Case NO. 09/2015: Rania Hammoud

JUDGMENT AND ETHICAL CONCLUSION

Dear Prosecutor, Executive Secretary and Jury Members of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee (IBEC) & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights (BTHR). Concerning the case reported by the World Association of Buddhism (WBA) against Rania Hammoud, through the present paper, on November 27, 2015, I put on record that it is concluded the ninth case of the Ethics Committee to analyze the violation of Buddhist Spirituality carried out by the accused.

After that the evidence was certified as valid by the Prosecutor, and the accused having had the possibility of providing statement, it has proceeded with the vote of 3 members of the Jury, who issued the verdict of “Responsible” regarding Rania Hammoud for the crimes of Insults, Threats, Discrimination, Violation of professional ethics, False Zen and False Spirituality.

The defendant’s actions have breached the Buddhist ethical precepts as well as the professional guidelines of the Coaching practice and Spirituality, since her use of insulting and threatening comments has shown that Rania Hammoud is not what she claims to be, because, indeed, she is not being a spiritual or zen person. Such kind of aggressive behavior is in many professionals, who forget how fundamental the correct speech practice is. Thus, by trying to attack an International Buddhist University, the defendant has not only violated the Buddhist ethics but also the practice of Coaching, in addition to contradicting what this person claims to represent: Spirituality and zen lifestyle. This noxious behavior by Rania Hammoud is product of a form of economic discrimination, as she attacked a prestigious International Buddhist University, the Maitreya Buddhist University, just because of the fact of not having a bank account available for international students. She has been given the opportunity to rectify her behavior, but she has refused to learn from her mistakes. All this proves that the accused transmits a false Zen Spirituality, which constitutes a threat to the purity of the Buddhist Path.

These private demonstrations of the accused are part of a global culture context of discrimination against the poor. However, Maitreya Buddhist University has created many humanitarian projects that enable the dream of completely free advanced education to people from every the continent of the world. Indeed, this school is very humble and even economically poor, but this is not something objectionable, because in Buddhism the ethics of Detachment and austerity are noble characteristics. In fact, from the perspective of Buddhism it might be considered that having bank accounts and accumulating money constitutes a violation of Buddhist ethics. In this sense, the Maitreya Buddhist University lives with the same poverty with which Siddharta Gautama and other spiritual masters lived.

Therefore, the International Buddhist Ethics Committee and Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights dictates that Buddhist Spirituality, as a Path of Poverty and Humility, must establish that the accused has violated the spiritual doctrines but also the professional ethics of Coaching. Nevertheless, as a humanitarian organization dedicated to Mercy, Maitreya Buddhist University offers Rania Hammoud a full scholarship to study a Master Degree in Zen Buddhism at no cost, as long as she publicly apologizes for her discriminatory statements towards the school, committing to live a life of humility, detachment and righteousness. We hope this will help her to achieve the Cure (Nirvana) from the illusions that inhabit in her mind in order to find the mental health and practice a contemplative (Zen) lifestyle.

Following the Way of the Master Siddhartha Gautama, who has been the embodiment of selflessness and humility in the world, deprived of any macho bias, our Committee has been able to prove that the accused Rania Hammoud has committed offenses of Insults, Threats, Discrimination, Violation of professional ethics, False Zen and False Spirituality. Although we consider that women have a special condition for being oppressed in many countries around the world, our Buddhist Ethics Committee has the duty to speak on behalf of Justice, by establishing the present Judgment as a way of ethical teaching to the accused.

Always with a spirit of reconciliation (maitri),

Buddhist Master Maitreya

Spiritual guide and President of the Buddhist Ethics Committee (IBEC) and the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights (BTHR)