Official finding Buddhist institutions and contexts Buddhist institutions and lineages Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India · 2020

Dagri Rinpoche: commissioned investigation finds a pattern of sexual misconduct; barred by FPMT

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Official finding

Authority role

senior Gelug incarnate lama and teacher

Organization

Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT)

Spiritual nexus

The investigation found the pattern of misconduct was enabled specifically by Dagri Rinpoche's position as a trusted incarnate lama, which gave him unsupervised access to and authority over female students and discouraged reporting.

Guru or spiritual-teacher authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2020-11-01 · official finding of misconduct

FPMT / FaithTrust Institute (commissioned investigation). After three women accused Dagri Rinpoche of sexual misconduct in 2019, FPMT commissioned FaithTrust Institute to investigate. In November 2020 it concluded, on a preponderance-of-evidence standard, that he 'engaged in a pattern of intentional and inappropriate sexual behaviour that persisted over many years'; FPMT permanently barred him from teaching at its centers.

Documented coercion mechanisms

authority and trust as an incarnate lama providing unsupervised access to students

Primary record

Sources

organization commissioned investigation institutional inquiry finding 'Conclusion of Fact-Finding Assessment Regarding Dagri Rinpoche', FPMT (Nov. 2020).: FPMT publishes the FaithTrust Institute finding that Dagri Rinpoche engaged in a years-long pattern of sexual misconduct, and his permanent bar from teaching.
institutional reporting institutional inquiry report 'Dagri Rinpoche found to have committed sexual misconduct, FPMT states', Lion's Roar (2020).: Corroborates the finding and the bar.

Contextual record

Background & context

Institutional and pattern-level sources on Buddhist institutions and contexts, not specific to this one case.

Islington Gazette (2022) ''Shameful': Sogyal Rinpoche's Cally Buddhist charity Rigpa 'put students at risk of harm', Charity Commission finds', Islington Gazette. Available at: islingtongazette.co.uk (Accessed: 14 July 2026).: 'An official inquiry from the Charity Commission found there had been misconduct, mismanagement and serious safeguarding failures at Rigpa Fellowship', the UK charity of the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche (author of ‘The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’). The Commission's chief executive stated: 'The fact that students were subjected to abuse by somebody in a position of power is shameful.' Note: this is a statutory regulatory finding, not a criminal conviction — Sogyal died in 2019 without facing trial, and the underlying allegations remained legally unproven.
Wickwire Holm (2019) 'Report of the Investigation into Claims of Sexual Misconduct within the Shambhala Community' [independent law-firm investigation commissioned by Shambhala and released by its own Interim Board, 3 February 2019]. Available at: shambhala.report (Accessed: 15 July 2026).: The investigation Shambhala commissioned into its own leader, released by its own board — two of the three completed claims investigations 'concern Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche', the head of the lineage founded by his father Chögyam Trungpa. The investigator found: 'Several of the witnesses I had already spoken to confirmed that this incident took place. Indeed, the Sakyong admitted to kissing Claimant No. 1 as alleged... I find Claimant No. 1 to be a creditable witness', and concluded: 'his actions and behavior on that night constitute sexual misconduct.' Tier note: this is an organization-commissioned investigation with a formal finding and a partial admission — not a criminal proceeding. No criminal conviction exists in the Shambhala matter: the one prosecution of a Boulder Shambhala meditation teacher (William Karelis) was dismissed by the DA in 2021 before trial, and the movement's earlier documented history — including Trungpa's conduct and his regent Ösel Tendzin knowingly transmitting HIV, who died in 1990 without charges — was never adjudicated. Each fact is recorded here at exactly its weight.

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