The following quotes are from the article “Toward A New Spiritual Ethic,” by Kate Wheeler; March/April 1994 edition of Nexus. [The Dalai Lama’s own words are in bold.]

At a symposium with 22 Western Buddhist teachers, the Dalai Lama had strong words for teachers who abuse their power—and students who give theirs away.

A teacher who behaves unethically or asks students to do so can be judged as lacking in ultimate insight, His Holiness said. ‘As far as my own understanding goes, the two claims—that you are not subject to precepts and you are free—these are the result of incorrect understanding.’ No behavior is free from consequences. For this reason, true wisdom always includes compassion, the understanding that all things and beings are interconnected with (and vulnerable to) each other.

’Even though one’s realization may be higher than the high beings,’ His Holiness said, ‘one’s behavior should conform to the human way of life.’

When teachers break the precepts, behaving in ways that are clearly damaging to themselves and others, students must face the situation, even though this can be challenging. ‘Criticize openly,’ His Holiness declared. ‘That’s the only way.’ If there is incontrovertible evidence of wrongdoing, teachers should be confronted with it. They should be allowed to admit their wrongs, make amends, and undergo a rehabilitation process. If a teacher won’t respond, students should publish the situation in a newspaper, not omitting the teacher’s name,” His Holiness said. “The fact that the teacher may have done many other good things should not keep us silent.”

Further -
The following quote is from the article “Small ‘cottage cults’ drawing more converts in United States,” by Richard Read in the Oregonian, Sunday, July 15, 2001:

The Dalai Lama, the high lama of Tibetan Buddhism, advises potential converts to check a guru’s qualifications carefully and to view a teacher as a spiritual brother or sister. ‘The best thing is,’ the Dalai Lama said in an interview last February, ‘whenever exploitation, sexual abuse or money abuse happen, make them public.’

You have now emerged as the newest and most articulate dissident voice
in relation to Cohen.
-a reader

And…if most of the hateful reviews indicate that the writer had no right as a US citizen to exercise his or her First Amendment privilege to speak out—that is truly a signal that the books is worth reading.

The defenders of Andrew Cohen and EnlightenNext have pulled out all stops in an attempt to shame William Yenner for writing American Guru which details his experiences as a 13 year disciple and a leader in the Cohen community.

Here is one of the best examples of the shaming campaign, used as a way of attempting to neutralize a critic, from a longer comment by Elisa Mishory posted on the Amazon page for American Guru.

“[Bill Yenner] made a comment here in response to another review that it’s inappropriate to write anything personal about the author. I tend to agree with that statement and wish it were possible to review this book without referring to Bill Yenner. However, it’s simply impossible to do so when the author has written slanderously and dishonestly about his own experience. There really isn’t anything else to respond to.

This book is a call for vengeance from the wounded ego – the ego that Bill himself had pledged to give his life to caging. Is it a valuable perspective? Well, I’d have to say I find it extremely destructive because it is exactly what the postmodern ego wants to hear. Bill Yenner knows so well where we need to go as a culture so that we’ll be able to reach ever-wiser and more integrated solutions to the world’s problems, and yet he’s chosen here to pull it all down to make himself feel better. Pretty nasty stuff.”

What is most interesting is the apparent conviction of Mishory that this sort of drivel will have any impact on anyone besides those already shamed by Cohen. And in stepping out with his new book, Yenner is clearly stating in public that shaming and other cultic conditioning is what he had to throw off to free himself from the cult leader. His book is a clear and helpful guide to anyone in the process of freeing themselves from any similar oppression of shame from whatever the source – but especially if that individual be still under the shame cloud of Andrew Cohen and EnlightenNext.
- from a longer comment posted on Rick Ross Forum

I have decided, as a result, to [cancel plans I'd made to attend a future EnlightenNext event which is] being advertised now. I will not knowingly lend my presence to causes not consonant with integrity and the greater good, and I thank you for advising me about this situation.
- a US professor

I will only briefly echo the praise this book has rightfully received. It’s honest, humble, and complete without dragging the reader through every horrifying abuse that Cohen has perpetrated (and which is available on the What Enlightenment blog expose for those with the stomach for it.)

If I am equally honest with myself, I have to admit that I saw the cult dynamics at work from the very beginning. I saw otherwise mature people acting slavish and infantilized to meet Cohen’s tacit expectation of devotion. A fellow student shared with me her letter to Andrew in which she so thoroughly demonized herself for (fill in the blank: arrogance, ego, selfishness) that it took all the denial I could muster not to see it as the introjection of Cohen’s own shadow. When, after a few months, I was offered the plum assignment of editing the transcripts of Andrew’s talks, it was just as quickly taken away when I did not drop everything, run to his house with an armful of flowers, and throw myself at his feet in gratitude (all part of the unwritten rulebook).

The final straw for me was attending a series of brutal, 70s-style men’s group encounters where the designated scapegoat would be psychically flayed by the community members he had entrusted his spiritual well-being to. When I dared to raise a question about whether this was an effective way of working with the wayward student (leaving aside such wimpy notions as compassion), I drew the collective ire of the group upon myself. I was berated for days, until my own good sense caught up with me and gave me permission to leave.

The point? Whatever stupendous and transcendent experiences I had (and we all had them), the corruption was there from the start. Cohen’s own demons were not vanquished upon meeting Poonja-ji. To the lasting sorrow of all who have thrown away their autonomy for him, those demons were given free rein and given the name “Master”.

Congratulations and thanks to William Yenner and all the contributors to this exceptionally clear, important book.

It is an open secret that followers of Andrew Cohen are subjected to abuse and exploitation that has nothing to do with spirituality, and everything to do with the pathological narcissism of Andrew Cohen. Former followers have spoken out, in this volume, with great courage and honesty.

It would be wonderful to see such honesty and courage demonstrated by other leaders of the New Age movement. Instead of rationalizing and minimizing the extent of these abuses, instead of ignoring and dismissing the experiences of former followers, wouldn’t it be wonderful if people like Ken Wilber, Genpo Roshi, Rupert Sheldrake, Deepak Chopra, Bernie Glassman, etc, could have the courage and the integrity to pay attention, to take up the cause of Cohen’s former members, and confront Cohen publicly?

If such celebrities of the New Age do not have this kind of courage and integrity, at least William Yenner and the authors of this book do – and their work will be of enormous benefit to those who have been cruelly violated and betrayed by Andrew Cohen, in the name of spirituality.

Interesting choice of words on Cohen’s part. But aren’t people sometimes
“thought to be hucksters and con artists” simply because they lie a lot and
take other people’s money?

Your book comes at an opportune time for me, because lately I’ve felt like something in me is forcing me to revisit that period in my life to reevaluate what happened there, and to try to make sense of Andrew, his community, and his message. Although my time in the community was brief, I was very deeply affected by my time there, both in positive and negative ways. Without a doubt, I had my first real taste of something beyond me, but also struggled with what I perceived as an underlying fear and hostility that I couldn’t make sense of at the time.

For perhaps 8 or 9 years after I left, I felt a lot of personal failure, that I had “failed” in some way, and I found myself always defending Andrew and his community despite any misgivings I had. I still looked up to the community as an embodiment of the highest ideals any spiritual seeker could hope to achieve.

About five years ago, I got involved with another spiritual community, the Ridwan School (also known as the Diamond Approach), led by a teacher named Hameed Ali (who goes by the pen name A. H. Almaas). Over the past few years, I’ve been following the developments on the whatenlightenment blog with much interest, and through the process of inquiry with my current group, much anger and resentment at how Andrew and his community has treated people has risen in me. After 12 years, I didn’t think I had much left to process, but I was wrong.

At this point, I have no doubt that what happened around Andrew to be abuse. I actually think it’s quite apparent to anyone who is being objective. It’s not particularly subtle. People have been undoubtedly mistreated, and it’s impossible for me to see how this was done for their benefit. What this means about Andrew’s attainment or how this reflects on his teaching and what his organization is trying to accomplish is less clear to me.

I have read your book cover-to-cover twice, and I want to personally thank you for both sharing your story, and for taking the risk of putting yourself on the line for the sake of the truth. Your personal story is both heartbreaking and inspiring.

I don’t know what effect this will have on Andrew and his community. At the very least, though, the truth has been documented, it’s in the public sphere, and people will now have the opportunity to judge for themselves based on all the evidence. That feels like a huge victory in itself.

Sincerely,

- Jared