
Purna (Integral) Buddhism which
performs an intra-spiritual unity
among multiple Buddhist schools, but also because it has a model of Super-Integral (Maha-Purna) Buddhism
that performs an inter-spiritual unity
among multiple spiritual traditions around the world.
From
the point of view of Critical Buddhism (Higan
Bukkyo), which belongs to Modern Buddhism, it would not hesitate to
sentence Ken Wilber's
pseudo-religious vision as a False Buddhism
that returns to the Anti-Buddhist notions of Atman or substantial foundation, which contradicts the notion of
the interdependent co-arising defended by Buddhist Spirituality. In addition,
the ideas defending the metaphysical substrate of existence tend to be at the
service of the authorities in power, rather than trying to liberate people from
oppression. In tune with Master Dogen's critique of Senika's heresy, denouncing the idea of a Spirit that survives
death, the perspective of Critical Buddhism serves to reveal the heretical
nature of Wilber's substantialist
ideas that violate the normative principle of Anatman developed by Gautama. Far from being an evolution of Buddhism, Wilber's deceitful ideas attempt to
carry out an involution of Buddhism,
making it to return to the traditional Hindu source. Hence, postmodernism and
Critical Buddhism oppose to Wilber's
ideas for being anthropocentric and centered on the metaphysics of identity. From
Gautama to Maitriyana, all genuine Buddhist masters have rejected the idea of
Spirit or eternal supreme substrate that Wilber
illegally presents as part of Purna
(Integral) Buddhism. In addition, Wilber
has ideas that are very close to North American capitalist imperialism, which
is ethically inadequate, being opposed to the orientation of social reform
proposed by Purna (Integral) Buddhism.
Undoubtedly, through Maitriyana, the Purna
(Integral) Buddhism works to eradicate war, social injustice, ignorance and
pollution, instead of defending metaphysical ideas that are functional to the
status quo. Purna (Integral) Buddhism defends
the purity of the ideas of Freedom, Equality and Fraternity, recognizing the
human and non-human rights, since it is the highest incarnation of fundamental
freedoms. Precisely, through commitment to Truth and without any resentment, Purna (Integral) Buddhism criticizes Ken Wilber's ideas by declaring them
false and full of greed, aversion, and unconsciousness. In contrast, Purna (Integral) Buddhism advocated by
Maitriyana is based on non-selfishness and compassionate wisdom
(karuna-prajña), being a critical and counter-cultural force in the face of the
establishment. Therefore, Purna
(Integral) Buddhism declares the absolute illegitimacy of Wilber's thought.
In conclusion, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee
has the Purpose (Dharma) to create an international community purified and
guided by Adequate Liberation and Knowledge, which implies criticizing alleged
spiritual thinkers and philosophers who fail to develop a Righteous and Adequate Spirituality. Therefore, it is established
that Ken Wilber is violating the
Buddhist Law and Ethics, especially by breaking the Cultural Heritage of
Buddhist Peoples by teaching a manipulated vision of spiritual practices and
traditions. In this sense, it is not only recommended that the accused initiates
a therapeutic training and training with an appropriate spiritual master,
making a self-criticism and publicly apologizing to all those he has attacked
during his life, but also he is asked to donate any income he has earned
through the distorted dissemination of the cultural heritage of Buddhist
Spirituality to charitable organizations. Undoubtedly, those academics who
write about Spirituality need to be ethically supervised by spiritual masters
in order to avoid manipulations and distortions of ancient traditions,
especially when writers often distort sacred knowledge for economic and
commercial purposes, for in the capitalist civilization all vulgarization of
Spirituality is something that is more successful than the deep knowledge of
the traditions of the past. Without an ethical Purpose, writers and scholars
who disseminate spiritual knowledge simply become mere superficial self-help
experts. Only by practicing the Path of Adequate Spirituality, as prescribed by
Buddhist Law, Ken Wilber will be
able to effectively teach a genuine knowledge that is capable of assisting the
Liberation of all humankind, instead of transmitting distortions and maps of
reality which should be discarded like any mandala.
In this way, this Case constitutes a great teaching both for the accused and
for every thinker who transmits Buddhist spiritual knowledge, proving perfectly
that without Meditation, Wisdom and Ethics all knowledge leads to a distorted
vision of Spirituality.
Following the Path of Master
Gautama, who sowed the foundations of the Adequate
Integral Spirituality through the Noble Path, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee supervises that writers and
masters of Spirituality are righteous and ethical, never distorting or
manipulating the Cultural Heritage of the Buddhist Peoples, so that Ken Wilber has been sentenced as Responsible for Academic Dishonesty, Spiritual
Scam and False Buddhism, Violation of Buddhist Law, Crime against Buddhist
Cultural Heritage and Violation of Human Rights.
In pursuit of reconciliation
(maitri),
Master Maitreya Samyaksambuddha
President and Spiritual Judge of
the International Buddhist Ethics Committee
(IBEC) and Buddhist Tribunal on
Human Rights (BTHR)
