I found this talk, hearing the wise and beautiful voices of the larger ATS community, the level of transparency, and clarity, heartening. to Matthew, and all the guiding ATS teachers, thank you for your huge capacity to stand with grace in the face of all that has unfolded. sending blessings and light as this shattering, rebirth, and transition continues. i know something beautiful will rise from the ashes, and indeed already is.
Id like to note that I dont know the full details of this guys situation. what I will say is, if a person teaches the dharma yet doesn't walk it does that really mean his teachings are useless? It is evident that he has helped many on the path. Hope all is well with the community, the ones who feel harmed, and I hope Noah finds peace.
It wasn't handled well on the Facebook page. There was a sense of 'cover-up' which could have been resolved before the decisions made. Updates on where the process was at would have been helpful. One of the threads discussing the problem was deleted and that made myself and others leave the group. I was very disappointed. You can always address the needs of people before a decision or the completion of a process. It's like working in retail and you're too busy to take on new customers but you acknowledge them anyway. It's a learned skill. Learn it!
Brad Warner posted about the best possible comment about this the other day (ua-cam.com/video/FYxeDLffnl8/v-deo.html) to the effect of: be wary of teachers who make a big deal about themselves as part of stuff. He's right. And I'm sad. And I'm mad at Noah. He changed my life. Well, his teachings changed my life. I know it doesn't mean that what I've gotten & what I've experienced is shit. It does mean that other people may not be able to experience the things that I've gotten from the teachings. And that's fucked up.
It's amazing how unbuddhist Noah's behavior is. He's supposed to be a f*cking teacher but obviously he doesn't practice what he preaches. So, he runs to do his Refuge Recovery (which probably makes him good money) and he hasn't owned up to this in any way shape or form. To some (I guess the degree to which is open for debate) he has caused harm by his actions, yet he continues to deny any responsibility. He let a lot of people down, and it's sad that his life has taken this turn. If he came out and just owned up to the harm he has caused and asked for forgiveness he could salvage his reputation, but by acting the way he has he only hurts himself.
Open letter to the communities of Refuge Recovery and Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. This is a complicated letter to write because I am essentially writing three groups of people in one open letter. I have a completely different perspective of my experiences with each of you individually and as groups of people. I’m going to approach this with compassion, willingness to listen and attempt to make sense of what is a layered, messy, painful situation. I feel that it’s important for everyone to know that none of this had anything to do with students of ATS or members of Refuge Recovery. These were issues that came from my personal life. I take full responsibility for anything that I have actually done. And will continue to be honest and cooperative with the process and anyone seeking the truth. That said, I will likewise also continue to tell the truth about what never happened, such as the accusation that I assaulted someone. To the women who have come forward and expressed a sense of suffering because of interpersonal experiences with me, I am sorry I caused you harm and I ask your forgiveness. I wanted to connect and to explore a relationship. This has been a deeply painful learning experience. I want to take full responsibility for any harm I caused to anyone and everyone with whom I have had a dating relationship. I want to make amends for my behavior if it didn’t feel good to them. I don’t want to defend or minimize. It is important to me that any woman who felt harmed, now feels heard. I want to understand. It matters. I was shocked to hear (months later) that someone was unhappy in any way with our interactions. I was not aware at the time that anything was amiss with how we connected. Whenever a boundary was stated - physical, emotional, or otherwise - I always honored it. This is part of the learning for me in all of this - that just because someone doesn’t say “No” or express displeasure at the time, doesn’t always mean they are happy about it. I can also see that I wasn’t taking into account my power/privilege and status as a dharma teacher in my personal dating life. Perhaps I’ve had some denial or dismissive tendencies around my role as the founder of these two communities (ATS and RR). This has been a very painful way to wake up to the reality of who I am and how I’m seen by others. For my communities, my heart breaks that intimate experiences from my personal life have caused a ripple effect that has made our community fragment. I can’t explain to you the depth of my sadness as I think of each of you and what has come to be a community trauma. I am especially sensitive to the needs of the recovery community and I encourage you to lean on each other. Against the Stream may not exist in name, but the community still exists in each other. Refuge Recovery meetings are a peer-led process, support each-other and continue the necessary work of your own healing and recovery. In moments like this we must remember even more to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. For my colleagues, I feel betrayed and abandoned. You were my family. We taught compassion and forgiveness together. I feel you did the opposite. You silenced me. You isolated me. You did not give me the benefit of the doubt, and you offered me no path to forgiveness and healing. As a community we face the painful reality of all that has taken place and we now have the task of beginning the process of grieving the losses, navigating the changes and rebuilding the trust and connection that we once had. I have every intention of carrying on with my calling and mission, that is to practice the Dharma, to embody wisdom and compassion as best I can and to share the teachings of the Buddha with all who are interested to receive it. I will continue my work at Refuge Recovery Treatment Centers providing addiction treatment to suffering addicts as well as teaching my weekly meditation group at our new location in Venice. I will also be offering residential retreats through my friends at Rebel Saints Meditation Society. For now it looks like all of the other organizations and retreat centers that I have been teaching at for the past many years will cancel my events out of fear of the criticism they will receive if they continue to have me as faculty. I am continuing to process all of this with my psychotherapist who specializes in Sexuality, and staying in contact with some of my Buddhist teachers. I will end with my meditation phrase- Please forgive me for any harm I have caused, intentionally or unintentionally. Noah Levine
I'm glad he wrote this letter and I would be open to giving him another chance because we have all f*cked up before and no one human being is perfect. As long as it seems like he has learned from this experience and doesn't pretend like it never happened, he can (and I think will) regain some of that lost credibility because the way in which he delivers the dharma is unique. "For my colleagues, I feel betrayed and abandoned. You were my family. We taught compassion and forgiveness together. I feel you did the opposite. You silenced me. You isolated me. You did not give me the benefit of the doubt, and you offered me no path to forgiveness and healing." - I would agree with this though I can't honestly say that I know this for sure. It seemed to me that the initial accusation had immediately been seen by some as that he was guilty of the act, even before the investigation had run it's course. I would have felt betrayed as well! He got caught up in the metoo movement and while in most cases the man had deserved being called out, there were some (and maybe this is one of those cases, because I do have a hard time believing that he actually ASSAULTED someone; but again I wouldn't know for sure) who were wrongly accused and their reputations have been shattered as a result. That is incredibly unfortunate. He says he's telling the truth and that no assault took place, and I will give him the benefit of the doubt on that. He HAS caused suffering in other ways thought which he seems to be taking credit for. As a society we must allow those like him (who have an audience) to make mistakes and learn from them. We shouldn't continually damn someone for things they have done in the past. If we do, that society is sick because it does not reflect the true nature of our shared humanity, where not one of us is infallible. LEARN FROM THIS Noah, and your teachings might be all the better because of it.
I concur - KNOWING that the sangha was going through a financial crisis he chose to further drive the centres into financial ruin (never mind the fact that he himself has a lot of money) by making them conduct an investigation. Instead of checking his ego and accepting that his actions hurt someone, he shamed the victims by siccing his "followers" at the women in this and continues to accept zero responsibility.
Dude, he’s reckless in so many other ways, gambling, smoking, verbal abuse, hungry for fame, mysoginy, is it really that shocking he abused his “power” over women in a harmful sexual way?..
Elissa Jane Mastel to be fair, Ajahn Chah smoked & some people still say he's an arahant. Though I'm not sure anybody ever really said Noah was truly & fully Enlightened™... I heard Noah give a talk a few years ago about his low-rider & something happening to it & getting a new one & I remember feeling ... uneasy because of like the amount of cash that had to be in play for him to be able to do that. And I knew a guy from Boston who called Noah "Gooch" because of his $200 Gucci loafers he wore. Like... 😬 This is just sad. Especially when ATS feels like they need to disband as a result of Noah's actions.
Okay, I didn't know that. I did see him give a talk after his father died and he appears heartless, unmoved. He said his dad did a 'good enough job'. It felt cold.
He's a deeply flawed human like a lot of us. I only know anything about him because I read his first book but it was pretty clear. I get that people tend to need a teacher or someone to lead them and that is the thing that "Buddhists are supposed to do". I have always been quite skeptical about that so I have never sought out a teacher , perhaps to my detriment. It seems that he has helped many many people. But the biggest lesson here is possibly the most prominent point in Buddhism, everything in this realm is subject to change. For those who feel betrayed I feel for you. Take the things you have learned and spread the Dharma in whatever way you can.
Not sure if I heard this right.board members and funders abandoned ATS because of allegations?? This seems very UN Buddhist to me. shouldnt we support everyone involved when they are in need? The whole sanga should not be punished because of the allegations of 1 person.
When ATS teachers stop causing killing (harm) by going vegetarian/vegan, only then will I consider them true to the precepts. NON-HARMING includes ALL BEINGS, not just humans. MAY ALL BEINGS BE FREE except those dead ones on the end of ATS forks? If Buddhists won't honor the 1st Precept, how can they honor all the rest?
No offence, but that's like saying abolition of human slavery is an extreme viewpoint on account of our existence -- especially in first world countries as consumers -- resulting in the exploitation of labor in other countries and our own.
Amy Lynn absolutely agree. You cannot call yourself a spiritual person and support cruelty. NL made a silly comment about choosing to eat meat, and he would take the karma of that. What an irresponsible cop out.
@@Boddhisattva007 What is extreme is being willing to support inhuman cruelty of the meat industry and then pretending to care about all sentient beings.
Boddhisavatta 007 -Don't be a schmuck. Watch your own precepts before you piss away your karma. It was made clear far before you sat on a mat what you need to do - “abstinence from false speech, abstinence from malicious speech, abstinence from harsh speech, and abstinence from idle chatter.” This dissolving of ATS is bigger than Noah- should never have happened if people could get their stuff together and rebound. Its clear that weak will is a west coast problem if you desolve something as important as ATS.
Marc Steier hey friend, I’m just being real. Everything you struck out YOUR doing, not me. Sorry if I just want him to own up to it. I live in the Midwest, I have never met him. I would still be interested in his teachings if he just admitted to his failures, but he refuses. So at least as far as I am concerned, he has lost ALL credibility as a genuine teacher.
By the way Marc, my new friend, I didn't say anything about ATS, I am talking strictly about Noah. He is the reason for ATS's being (more or less, I mean it is the title of one of his books!). He is the reason many younger people got into buddhism in the first place. And I guess I was wrong in one way, he did own up to f*cking other dudes wives, so there is that out of the way.
no idea why the formatting got stricken but you are obviously not engaged with Dharma Punx or ATS for any significant amount of time. Noah is NOT ATS. His teachings are still valid as is the tradition. As for his being the reason for ATS- possibly. Irony of ironies ATS was started to streamline the Against the Stream DPx approach for more responsibility and what you express still and continues to be a less than compassionate violation of the precept against talking shit. Go read the original suttas and we'll talk in another lifetime.
Yeah Marc but aren't you also violating that by calling me a "schmuck", which I guess is the jewish equivalent of calling me a d*ck? Or telling me that I'm pissing away my karma (whatever that means)? I am not enlightened nor do I claim to be, I am just a guy who is trying to the make the best of my life. And no I've never been to any of his centers so I am not engaged with the actual community at all, I just practice meditation at home. I DO whole heartedly believe in accountability for ones actions, and I'm sorry, but I just tell it like I see it. I don't disagree that his teachings are still valid, but I don't think he should be teaching anymore.
Don't know if calling out someone as a schmuck (or a dick) is false speech. Noah did or didn't do what was alleged and the result is his denial of the allegations and the death of an organization that was NOT just his and would be better off being renewed than flushed down the toilet. But - I'll leave you with Josh Korda's recent words and be done with it: "Deeply saddened and disappointed by a sequence of events leading to the demise of ATS, a cherished community I spent many years visiting to teach and connect with a wide array of wonderful people. While the dharma is as alive and healthy as ever, and there are countless options for practitioners to find new communities, ATS was unique and vibrant, especially in its support of individuals in recovery. While many will beg to differ, I feel compelled to note that it takes far more than one person's actions and shortcomings to undo an association comprised of tens of thousands of people, which took years to build and untold, ongoing efforts to sustain. Such wreckage requires the failure of many to step up, to find new resources, to speak up on how a group can move forward, to take initiatives. What I perceived was a number of individuals, well placed to steer the ship to safety, who thought foremost about their brands and reputations, who disassociated themselves as quickly as possible from a community that was far larger than the failings of a sole individual. Though a continent apart and teaching in a different community, I could've done more, and so could so many others who ultimately came up short. For the above I am sorry and will aim to do better."
West Coast. And Millennial. Just saying. New York is still standing strong, in case anyone wants to avoid the soylent green solution - and yes, this was meant as mindful speech and skillful. Sometime its not a "challenge" but a fucking PROBLEM. And this one is a problem for every one of the young brothers and sisters now hanging out there.
Beautiful, heartfelt and clearly in service, Brensilver, you’re compassion and love provides a lot of healing for me. Thank you.
Thank you Matthew. So much wisdom and grace and honesty.
I found this talk, hearing the wise and beautiful voices of the larger ATS community, the level of transparency, and clarity, heartening. to Matthew, and all the guiding ATS teachers, thank you for your huge capacity to stand with grace in the face of all that has unfolded. sending blessings and light as this shattering, rebirth, and transition continues. i know something beautiful will rise from the ashes, and indeed already is.
Just because you call something wise and beautiful doesn’t mean it is.
Id like to note that I dont know the full details of this guys situation. what I will say is, if a person teaches the dharma yet doesn't walk it does that really mean his teachings are useless? It is evident that he has helped many on the path. Hope all is well with the community, the ones who feel harmed, and I hope Noah finds peace.
It wasn't handled well on the Facebook page. There was a sense of 'cover-up' which could have been resolved before the decisions made. Updates on where the process was at would have been helpful. One of the threads discussing the problem was deleted and that made myself and others leave the group. I was very disappointed.
You can always address the needs of people before a decision or the completion of a process. It's like working in retail and you're too busy to take on new customers but you acknowledge them anyway. It's a learned skill. Learn it!
I don't even know what to say.
Brad Warner posted about the best possible comment about this the other day (ua-cam.com/video/FYxeDLffnl8/v-deo.html) to the effect of: be wary of teachers who make a big deal about themselves as part of stuff. He's right. And I'm sad.
And I'm mad at Noah.
He changed my life. Well, his teachings changed my life. I know it doesn't mean that what I've gotten & what I've experienced is shit. It does mean that other people may not be able to experience the things that I've gotten from the teachings.
And that's fucked up.
Just discovered this channel today. Shame it's being dissolved. does anyone who follow this channel know of any others like it?
Andrew Howden Insight Med aka Audioharma.org; there are lots of Matthew Brensilver talks on there
It's amazing how unbuddhist Noah's behavior is. He's supposed to be a f*cking teacher but obviously he doesn't practice what he preaches. So, he runs to do his Refuge Recovery (which probably makes him good money) and he hasn't owned up to this in any way shape or form. To some (I guess the degree to which is open for debate) he has caused harm by his actions, yet he continues to deny any responsibility. He let a lot of people down, and it's sad that his life has taken this turn. If he came out and just owned up to the harm he has caused and asked for forgiveness he could salvage his reputation, but by acting the way he has he only hurts himself.
Open letter to the communities of Refuge Recovery and Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society.
This is a complicated letter to write because I am essentially writing three groups of people in one open letter. I have a completely different perspective of my experiences with each of you individually and as groups of people. I’m going to approach this with compassion, willingness to listen and attempt to make sense of what is a layered, messy, painful situation.
I feel that it’s important for everyone to know that none of this had anything to do with students of ATS or members of Refuge Recovery. These were issues that came from my personal life.
I take full responsibility for anything that I have actually done. And will continue to be honest and cooperative with the process and anyone seeking the truth. That said, I will likewise also continue to tell the truth about what never happened, such as the accusation that I assaulted someone.
To the women who have come forward and expressed a sense of suffering because of interpersonal experiences with me, I am sorry I caused you harm and I ask your forgiveness. I wanted to connect and to explore a relationship. This has been a deeply painful learning experience. I want to take full responsibility for any harm I caused to anyone and everyone with whom I have had a dating relationship. I want to make amends for my behavior if it didn’t feel good to them. I don’t want to defend or minimize. It is important to me that any woman who felt harmed, now feels heard. I want to understand. It matters. I was shocked to hear (months later) that someone was unhappy in any way with our interactions. I was not aware at the time that anything was amiss with how we connected. Whenever a boundary was stated - physical, emotional, or otherwise - I always honored it.
This is part of the learning for me in all of this - that just because someone doesn’t say “No” or express displeasure at the time, doesn’t always mean they are happy about it. I can also see that I wasn’t taking into account my power/privilege and status as a dharma teacher in my personal dating life. Perhaps I’ve had some denial or dismissive tendencies around my role as the founder of these two communities (ATS and RR). This has been a very painful way to wake up to the reality of who I am and how I’m seen by others.
For my communities, my heart breaks that intimate experiences from my personal life have caused a ripple effect that has made our community fragment. I can’t explain to you the depth of my sadness as I think of each of you and what has come to be a community trauma. I am especially sensitive to the needs of the recovery community and I encourage you to lean on each other. Against the Stream may not exist in name, but the community still exists in each other. Refuge Recovery meetings are a peer-led process, support each-other and continue the necessary work of your own healing and recovery. In moments like this we must remember even more to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
For my colleagues, I feel betrayed and abandoned. You were my family. We taught compassion and forgiveness together. I feel you did the opposite. You silenced me. You isolated me. You did not give me the benefit of the doubt, and you offered me no path to forgiveness and healing.
As a community we face the painful reality of all that has taken place and we now have the task of beginning the process of grieving the losses, navigating the changes and rebuilding the trust and connection that we once had. I have every intention of carrying on with my calling and mission, that is to practice the Dharma, to embody wisdom and compassion as best I can and to share the teachings of the Buddha with all who are interested to receive it.
I will continue my work at Refuge Recovery Treatment Centers providing addiction treatment to suffering addicts as well as teaching my weekly meditation group at our new location in Venice. I will also be offering residential retreats through my friends at Rebel Saints Meditation Society. For now it looks like all of the other organizations and retreat centers that I have been teaching at for the past many years will cancel my events out of fear of the criticism they will receive if they continue to have me as faculty.
I am continuing to process all of this with my psychotherapist who specializes in Sexuality, and staying in contact with some of my Buddhist teachers.
I will end with my meditation phrase-
Please forgive me for any harm I have caused, intentionally or unintentionally.
Noah Levine
I'm glad he wrote this letter and I would be open to giving him another chance because we have all f*cked up before and no one human being is perfect. As long as it seems like he has learned from this experience and doesn't pretend like it never happened, he can (and I think will) regain some of that lost credibility because the way in which he delivers the dharma is unique.
"For my colleagues, I feel betrayed and abandoned. You were my family. We taught compassion and forgiveness together. I feel you did the opposite. You silenced me. You isolated me. You did not give me the benefit of the doubt, and you offered me no path to forgiveness and healing." - I would agree with this though I can't honestly say that I know this for sure. It seemed to me that the initial accusation had immediately been seen by some as that he was guilty of the act, even before the investigation had run it's course. I would have felt betrayed as well! He got caught up in the metoo movement and while in most cases the man had deserved being called out, there were some (and maybe this is one of those cases, because I do have a hard time believing that he actually ASSAULTED someone; but again I wouldn't know for sure) who were wrongly accused and their reputations have been shattered as a result. That is incredibly unfortunate.
He says he's telling the truth and that no assault took place, and I will give him the benefit of the doubt on that. He HAS caused suffering in other ways thought which he seems to be taking credit for. As a society we must allow those like him (who have an audience) to make mistakes and learn from them. We shouldn't continually damn someone for things they have done in the past. If we do, that society is sick because it does not reflect the true nature of our shared humanity, where not one of us is infallible.
LEARN FROM THIS Noah, and your teachings might be all the better because of it.
I concur - KNOWING that the sangha was going through a financial crisis he chose to further drive the centres into financial ruin (never mind the fact that he himself has a lot of money) by making them conduct an investigation. Instead of checking his ego and accepting that his actions hurt someone, he shamed the victims by siccing his "followers" at the women in this and continues to accept zero responsibility.
Levine was not convicted in a court of law. I find it hard to believe Levine was not aware of Third Precept and would take such a risk.
Dude, he’s reckless in so many other ways, gambling, smoking, verbal abuse, hungry for fame, mysoginy, is it really that shocking he abused his “power” over women in a harmful sexual way?..
Elissa Jane Mastel to be fair, Ajahn Chah smoked & some people still say he's an arahant. Though I'm not sure anybody ever really said Noah was truly & fully Enlightened™...
I heard Noah give a talk a few years ago about his low-rider & something happening to it & getting a new one & I remember feeling ... uneasy because of like the amount of cash that had to be in play for him to be able to do that.
And I knew a guy from Boston who called Noah "Gooch" because of his $200 Gucci loafers he wore.
Like... 😬
This is just sad.
Especially when ATS feels like they need to disband as a result of Noah's actions.
Okay, I didn't know that. I did see him give a talk after his father died and he appears heartless, unmoved. He said his dad did a 'good enough job'. It felt cold.
I did not know that. Thanks for fleshing him out.
He's a deeply flawed human like a lot of us. I only know anything about him because I read his first book but it was pretty clear. I get that people tend to need a teacher or someone to lead them and that is the thing that "Buddhists are supposed to do". I have always been quite skeptical about that so I have never sought out a teacher , perhaps to my detriment. It seems that he has helped many many people. But the biggest lesson here is possibly the most prominent point in Buddhism, everything in this realm is subject to change. For those who feel betrayed I feel for you. Take the things you have learned and spread the Dharma in whatever way you can.
Noah Rocks!!!! Speaking for the whole Buddhist community, We Love & Support you!!!
While I appreciate your enthusiasm please don't speak for all of us.
Not sure if I heard this right.board members and funders abandoned ATS because of allegations?? This seems very UN Buddhist to me. shouldnt we support everyone involved when they are in need? The whole sanga should not be punished because of the allegations of 1 person.
When ATS teachers stop causing killing (harm) by going vegetarian/vegan, only then will I consider them true to the precepts. NON-HARMING includes ALL BEINGS, not just humans. MAY ALL BEINGS BE FREE except those dead ones on the end of ATS forks? If Buddhists won't honor the 1st Precept, how can they honor all the rest?
No offense but this is an extreme viewpoint. By the very fact that we exist, things die as a result.
No offence, but that's like saying abolition of human slavery is an extreme viewpoint on account of our existence -- especially in first world countries as consumers -- resulting in the exploitation of labor in other countries and our own.
Amy Lynn absolutely agree. You cannot call yourself a spiritual person and support cruelty. NL made a silly comment about choosing to eat meat, and he would take the karma of that. What an irresponsible cop out.
@@Boddhisattva007 What is extreme is being willing to support inhuman cruelty of the meat industry and then pretending to care about all sentient beings.
Boddhisavatta 007 -Don't be a schmuck. Watch your own precepts before you piss away your karma. It was made clear far before you sat on a mat what you need to do - “abstinence from false speech, abstinence from malicious speech, abstinence from harsh speech, and abstinence from idle chatter.” This dissolving of ATS is bigger than Noah- should never have happened if people could get their stuff together and rebound. Its clear that weak will is a west coast problem if you desolve something as important as ATS.
Marc Steier hey friend, I’m just being real. Everything you struck out YOUR doing, not me. Sorry if I just want him to own up to it. I live in the Midwest, I have never met him. I would still be interested in his teachings if he just admitted to his failures, but he refuses. So at least as far as I am concerned, he has lost ALL credibility as a genuine teacher.
By the way Marc, my new friend, I didn't say anything about ATS, I am talking strictly about Noah. He is the reason for ATS's being (more or less, I mean it is the title of one of his books!). He is the reason many younger people got into buddhism in the first place. And I guess I was wrong in one way, he did own up to f*cking other dudes wives, so there is that out of the way.
no idea why the formatting got stricken but you are obviously not engaged with Dharma Punx or ATS for any significant amount of time. Noah is NOT ATS. His teachings are still valid as is the tradition. As for his being the reason for ATS- possibly. Irony of ironies ATS was started to streamline the Against the Stream DPx approach for more responsibility and what you express still and continues to be a less than compassionate violation of the precept against talking shit. Go read the original suttas and we'll talk in another lifetime.
Yeah Marc but aren't you also violating that by calling me a "schmuck", which I guess is the jewish equivalent of calling me a d*ck? Or telling me that I'm pissing away my karma (whatever that means)? I am not enlightened nor do I claim to be, I am just a guy who is trying to the make the best of my life. And no I've never been to any of his centers so I am not engaged with the actual community at all, I just practice meditation at home. I DO whole heartedly believe in accountability for ones actions, and I'm sorry, but I just tell it like I see it. I don't disagree that his teachings are still valid, but I don't think he should be teaching anymore.
Don't know if calling out someone as a schmuck (or a dick) is false speech. Noah did or didn't do what was alleged and the result is his denial of the allegations and the death of an organization that was NOT just his and would be better off being renewed than flushed down the toilet. But - I'll leave you with Josh Korda's recent words and be done with it: "Deeply saddened and disappointed by a sequence of events leading to the demise of ATS, a cherished community I spent many years visiting to teach and connect with a wide array of wonderful people. While the dharma is as alive and healthy as ever, and there are countless options for practitioners to find new communities, ATS was unique and vibrant, especially in its support of individuals in recovery.
While many will beg to differ, I feel compelled to note that it takes far more than one person's actions and shortcomings to undo an association comprised of tens of thousands of people, which took years to build and untold, ongoing efforts to sustain. Such wreckage requires the failure of many to step up, to find new resources, to speak up on how a group can move forward, to take initiatives.
What I perceived was a number of individuals, well placed to steer the ship to safety, who thought foremost about their brands and reputations, who disassociated themselves as quickly as possible from a community that was far larger than the failings of a sole individual. Though a continent apart and teaching in a different community, I could've done more, and so could so many others who ultimately came up short.
For the above I am sorry and will aim to do better."
Talk about low energy! Oh, millennial soy Buddhists.
West Coast. And Millennial. Just saying. New York is still standing strong, in case anyone wants to avoid the soylent green solution - and yes, this was meant as mindful speech and skillful. Sometime its not a "challenge" but a fucking PROBLEM. And this one is a problem for every one of the young brothers and sisters now hanging out there.