Tibetan Lama Pema Wangyal: a victim of short sighted money-makers? – his struggle to survive after he left the Rikon Tibet Institute Monastry

Last Updated on January 3, 2025 by pg@petergamma.org

Tibetan Lama Pema Wangyal has left the Rikon Tibet Institute Monastry last year after he lived in the monastery for around 17 years. But what happened then? Pema Wangyal lives now in the Drukpa Center Kollbrunn:

https://drukpazentrum.ch

But what do we see when we look at Lama Pema Wangyals YouTube channel Yogrtrack?

Lama Pema Wangyal paragliding on the Pilatus? This video was recorded 3 years ago. But still isn t it a tragedy? A highly qualified spiritual teacher from India who is qualified to teach Tibetan Buddhism at the highest level as a paragliding promoter on the Pilatus, and as a travel guide for Swiss tourists who travel to Asia?

Aren t the Tibetans traumatized enough through the invasion of China into Tibet? Is it really necessary that a Tibetan Lama who lives in Switzerland is traumatized once more by short sighted money makers who want to make Pema Wangyal to do all these kind of things?

Can we not compare him to a priest from Switzerland who has a job in Tibet for tourists to climb the mountains there?

This might be the explanation why the ratings of Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org

are again and again deleted from the google ratings for the Drukpa Center Kollbrunn, altough Peter gave 5 out of 5 stars for the center. And only ratings from Tibetans are not deleted?

On the other hand, in Laghsam Tibetan Meditation in Zurich, teachers from all around the world fly to Zurich to teach at Laghsam on a weekly basis and back. Does Roche Pharma Basel stand behind all of this for a pharmaceutical study which should show that meditation is bad whereas pharmaceuticals are good? Is this the reason that Lhagsam did not offer Pema Wangyal a job to teach there as a main teacher? Teachers at Lhagsam teach Mahayana Buddhism, but Pema Wangyal is a teacher for the Trukpa lineage as far as we know. But could Pema not easily teach Mahayana Buddhism as well? Do not read many teachers at Lhagsam in Zurich their teachings from a book, and does it not look sometimes as if they do it for the first time in their life?

So the story of Lama Pema Wangyal seems to be another tragedy in Switzerland which is somehow linked to the invasion of China in Tibet. But also Switzerland was long occupied by the Habsburger. And the Swiss decided not to have any foreign government in their country already in 1292. And that is eventually the reason so many Tibetans escaped to Switzerland, around 4 000 people. Switzerland is a free country, but obviously not a country which is free from short sighted money makers. And is this not also a situation without dignity for the Swiss and for all other people who see Lama Pema Wangyals situation, what he does in Switzerland, and see that no one helps him, to be a spiritual teacher in Switzerland with dignity?

Is it possible to be a self-employed spiritual teacher in Switzerland? This seems to be very difficult. And if we look for instance how the situation is for the Christians in Switzerland. Are there any self-employed priests on Switzerland? We know of none. They live from the Church taxes. And people are ready to pay for it, Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org as well. But unfortunately for the Tibetan Buddhist there seems to be no tax which would help him to be a spiritual teacher who can teach with dignity.