stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

110 STRIPPING THE GURUS
Trungpa, however, insisted through a messenger that they return
and rejoin the party. In response, William and his wife locked
themselves in their room, turned off the lights ... and soon found
themselves on the receiving end of a group of angry, drunken spiritual
seekers, who proceeded to cut their telephone line, kick in the
door (at Trungpa’s command) and break a window (Miles, 1989).
Panicked, but discerning that broken glass is mightier than
the pen, the poet defended himself by smashing bottles over several
of the attacking disciples, injuring a friend of his. Then, mortified
and giving up the struggle, he and his wife were dragged from
the room.
[Dana] implored that someone call the police, but to no avail.
She was insulted by one of the women in the hallway and a
man threw wine in her face (Schumacher, 1992).
And then, at the feet of the wise guru, after Trungpa had “told
Merwin that he had heard the poet was making a lot of trouble”:
[Merwin:] I reminded him that we never promised to obey
him. He said, “Ah, but you asked to come” (Miles, 1989).
An argument ensued, during which Trungpa insulted Merwin’s
Oriental wife with racist remarks [in return for which
she called him a “Nazi”] and threw a glass of saké in the
poet’s face (Feuerstein, 1992).
Following that noble display of high realization, Trungpa had
the couple forcibly stripped by his henchmen—against the protests
of both Dana and one of the few courageous onlookers, who was
punched in the face and called a “son of a bitch” by Trungpa himself
for his efforts.
“Guards dragged me off and pinned me to the floor,” [Dana]
wrote in her account of the incident.... “I fought and called to
friends, men and women whose faces I saw in the crowd, to
call the police. No one did.... [One devotee] was stripping me
while others held me down. Trungpa was punching [him] in
the head, urging him to do it faster. The rest of my clothes
were torn off.”
“See?” said Trungpa. “It’s not so bad, is it?” Merwin and
Dana stood naked, holding each other, Dana sobbing (Miles,
1989).