by Tara Carreon
February, 2005
EMBATTLED SAKYONG STEPS DOWN.
Increasingly the focus of swirling allegations concerning an illegal non-profit corporation takeover in Colorado, the embattled Sakyong Mipham, left his Boulder compound in a heavily guarded limousine this morning after word was released that the Colorado Attorney General had indicted him for violation of laws governing the conduct of non-profit corporations. Inside sources confirmed that the secret sole director of the First Class of Shambhala International had stepped down and agreed to allow the accession of the 12th Trungpa Tulku to that position. The young tulku, who has lived the majority of his life in abject poverty will thereby become possessed of a multi-million dollar Buddhist marketing juggernaut in its prime earning years. Supporters of the 12th Trungpa tulku, dubbed the "Ancien Regime" sect by Shambhala spin-meisters, declare that the young Tibetan has every right to control the wealth that was amassed by his prior incarnation. The 12th Trungpa has candidly stated he has no recollection of his former existence, and was unaware of his true status in this life when he swore allegiance to the Sakyong in 2004, and believed the Sakyong was a very powerful lama "from America." The young tulku does not speak English, and said he signed papers translated by "a beautiful dakini from America" who assured him that he would "get a great deal of merit." His lawyers declared some months back when filing their lawsuit at the Boulder courthouse, that all prior agreements between their client and the Sakyong had been obtained under duress, and it was the specific purpose of the lawsuit to invalidate them. After the court victory last week, pressure had focused on the Sakyong, whose obsessive secrecy had not endeared him to the public, notwithstanding massive infusions of Shambhala funds into the surrounding community. Today's exit was hailed by Ancien Regime supporters as "abdication by a usurper, a day fervently to be wished for by all persons of pure heart," according to their spokesperson.