the myth of the creation of Lama Kunzang according to the OKC
Lama Kunzang page deleted from the OKC site, except that the internet does not forget. https://web.archive.org/web/20090708005550/https://okc-net.org/fr/maitres/lama-kunzang.html
Lama Kunzang was born in Brussels in April 1944, only son of a comfortably off family.
Towards the end of the 1960s, in Darjeeling, India, he met Kyabje Kangyur Rinpoche in a small house where Rinpoche lived at the time with his family. He became his disciple and, during the following six years, until Kangyur Rinpoche passed away in 1975, Lama Kunzang studied and made retreats under his spiritual authority, with the assistance and advice of the eldest son of Kangyur Rinpoche, Tsetrul Pema Wangyal Rinpoche.
In 1972, Kangyur Rinpoche asked Lama Kunzang to found the Ogyen Kunzang Choling centre in Brussels – the first Tibetan Buddhist centre in Belgium – and which bears the same name as the monastery in Darjeeling.
In the spring of 1974, following indications from Kangyur Rinpoche, Lama Kunzang discovered in Provence, France, an ancient domain of the Knights Templars, some 112 hectares in size, bearing the name “Chateau de Soleils”, which he was able to acquire thanks to financial assistance from his father. Thus Nyima Dzong was born. During the following years, Lama Kunzang received numerous teachings and transmissions from Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche and Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. For all important decisions he had to take, particularly concerning the different centres he subsequently founded, Lama Kunzang always referred to the spiritual direction and the precious advice of these two great Masters.
Lama Kunzang has consecrated his life and his patrimony to the development of Buddhism in the West. Just after the departure of Kyabje Dilgo Rinpoche in 1991, Lama Kunzang undertook a retreat which lasted several years. Following this, he resumed his activity under the spiritual authority of Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche – grandson and spiritual successor of Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche – with the support and advice of Pema Wangyal Rinpoche.
The creation of Lama Kunzang
From the end of the 70’s Robert Spatz alias Lama Kunzang is in the circuit hardly born of Tibetan Buddhist Centers in Europe and he is going to use the visits of references of Tibetan Buddhism and the silence of all those who doubt him to buy his place, within “The Lineage of the Masters” of which he claimed to be the direct descendant, his son being carried in front of the followers as the reincarnation of Kangyur Rinpoche.
In the end, the people who had legitimate doubts withdrew and as the years went by, only the people who had no way out or who were in the mold, completely integrated into the life “inside the family” remained.
What is certain is that for the majority of followers, the presence of these Tibetans on the scene was a decisive factor in removing doubts and saying that Lama Kunzang was indeed authentic and in any case, the very heresy of thinking that he was not “The Lama” did not exist in the minds, certainly not of children / adolescents and for followers / parents doubts were drowned in secrecy or resignation to remain in their place.
The "Teachings" of Robert Spatz alias Lama Kunzang
Here is a list of documents, in fact audio tape transcriptions of several recordings of Spatz that do NOT come from the Belgian or French legal file and that allows to have a look inside the OKC, a glimpse of what Spatz said to his followers and also some pearls that say a lot about the OKC and its followers.
- Spatz’s monologues in the OKC were called “teachings”, they were listened to with great fervor by the followers and were all recorded in audio which was then transcribed by followers into text, that’s how this archive of monologues came into our hands.
