I Escaped a Cult - Monastic Academy for the Preservation of Life on Earth Review

[Breakingthewall]

5 hours ago, Consilience said:

Because MAPLE is explicitly self-proclaiming unilateral spiritual authority over humanity it is precisely not a typical Zen monastery hierarchical structure nor a typical organizational hierarchical structure, such as the military. It's emphasis on using one man's ideological framework as the basis for civilizational, spiritual transformation makes it distinctly different. 

Many of the mind control techniques you list in your own cult psychology video I also listed in mine so I'm curious whether you watched the full video or perhaps missed them? Here is a list though: 

Extensive meditation, chanting, sleep deprivation, a constant high stress work load, very limited amount of free time or room for individual contemplation, instances of public humiliation, an environment that swings between love bombing and harsh anger, a total lack of personal space, constant 2-3 hour talks around ideology of head teacher, a constant emphasis on ideology (rather than contemplation) as the path to truth, a putting down of non-Buddhist teachers or spiritual teachers or thinkers that disagree with the ideology, an us vs. them mentality reinforced through mechanisms of fear, a replacing of one's personal identity with a new identity (taking on new name, dress code, etc.), very intimate, vulnerable one-on-one interviews with head teacher, warped expressions of Buddhist teachings centered around the demonization of thoughts, feelings, and the mind which act as mechanisms of the erosion of one's own self-sovereignty, authority, and trust, and of course, the classic "The world is ending!" framework. 

As far as harm, I did name multiple instances of abuse in my video that I personally witnessed. But even to take my own story - notice how little the organization considered the financial and physical vulnerability of giving me less than 24 hours notice to leave as a type 1 diabetic. The emphasis was on the suppression of dissent rather than the well being of a three year community member. 

Seems that they are a group of people with very low level of maturity, with a lot of trauma, who are looking identity in spirituality. Then, if you are in that game, well, it's because you are in that wave (a quite anxious vawe), and if you aren't, you abandon as you did. 

Take it as an experience to mature yourself, to understand that spirituality is personal, absolute inner freedom, and that any imposition is precisely the opposite of what spirituality is. An organized group of spiritual people is the exact opposite of spirituality. Spirituality is about leaving the herd, not changing herds.

[Carl-Richard]

Wh-what? I swear I just yesterday read a bit of your old thread from 2022. And now I saw this thread. What a synchronicity. Or coincidence? Conscilience?

Escaping a cult is an invaluable lesson in epistemology, the nature of beliefs and self-deception. Speaking from experience 🙂 (and out of respect for the topic, I'm not going to vaguepost about it: I was in Rali's spiritual community from 2017-2018).

Edited July 25, 2025 by Carl-Richard

[Consilience]

17 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

Wh-what? I swear I just yesterday read a bit of your old thread from 2022. And now I saw this thread. What a synchronicity. Or concidence? Conscilience?

 

17 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

Escaping a cult is an invaluable lesson in epistemology, the nature of beliefs and self-deception. Speaking from experience 🙂 (and out of respect for the topic, I'm not going to vaguepost around it: I was in Rali's spiritual community from 2017-2018).

Yeah it is, and to make the decision despite the overwhelmingly toxic group think and social pressure is a lesson in mental resiliency and integrity. It's very sad in this particular example because of how different it was when I began there. However in hindsight, the possibility of its devolving into a more run of the mill like cult were there from the beginning. 

Appreciate the vulnerability and share! 

[Consilience]

A friend sent me a link to a medium article that was posted July 9th, 2025 completely unrelated to my release of this video, but that shares another story of these same dynamics. Very interesting timing. 

It's a very quick read, you can check it out here:
https://medium.com/@monasticacademyresident/my-experience-inside-soryu-foralls-ai-centered-monastic-academy-769deefe6e34

[Salvijus]

"Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly treated." 

[Inliytened1]

@Consilience very interesting.  I'm glad you were able to get out.  Listened to your video and a few of your others.  Nice channel.   Do you think the guru was actually enlightened?  You mentioned you used meditation to uncover what was going on - did you feel you at least grew spiritually from the whole experience?  Again sorry you encountered this but props for realizing it and getting out.  Don't beat yourself up to badly about how long it took.  

[Inliytened1]

On 7/23/2025 at 8:11 AM, Leo Gura said:

@Consilience Well, I finished watching your whole video.

I did not understand what made this organization a cult. It sounds like you had disagreements with leadership decisions and values and in typical Zen hierarchical fashion they are not a democracy and don't want your feedback.

From the things you spoke, it's hard for me to classify that as a cult. It sounds more like a typical hierarchical organization.

I don't mean to dismiss your claims. But from your video I did not hear serious abuse or mind-control techniques. From what I heard from you in the video, your biggest complaint is that leadership did not listen to your suggestions.

I am left thinking: either you did not communicate the abuse, or MAPLE is not a cult.

Perhaps you wish to communicate more.

I cannot post that video as an example of a cult. It sounds more like a dissatisfied customer.

Perhaps there were more things he didn't get into..but i tend to agree from what i heard in the video.  @Consilience what other behavior was exhibited that would put it in a cult category rather then just control by position. 

Using control by keeping certain people down and not wanting to hear any feedback is still bad and he was good for getting away from it.   

[Consilience]

5 hours ago, Inliytened1 said:

@Consilience very interesting.  I'm glad you were able to get out.  Listened to your video and a few of your others.  Nice channel.   Do you think the guru was actually enlightened?  You mentioned you used meditation to uncover what was going on - did you feel you at least grew spiritually from the whole experience?  Again sorry you encountered this but props for realizing it and getting out.  Don't beat yourself up to badly about how long it took.  

Thank you. 

Was he actually enlightened? I think Soryu has had direct experiences of the Absolute yes, but that it's not as deep or transformative as would be expected of a man claiming global spiritual authority. The lack of realization slowly revealed itself the more time I spent in the community. On the surface he's very impressive, very charismatic, very persuasive, and has an enormous amount of energy which creates a kind of transmission by being in his presence, which is indicative of having access to very deep states of consciousness via meditation. 

Yes the whole experience was enormously transformative, spiritually, in so many ways. 

And thank you for the kind words of encourage. 

Edited July 28, 2025 by Consilience

[Consilience]

I just wanted to update this thread for those who want an amazing case study in cult psychology and an update to the on-going unraveling of the MAPLE situation - 

There was a four hour disclosure of someone's experience who spent more one on one time with the head teacher than perhaps anyone in the organization's history. It's a profound story and probably the deepest spiritual transmission of a teaching I've personally ever received because of how utterly human it is. 

4 hour disclosure audio substack post link

Currently the community is in a kind of allergic response, commenting and liking various comments on my video, in a scramble to improve their online reputation. I suspect this is in part because the video has continued to gain traction and because of the four hour disclosure substack, which they can't directly address, as it draws more attention to it. So instead of addressing the disclosure directly, they're now focused on attacking me. 

My video link

A MAPLE member also made a parody video of mine with a nearly identical title and style - a kind of spoof. To not draw more attention to it, I'm not going to bother linking but it's easy to find and quite funny to watch. As well as posted two blog posts about me comparing me to the Buddhist demon mara. 

The whole thing is rather dramatic and pathetic. Again, sharing this update more so because the MAPLE situation truly is a great case study of these cult dynamics and how dramatically collective movements can turn sour and poisonous. 

Edit: And also as Leo himself pointed out with his earlier comment about feeling blueballed, the substack goes into much greater detail than my video does. And it's also important to keep in mind even the substack post is only one story and no way comprehensive of everything that's taken place, particularly behind closed doors. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Consilience

[Carl-Richard]

I think it's hilarious how strongly Leo disagreed on you categorizing it as a cult throughout the thread, despite you feeling strongly compelled to call it a cult. Almost makes you think 🤫

 

I wonder what you think about my "cult" experience. Was it a cult? And then, is it categorically distinguishable from this place?

Edited 9 hours ago by Carl-Richard