Is Your Buddhist Group Cultish?

You may have heard of some Buddhist cults, but do you know what makes a group a cult?

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, a highly regarded cult expert, defines a cult as having these characteristics in his paper Cult Formation:

  1. A charismatic leader, who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose power.
  2. A process call[ed] coercive persuasion or thought reform.
  3. Economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.

If your group has all these, it’s a full-blown cult. If it has only one of these, though not yet a full-blown cult, it can be considered cultish.

I think the first and the last characteristics are clear enough. The second however needs some elaboration. Coercive persuasion or thought reform is more commonly known as “brainwashing”. It's a process in which a group or individual systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to their wishes.

In the case of Buddhist cults, the leader first gets people to believe that he/she is special. Once this is achieved, the leader can begin to manipulate his/her victims to become followers.

Having done that, the leader can use his/her position to have the follower comply with various orders, including demanding ones.

One might wonder why followers don’t leave despite the difficulties being in the cult. That’s because they feel they need to stay for spiritual, psychological or even physical reasons. And why is that so? It’s because the leader has managed to persuade them to believe so. That’s how powerful coercive persuasion can be.

No one knowingly joins a cult. You can only realize that you have, and usually you don’t. Your best protection from getting stuck in a cult is to be educated about this matter.


Related: ‘Buddhist’Teachers to Watch Out For 

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