Munisha is the communications person for the Triratna Buddhist Community (originally known as the FWBO - The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order). This movement is well documented for being a cult, with a history of serious abuse issues.
These have been discussed in reputable national newspapers and in a BBC documentary called Inside Out:-
The core of the problem is that Dennis Lingwood (known as Sangharakshita) is at the centre of an abuse scandal for which he has apologized for to some extent, but as stopped short at making apologies and amends to people specifically harmed.
This is detailed in many websites (Google The FWBO Files and Triratna Controversy).
Sangharakshita was publically denounced by 88 indian Buddhist Monks :-
The FWBO’s response to allegations in both the Guardian and the FWBO Files for the last 20 years has been overwhelmingly one of uncompromising denial.
In summary, the issue of systemic abuse facilitated by false, non Buddhist doctrines and perpetrated by the founder and others was deliberately ignored. Through the calculated and wilful application of a straw man argument, the response whitewashed the actual issues and scapegoated a single, senior, now ex Order member as being solely responsible for actions which were, in truth, far more widespread and deep rooted. It was a thoroughly disingenuous, highly politicised response aimed, not at resolving the issue and offering help to those damaged, but rather at deflecting criticism and maintaining the toxic status quo within the Order’s upper echelons.
Finally, in September 2016, BBC East ran a piece in which three men alleged that they too had been abused at Triratna’s Padmaloka centre in Norwich and once again, the finger was pointed directly at Lingwood.
To avoid him being interviewed and confronted about these new allegations, Triratna’s PR representative Munisha deliberately lied to the BBC, claiming Lingwood was “blind”.
This deliberate, seemingly innocuous lie was seen by some within Triratna as an indication of a continuing tendency within the group’s leadership to deceive the public and younger community members about the past and led to a good deal of discussion and even dissent within the Order, not simply because of the new revelations of abuse but more so, the continued, disingenuous and self serving nature of the response.
The situation appeared so potentially damaging that, on the advice of senior Triratna figures, Lingwood issued a somewhat nebulous apology for “any hurt, harm or upset” he had caused and asking for “forgiveness”. However, the deliberate vagueness of the apology only added to the already considerable anger in the community. Why would Lingwood not name names and apologise for specific actions to specific people? Why weren’t victims acknowledged and offered help or even compensation? More importantly perhaps, why were hierarchs in the organization still refusing to come clean about the misdemeanours committed by their founder and his close associates in the name of the Buddha, behind the closed doors of their single sex communities?
Anger at the deliberate vagueness and insensitivity of the Triratna response finally spilled out into the public arena and on the 19th of February 2017, the Guardian newspaper published the following critical report.
Fears mount over scale of Buddhist sect sexual abuse – The Guardian / Observer
Munisha claims that there is now a “safe space” for abused disciples but this is a space exclusively controlled by Triratna – there is no counselling by any qualified external source, nor is there any independent body investigating or helping those who have been harmed by the leader of Triratna, Dennis Lingwood (Sangharakhsita). And yet it is the culture of Triratna itself that forms the very basis for these abuses. The limitations of such in-house counselling are obvious: a) the Triratna organisation can maintain control over all information and reports of abuse, b) it can influence those reporting to follow an already well established and pervasive narrative that these abuses were also somewhat beneficial to many c) the blind spots of the Triratna leadership and their role in the whole setup of power and sexual abuse are not questioned or scrutinized at all. A mark of genuine organisations who take the suffering of victims of abuse seriously is that they invite independent professional organisations and experts to investigate these cases of abuse.
The Triratna leadership has played a critical role in justifying a culture that enables systematic power and sexual abuse; many critics of the movement or victims of this abuse have been disparaged in public or in internal communications, deliberately undermining their credibility in order to preserve the reputation and financial status of the TBO and Sangharakshita (Dennis Lingwood). Up until now, the TBO leadership has neither acknowledged nor excused itself for having perpetrated these abuses.
Munisha routinely ignores abuse complaints when they are presented and it would be a fair comment to say that her, and her movements handling of the situation, is questionable, ineffective and does not address the issues.
The Buddhist Centre Reviews
Munisha is the communications person for the Triratna Buddhist Community (originally known as the FWBO - The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order). This movement is well documented for being a cult, with a history of serious abuse issues.
These have been discussed in reputable national newspapers and in a BBC documentary called Inside Out:-
bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-37432719
theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/19/buddhist-sexual-abuse-triratna-dennis-lingwood
The core of the problem is that Dennis Lingwood (known as Sangharakshita) is at the centre of an abuse scandal for which he has apologized for to some extent, but as stopped short at making apologies and amends to people specifically harmed.
This is detailed in many websites (Google The FWBO Files and Triratna Controversy).
Sangharakshita was publically denounced by 88 indian Buddhist Monks :-
medium.com/@eiselmazard/a-fragment-of-the-sangharakshita-scandal-from-india-65ed24df006d
The FWBO’s response to allegations in both the Guardian and the FWBO Files for the last 20 years has been overwhelmingly one of uncompromising denial.
In summary, the issue of systemic abuse facilitated by false, non Buddhist doctrines and perpetrated by the founder and others was deliberately ignored. Through the calculated and wilful application of a straw man argument, the response whitewashed the actual issues and scapegoated a single, senior, now ex Order member as being solely responsible for actions which were, in truth, far more widespread and deep rooted. It was a thoroughly disingenuous, highly politicised response aimed, not at resolving the issue and offering help to those damaged, but rather at deflecting criticism and maintaining the toxic status quo within the Order’s upper echelons.
Finally, in September 2016, BBC East ran a piece in which three men alleged that they too had been abused at Triratna’s Padmaloka centre in Norwich and once again, the finger was pointed directly at Lingwood.
To avoid him being interviewed and confronted about these new allegations, Triratna’s PR representative Munisha deliberately lied to the BBC, claiming Lingwood was “blind”.
This deliberate, seemingly innocuous lie was seen by some within Triratna as an indication of a continuing tendency within the group’s leadership to deceive the public and younger community members about the past and led to a good deal of discussion and even dissent within the Order, not simply because of the new revelations of abuse but more so, the continued, disingenuous and self serving nature of the response.
The situation appeared so potentially damaging that, on the advice of senior Triratna figures, Lingwood issued a somewhat nebulous apology for “any hurt, harm or upset” he had caused and asking for “forgiveness”. However, the deliberate vagueness of the apology only added to the already considerable anger in the community. Why would Lingwood not name names and apologise for specific actions to specific people? Why weren’t victims acknowledged and offered help or even compensation? More importantly perhaps, why were hierarchs in the organization still refusing to come clean about the misdemeanours committed by their founder and his close associates in the name of the Buddha, behind the closed doors of their single sex communities?
Anger at the deliberate vagueness and insensitivity of the Triratna response finally spilled out into the public arena and on the 19th of February 2017, the Guardian newspaper published the following critical report.
Fears mount over scale of Buddhist sect sexual abuse – The Guardian / Observer
Munisha claims that there is now a “safe space” for abused disciples but this is a space exclusively controlled by Triratna – there is no counselling by any qualified external source, nor is there any independent body investigating or helping those who have been harmed by the leader of Triratna, Dennis Lingwood (Sangharakhsita). And yet it is the culture of Triratna itself that forms the very basis for these abuses. The limitations of such in-house counselling are obvious: a) the Triratna organisation can maintain control over all information and reports of abuse, b) it can influence those reporting to follow an already well established and pervasive narrative that these abuses were also somewhat beneficial to many c) the blind spots of the Triratna leadership and their role in the whole setup of power and sexual abuse are not questioned or scrutinized at all. A mark of genuine organisations who take the suffering of victims of abuse seriously is that they invite independent professional organisations and experts to investigate these cases of abuse.
The Triratna leadership has played a critical role in justifying a culture that enables systematic power and sexual abuse; many critics of the movement or victims of this abuse have been disparaged in public or in internal communications, deliberately undermining their credibility in order to preserve the reputation and financial status of the TBO and Sangharakshita (Dennis Lingwood). Up until now, the TBO leadership has neither acknowledged nor excused itself for having perpetrated these abuses.
Munisha routinely ignores abuse complaints when they are presented and it would be a fair comment to say that her, and her movements handling of the situation, is questionable, ineffective and does not address the issues.