------------------------------------------------------------------- F.A.C.T.Net, Inc. (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network, Incorporated) a non-profit computer bulletin board and electronic library 601 16th St. #C-217 Golden, Colorado 80401 USA BBS 303 530-1942 FAX 303 530-2950 Office 303 473-0111 This document is part of an electronic lending library and preservational electronic archive. F.A.C.T.Net does not sell documents, it only lends them according to the terms of your library cardholder agreement with F.A.C.T.Net, Inc. ===================================================================== The Rama Files Number 2 [NOTE: This is the second of fourteen planned reports on the activities of Frederick Lenz aka Zen Master Rama] History - The Ascent of a Guru "Early on, he was trying to make millions of people happy.... He wasn't saying he was a demigod or the Anti-Christ... "That came later...." Mark Laxer - Early Lenz Follower In the spring of 1978 Frederick Lenz completed his work at the State University at Stony Brook and was awarded a Ph.D. in English Literature. He immediately launched himself full time into the mystique of Eastern religions. He obtained a position teaching Eastern religions at the New School for Social Research in New York City. In addition he rented space on college campuses including Harvard, New York University and the State University at Stony Brook, to lecture on Eastern religions. But Lenz' main occupation was as a recruiter for the cult of Sri Chinmoy, a Hindu guru who ran an ashram in Queens. During his early college years Lenz had become a follower on Sri Chinmoy. He lived off an on at Chinmoy's ashram. As early as 1972 he was leading meditation groups as a "trusted student" of Chinmoy. For all his odd appearance Lenz became an exceptional speaker and an effective recruiter. Lenz began to break some of Chinmoy's very strict rules. "He broke all of the rules and everyone knew it. He had numerous girlfriends. He loved violent movies like "Apocalypse Now," said Mark Laxer. Lenz also angered many of Chinmoy's senior followers. For some time his behavior was overlooked in view of his exceptional ability at recruiting new followers. Finally Chinmoy confronted Lenz regarding these issues. As a way of reconciling himself with Chinmoy Lenz agreed to go west to San Diego and open a laundromat to learn humility, and to open a Chinmoy Center. Lenz departed for San Diego in early September of 1979. Mark Laxer was a seventeen year old high school student when he and his brother David heard Lenz speak at Stony Brook. They both became followers of Sri Chinmoy with Lenz as their mentor. They followed him to San Diego along with three women. "He is a very captivating speaker, and a very kind person inside," Laxer said. "Deep down, he's a very special person who's vulnerable and sort of a victim of himself." [1] In San Diego the group lived together. Mark describes it as a very happy time. He says Lenz was sincere, a really nice guy, and that they had a lot of love and "family" in their small community. "Early on, he was into trying to make millions of people happy," Laxer said. "That was a sort of rallying cry for us. In the very beginning he wasn't saying he was a demigod or the Anti-Christ. That came later." [2] New recruits quickly built the center to more than one hundred followers. Reverting to his past infractions Lenz once again starting breaking rules. He began again exploiting his women followers. He commenced exercising powers that were reserved to Sri Chinmoy. Lenz interposed himself between Chinmoy and the followers in his group and began to make some rules of his own. In January, 1981, Lenz was called back to New York and had a confrontation with Chinmoy over his behavior. When he returned to San Diego he announced to the group that negative forces and entities got to Chinmoy. Lenz then proclaimed his own enlightenment. "Chinmoy has fallen and I am now the enlightened one", Laxer says he told the group. A large number of followers left, but Lenz, with a core of fifty remaining, moved first to a house near the University of California at San Diego, then later to a house in La Jolla. Lenz began to call himself Atmananda and the group was called Lakshmi after a Hindu deity. Lenz focused on the enlightenment of women, although men were welcome also. He incorporated a company as "Lakshmi" and various other offshoot companies such as Vishnu Travel, Lakshmi Distribution and New Light Productions. He began intensive recruiting in San Diego and at the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. Later recruiting was expanded to the San Francisco Bay area. The group quickly built back to more than a hundred. For a while Lenz' relationship with his "students" remained relatively informal with Lenz playing the role of mentor/friend and meeting with students on a daily or weekly basis. He used his house as an office and as a center for meetings. Early in 1982 he moved to a "huge, opulent mansion" on the cliffs near Del Mar which he had rented for a year. His relationship with students became more formal. The metamorphosis of Lenz was underway. Mark Laxer observed the changes in Lenz. About the time he broke away from Sri Chinmoy he began talking about "entities" or negative forces that "would attack you in your sleep and affect your mind and your actions." Former followers say Lenz borrowed this idea, and several others, from the works of Carlos Castenada. The remaining followers were subject to all-night harangues by Lenz about the entities and other topics. "He said we were partly possessed and that he was the only one who could help us. He listed his former lives in Tibet, Japan, Atlantis, India and so on. In the late spring or early summer of 1982 he moved his base of operations from Del Mar to Malibu and rented Goldie Hawn's house. He asked the San Diego students to move to Los Angeles. He opened a center in San Francisco. Mark Laxer described the changes that were taking place at this time. Lenz became more remote and "God-like". The cult was becoming more commercialized with the various spin-offs and the advertising. Lenz began to use drugs, principally LSD on himself and on members of his inner circle. He became more ambiguous and contradictory in his lectures, saying, "If you think you understand what I am saying, you've lost because you don't have humility." He began to emphasize the occult more, began to use fear as a tactic to control his group, and began to use "divide and conquer" tactics within the group, group criticism and self criticism in group meetings. Other techniques were developing, some of them bizarre. Once he took a group of inner circle students to watch an autopsy. He began to develop the idea of his desert trips, used to isolate and exhaust his followers, making them more susceptible to suggestion. More substantial changes were beginning. Lenz had started with Hinduism but then decided to switch to Buddhism. According to Laxer Lenz "..read the market in California and decided that Zen was in." It was much more marketable. There are several sects of Zen, which in turn is one of a several branches of Buddhism. It is a school that claims to transmit the essence of Buddhism through meditation as a path to the enlightenment the Buddha experienced. In later 1982 or early 1983 Lenz dumped the name "Atmananda" and anointed himself as "Zen Master Rama". The name is that of the last incarnation of Vishnu, an apocalyptic Hindu deity. He also the laid claim to being the last incarnation of Shiva, the Destroyer, also called the Lord of Death. According to conventional Buddhists the term "Zen Master" is applied only rarely, only after many years of dedicated study, and generally only posthumously. A unique spin is put on Buddhism by Lenz' marketing instincts. Disavowing the conventional observance of Zen, including monastic withdrawal from the world, intensive concentration and an ascetic life- style, Lenz offered something much more appealing. He called his philosophy "Tantric Mysticism" which includes meditation, out-of-body experiences, altered consciousness, but involves living an affluent life- style and enjoying worldly pleasures. The move to Malibu in 1982 began a period of major expansion for Lenz. He began an intensive campaign advertising seminars in different locations around the country. One ad shows pictures of a sexy blonde and a Porshe. Other ads carry highly touched up pictures of Lenz taken by Hollywood celebrity photographer Harry Langdon. Then, in early 1983 he published his book The Last Incarnation. The book was published by Lakshmi Publications, Malibu, California, a Lenz company. It is a series of testimonials to Lenz' supernatural powers supposedly written by his followers. There are descriptions of Lenz variously turning his right hand into a flaming torch like the Statue of Liberty, of Lenz levitating or filling rooms with golden light and similar feats of legerdemain. The first casualty of the group occurred in February, 1984. UCLA student Donald Cole committed suicide by stabbing himself with a knife. Cole left a note saying he is sorry that he is unable to reach the level of perfection expected by Lenz. The note concluded, "Bye, by, Rama. See you next time." Former followers say Lenz was very shaken and upset by this episode, but by July he commenced a series of series of workshops on meditation, reincarnation and tantric yoga at the Beverly Theater in Los Angeles. Crowds of several hundred people, mostly in their '20s and '30s paid twenty dollars each to attend the three hour sessions. While many of the audience were impressed with Lenz' supernatural abilities he maintained a modest demeanor for the press, describing himself as a "teacher", not a guru. According to Lenz he lost money on the series of seminars, spending more than $100,000 for advertising and $2,500 per night to rent the theater. Lenz claimed to have more than 500 students at that time, a number which he had recently reduced from 1,000. [3] By this time Lenz has perfected the techniques of recruiting followers and dominating and controlling their minds. Keeping them dominated and under control was something else again. Restlessly seeking ways of keeping active and intelligent people occupied Lenz decided to open a new center in Boston. Since the early 1980's Lenz had talked about computer programming as a desirable profession, saying it was both lucrative and conducive to the Zen mind. By 1985 he made it clear that "advanced" students should be actively studying computer languages. He considered Boston a center of computer activity so half his students were sent off to the East. The center was not successful. Some of the students returned to California. Others moved to Colorado. For a while he considered starting his own computer software company in Denver. Efforts were made to open a center there, and another in Phoenix, but these too failed. In the meantime he continued his program of public appearances which were now conducted under the name "Rama Seminars, Inc." In February of 1986 he incorporated Vishnu Systems, a computer software development corporation. Insiders say this was a new hope. At his urging many of his followers had gone into computer programing and they figured heavily in his plans for the new company. One source thought he had plans for what Lenz called a "mobile electronic tribe" of wandering computer experts. [4] A mass meeting of his followers, including those who had been kicked out, was called in May of 1987. They were told, "Failure to attend will disqualify you from Rama Seminars Inc. activities for the rest of your life." It was a threat not taken lightly. Lenz told the assembled followers it is time to get serious. He separated his followers into beginning and advanced "students". The advanced students, he said, had been fooling with enlightenment for years. Now they had to agree to move to Palo Alto. Lenz called Palo Alto a "power center for success", a favorite phrase of his to be heard many times in the future. The had to get into computers, take martial arts four times a week, and leave their friends and families behind. Only those who had a personal excuse from him were exempt. Lenz had them file past, accepting some who went out one door, rejecting others who went out another door. When he was through he had between 300 and 400 followers firmly under his direct control. The monthly "tuition" was now raised to $600 per month. In February of 1987 he had purchased a house in Stony Brook, New York, an area which he had always envied from his days at SUNY, Stony Brook. Lenz lived there over the summer with one of his followers, Mercedes Hughes. As the summer passed his behavior became increasingly bizarre. Mercedes believed he was using LSD. He became more abusive, accusing her of harboring demons. In September she finally worked up the determination to leave. In October he sold the house. During the year it is estimated that he had spent more than $500,000 on advertising his seminars which have been held in the New York area. In November and December alone he has spent $400,000 on ads in the Sunday Edition of the NY Times. Starting in the fall of 1987 Lenz things turned sour for Lenz. Mercedes Hughes and other former followers went public with accusations of forced sex and financial exploitation. Newspapers in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego carried detailed stories of his activities. Newsweek magazine picked up on the story and carried it nationally, as did several television program. Startled by the publicity and apprehensive of the possibility of official inquiries, Lenz ceased all public appearances and decided to move again. He purchased another, larger, home on the waterfront in Stony Brook and had it remodelled. He told his followers on the West Coast they were moving East. "He decided that God was calling him to Washington, D. C. to oversee the coming election. "I thought it was a little sudden and odd, but he always changed his mind suddenly," said Fran, a former follower. She followed him to Washington, briefly, and then on to New York. [5] His followers, nearly all of whom were now engaged in computer programming, began to work their way into the computer industry in the greater New York area. Some of them were very capable programmers and software engineers. Many others, however, had only a few months of training and had barely mastered rudimentary skills. Within a year or two this unknown group coming from California began to be referred to within the industry as the "California Raisins" for the chaos and confusion they caused. Lenz himself maintained a fairly low profile, giving no more public appearances. He abandoned the names Rama Seminars, Vishnu Systems, and others he had used on the West Coast and incorporated "National Personal and Professional Seminars", "Advanced Systems, Inc.", and "Infinity Plus Consulting". Under these names he established a relationship with the State University of New York at Purchase where he rented space to conduct his meetings. He commenced a routine of monthly seminars, together with more frequent instructional meetings where some of his more competent people would conduct classes on computers. During this period he apparently concentrated principally on exploitation of the core group which had followed him East, estimated to be between two hundred and two hundred and fifty. Some recruiting was carried out, but on a small scale and by personal invitation only. Over the years his demands for tuition increased from $600 per month to $3,000 per month and as high as $6,000 per month from his advanced followers. By the spring of 1992 Lenz seems to have decided that bad publicity was of no consequence. For all practical purposes he could afford to totally ignore any adverse publicity. It had caused no governmental agency to inquire into his activities and had not the slightest impact on the devotion of his followers. So he commenced a new recruiting program on both the East and West Coasts. Exercising some caution Lenz made certain that his name did not appear on any poster or advertising. Instead he had his "monks" advertise free seminars under the name of some fictitious "meditation" society. The "monks" then invited promising prospects to a coast-wide meeting Lenz conducted at which the prospect might be invited to "study" with Lenz and become an "apprentice". A second wave of publicity was triggered by Lenz' latest recruiting effort. Newspapers on both the East and West Coast carried stories about the recruiting effort and the deceptive practices involved. Lenz no longer appeared in person or on the telephone to give interviews or answer any questions about his activities. Instead his public relations spokespersons arrogantly denied any and all bases for concern. Through a campaign made up partly of threats by his libel attorney together with vicious attacks upon his critics Lenz was been able to soften some criticism. In the fall of 1993 Lenz again made a radical change in the format of his organization. All of his older followers were ordered to move to Chicago. Most of those in the Bay Area of California and in New York complied. Then he ordered his new crop of recruits to move to the New York area, supplying them with informational material on how to find an apartment, how to get around, and where to find computer training. The new and old groups were to be kept strictly segregated. He is reported to have told his new group, imaginatively called "Star-Trek, the New Generation", that his older followers were "weird" and that he didn't know where they got such strange ideas as evil entities and the lower occult. It appeared that Lenz was trying once again to disassociate himself with some of the more strange and excessive ideas and behavior he had generated over the years. In a number of ways Lenz has shown that he desperately wants to be known and respected as a successful businessman, to leave behind his seamy reputation as an exploitative cult leader. He had often referred to his enterprise as a "business". At the same time he has been unable to give up his desire to dominate and exploit his followers. Most recently, in the summer of 1994, Lenz has either been asked to withdraw from use of facilities at the State University of New York at Purchase, or has done so under pressure. As a result he is reported to have announced that he will no longer give public instruction, but will be available for private counselling. He is also attempting to form his new group into a company to develop software for which they will receive a percentage of the profits. ____________________ Footnotes: 1. Mark Laxer in "As Guru's Disciples Hit Town" Roxanne Patel Phildellphia Inquirer August 2, 1992 2. Ibid 3. "Is Rama the Perfect Guru for the 1980s". Elaine Warren. Los Angelese Examiner. Agusut 2, 1984 4. "The Cosmic Seducer". Sheri Senders. Los Angeles Weekly. January 28, 1988 5. "Guru Mixed Money and Mystigue". Gerald Renner. Hartford Courant October 18, 1992 ================================================================= If this is a copyrighted work, you are acknowledging by receipt of this document from FACTNet that on the basis of reasonable investigation, you have not been to obtain a copy elsewhere at a fair price, and that you are and will abide by the following copyright warning. WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photo copies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. 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