Disturbing details continue to emerge during a royalcommissioninto the sexual abuse of children in the 70s and 80s at a NSW yoga ashram Nine abuse victims have told how former spiritual leader Swami Akhandanandaused them for his sexual gratification The ashram's response to those who came forward were initially just invited to a fire ceremony to help them heal But a lawyer for the victims has sought $1 million in damages for each of his clients Ashram leader Swami Akhandananda died in 1997. He was jailed for sex abuse in 1989

By Emily Crane and Australian Associated Press

Published: 07:11 EST, 10 December 2014 | Updated: 20:41 EST, 10 December 2014

A yoga ashram that initially offered a 'healing' fire ceremony to cleanse people who had been drugged, raped and beaten as children at the retreat say they will now offer compensation to victims years after they were sexually abused.

Disturbing details have emerged at a royal commission into the sexual abuse of children in the 1970s and 1980s at the Mangrove Yoga Ashram on the NSW Central Coast.

The commission has heard from nine abuse victims who have told how the former spiritual leader at the isolated retreat in the foothills of Mangrove Mountain, Swami Akhandananda, used them for his sexual gratification.

Disturbing details have emerged at a royal commission into the sexual abuse of children in the 1970s and 1980s at the Mangrove Yoga Ashram on the NSW Central Coast

One victim revealed last week that she was held down naked at seven years of age and had the skin between her breasts cut during an initiation ceremony, before a swami licked the blood and had sex with her.

Child victims have also given evidence of the second in charge, known as Shishy, allegedly subjecting them to fierce beatings and summoning teenage girls for sex with Akhandananda.

Shishy admitted to slapping the children at the royal commission, but couldn't recall some of the more vicious assaults described by the victims.

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Inside Australia's Mangrove Yoga Ashram where children drugged, raped and beaten

JAIPUR: Bal Ashram of Bachpan Bachao Andolan at Virat Nagar in Jaipur witnessed one of the most memorable evenings on Wednesday since its inception. Celebrations that kicked off from morning reached its zenith when its founder and Nobel peace prize winner Kailash Satyarthi received the award.

The ashram was decorated with flowers and light, while the children were all decked up and were excitedly waited for the proud moment when Satyarthi's name was announced. As soon as he received the Nobel peace prize, everybody cheered with loud applause. The event was later celebrated by a cake cutting ceremony.

"It is a very exciting moment for each one of us. He spoke from his heart and tears rolled from the kids' eyes," said Nipendra Singh, manager at Bal Ashram. "The kids had been waiting for this moment the day Satyarthi's name was announced," he added. Not just Satyarthi, Malala Yousafzai also received the same applause. "Most children could relate to her. They too suffered a great deal to get what they believe is their right" added Singh.

Twenty children from the Ashram received a special invitation from the Norwegian embassy. They witnessed live telecast among other dignitaries and the ambassador in New Delhi.

The only Ashram of Bachpan Bachao Andolan in the country was set up in 1997 and has saved lives of more than 2,000 children so far. Satyarthi started this place for rescued child labourers so that they can be better citizens and can earn livelihoods on their own and not as labourers.

People from nearby villages also gathered in the ashram. Their knowledge on Nobel peace prize would perhaps beat any other common man from cities. "From the day Nobel peace prize was announced, everyone is talking about it. We are proud of Kailashji. It is not just the children of the ashram that are benefited but even our children get moral education here," said Man Singh, resident of Virat Nagar.

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Sir-prize in Oslo, jubilation in Jaipur

Buddhaghosa is an emblematic figure as a scholar and commentator in the history of Buddhism. He was born at Buddha Gaya in North India in the early fifth century A.D. He was a Brahamin youth who became well known as an exponent of Veda and philosophy. He travelled extensively in India from one seat of learning to another. He was a great scholar keen in arguing with the other scholars in his time.

The biographic accounts of his life report that because his speech like that of the Buddha, was profound and his words spread throughout the world, he came to be called Buddhaghosa literally meaning Buddha utterance (Keown, 2003)

At Tamluk he met Maha Thera Revata and while discussing religious matters, he found Rev Revata to be superior to him in the doctrine of the Buddha. So he became a pupil and studied Buddhist philosophy under Rev Revata. At Rev Revata's vihara, he produced a treatise on Buddhism Nanoodaya. He also planned to compose commentries on Abhidhamma and the Sutras. On the advice of Rev Revata He decided to visit Sri Lanka where the Three Pitakas were preserved. In order to complete his task he came to Sri Lanka in the reign of King Mahanama. Ven Buddhaghosa was surprised to find quite a handsome collection of immensely valuable literary works preserved by the Mahaviharian Buddhist clergy. He stayed for three years chiefly at Mahavihara, Anuradhapura and Aluvihara where he re-wrote in Pali the Sinhalese commentries on the Buddhist Pitakas and composed philosophical treatises on Buddhist doctrine.

Buddhist literature

The Mahavihara, originally established as a monastery became a great seat of learning and turned into a national university. It played a conspicuous part in the history of Buddhism and Buddhist literature. Buddhaghosa, Buddhadatta, Dharmapala, Anuruddha, Sariputta and many other Buddhist teachers of extraordinary genius occupied its professional chairs and it was here that their priceless philosophical works were composed. Till the foundation of the Abhayagiri Vihara in the first century BC, it maintained its position as Lanka's unraivalled educational institution and cultural centre. (The Revolt in the Temple 1953).

Buddhaghosa translated Sinhalese Commentaries into Pali and wrote Vissudhi Magga (The Path of Purification) and other works including Commentaties on the Pitakas.

The Visuddhi Magga is a monumental commentry on the Pali Canon. It has been used for over 1500 years as a manual by meditation teachers. The structure of Vissudhi Magga follows the three divisions of the Noble Eightfold Path into morality (sila) meditation (samadhi) and insight (prajna). Its section entitled The Soil in which Understanding Grows is specifically taken as summary of the Abhidhamma. It is believed that Ven Buddhaghosa was inspired by the trietise Vimuttimaggo (The Path to Liberation), This work was authored by Upatissa, who may have lived in the 3rd century CE. Vimuttimaggo expounds the various aspects of the path to awakening (bodhi) as understood within the Theravada tradition.

Sinhalese commentries

In the compilation of Visuddhi Maggo he also made insightful use of the old Sinhalese commentries at that time. These were Maha Attakata, Maha-paccari Attakarha and Juringt Atthakastha respectively. Buddhaghosa's Atthasalini (The Expositor) is a commentry on the Dhammasangani the first book on the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

Buddhaghosa has identified ten impediments that should be completely dissected off before beginning meditation practices settled in a hospitable environment, free from disturbing elements. These impediments are abode (avasa), family (kula), gain (labha), group (gana), activities (kamma), travel (addhana), relations (jati), illness (abadha), study (gantha), and sup natural faculties (iddhi) respectively. On examining these impediment factors reveals that a busy person with family and economic burdens in an stressful mind would not be successful in initiating meditation. The emergence of supernatural powers (iddhis) has been discussed by Rev Buddhaghosa as a side effect of the attainment of higher stages of meditation. For this discussion a special chapter is devoted in the Vissudhi Magga. Buddhaghosa gives extensive coverage to wisdom (panna). There is no meditation without wisdom and vice versa.

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Buddhaghosa the emblematic commentator on the Pali Canon

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

11-Dec-2014

Contact: Jennie Eckilson jeckilson@cell.com 617-386-2121 Cell Press @CellPressNews

The ascetic and moralizing movements that spawned the world's major religious traditions--Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Christianity--all arose around the same time in three different regions, and researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 11 have now devised a statistical model based on history and human psychology that helps to explain why. The emergence of world religions, they say, was triggered by the rising standards of living in the great civilizations of Eurasia.

"One implication is that world religions and secular spiritualities probably share more than we think," says Nicolas Baumard of the Ecole Normale Suprieure in Paris. "Beyond very different doctrines, they probably all tap into the same reward systems [in the human brain]."

It seems almost self-evident today that religion is on the side of spiritual and moral concerns, but that was not always so, Baumard explains. In hunter-gatherer societies and early chiefdoms, for instance, religious tradition focused on rituals, sacrificial offerings, and taboos designed to ward off misfortune and evil.

That changed between 500 BCE and 300 BCE--a time known as the "Axial Age"--when new doctrines appeared in three places in Eurasia. "These doctrines all emphasized the value of 'personal transcendence,'" the researchers write, "the notion that human existence has a purpose, distinct from material success, that lies in a moral existence and the control of one's own material desires, through moderation (in food, sex, ambition, etc.), asceticism (fasting, abstinence, detachment), and compassion (helping, suffering with others)."

While many scholars have argued that large-scale societies are possible and function better because of moralizing religion, Baumard and his colleagues weren't so sure. After all, he says, some of "the most successful ancient empires all had strikingly non-moral high gods." Think of Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Aztecs, the Incas, and the Mayans.

In the new study, the researchers tested various theories to explain the history in a new way by combining statistical modeling on very long-term quantitative series with psychological theories based on experimental approaches. They found that affluence--which they refer to as "energy capture"--best explains what is known of the religious history, not political complexity or population size. Their Energy Capture model shows a sharp transition toward moralizing religions when individuals were provided with 20,000 kcal/day, a level of affluence suggesting that people were generally safe, with roofs over their heads and plenty of food to eat, both in the present time and into the foreseeable future.

"This seems very basic to us today, but this peace of mind was totally new at the time," Baumard says. "Humans living in tribal societies or even archaic empires often experience famine and diseases, and they live in very rudimentary houses. By contrast, the high increase in population and urbanization rate in the Axial Age suggests that, for certain people, things started to get much better."

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Affluence, not political complexity, explains the rise of moralizing world religions