Twelve of the victims, who admitted they were abused physically and psychologically by Tibetan Buddhist teachers in the Netherlands and Belgium, had launched a petition asking to meet the 83-year-old during his trip.
A groupĀ usingĀ the hashtag #MeTooGuru gathered some 1,300 signatures initially in a petition to meet Dalai Lama, so the leader of one school of Tibetan Buddhism could receive their collection of testimonies.
"We, the authors of this petition, are all survivors of (sexual) abuse by Buddhist teachers.Ā We took refuge in Buddhism with an open mind and an open heart, until we were violated in its name," the alleged victims said in their petition.
The Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, was on a tour of Europe and visited Netherlands for four days, where the meeting took place.
Three women and one man attended the short 20-minute meeting on Friday (14/9) and presented written testimonies from 12 alleged victims.
The meeting
One of those presented in the meeting, Oane Bijlsma, told Efe news agency that it was "a very complicated meeting", in which at first Dalai Lama "didn't want to hear" about their cases, but after listening to the conversation he became "more receptive".
"By the end he was closer, he stopped trying to convince us that it wasn't his fault and started to listen to what we were saying," Bijlsma said.
āYou have given me ammunition,ā the Dalai Lama reportedly told the group, according to Bijlsma
Ricardo Mendes, who said he was physically abused as child being raised in a Buddhist sect in Belgium, said he was pleased the Dalai Lama appeared moved by the accounts they shared.
"He was like: OK, now I have maybe the material. I have real papers, real stories of real people that I can use to point fingers in the Buddhist landscape and say 'This guy, this guy, this guy are behaving this way, and you should not follow them, and this is not Tibetan Buddhism.'"
Mendes further added, "Maybe, maybe this is what is going to come out of this meeting, that he is going to have the ammo to actually fire."
Sexual abuse and misconduct allegations by Buddhist Gurus
BBC explained that the meeting happened a week after Rigpa, an international Buddhist organisation active in the West, apologized for alleged abuse carried out by its founder Sogyal Lakar, also known as Sogyal Rinpoche.
Mr Lakar is best known for his 1994 book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, which sold over three million copies.
Last month, an independent investigation by a lawyer commissioned by Rigpa found that some members of Mr Lakar's "inner circle" wereĀ "subjected to serious physical, sexual and emotional abuse by him".
The report added that senior members of the organisation had knowledge of some of the issues and "failed to address them, leaving others at risk".
Mr Lakar, who has stepped down as the head of Rigpa, declined to be interviewed for the investigation due to health issues.
The topic will be on the agenda in Dharamsala meeting
They requested for him to ask the Mind & Life Institute, the US-based nonprofit that hosts dialogues with scientists and Buddhists, to hold a meeting on human sexuality, abuse by religious teachers, and sexual trauma.
The victims want the topic of teacher abuse on the agenda of a gathering of religious leaders and representatives of the major Tibetan schools in Dharamsala in November, as well.
Finally, they want the Dalai Lama to publicly reaffirm that Buddhist teachers who commit criminal offenses, just like any other citizen, are liable to prosecution andĀ civil action.
Source: Quartz, BBC, The Jakarta Post