Extreme financial problems in the Palyul Lineage of the Nyingma Sect are spawning reverberations like a pebble thrown into a pool of still water.The Palyul response is raising questions about what is and is not an acceptable fundraising exercise, i.e. is the crass, Taiwanese-Chinese commercialization of Tibetan Buddhism acceptable if it feeds the monks and pays the bills?
The larger question is how monastic Tibetan Buddhism can survive in a world which no longer supports the institutions it represents.
Donations to Tibetan Buddhist centers and projects are dropping off all over the world, and the people who built those centers and inculcated those projects are aging rapidly. Very few young people are entering the milieu to replace those who are being lost.
How will Tibetan Buddhism sustain itself in the years to come?