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Something to Offer

Disillusioned with fallen teachers, Eliot Fintushel finds renewed hope with Ezra Bayda. Illustrations by Benji Williams Eliot Fintushel

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I'VE HAD some bad experiences with spiritual masters.

In the late eighties and early nineties, there were very public scandals at Buddhist centers all over the country. Teachers had fondled students, favored lovers, played fast and easy with members' land and money, were unconfessed and unrecovered alcoholics - and those were just the actionable misdeeds. In each case the devastation was proportional to the teacher's "charisma." True believers defended their besmirched teachers while victims and journalists wagged fingers.

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