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The Enlightenment Fraud of Zen Master Rama

Atrocity Guide・60 minutes read

Harry Langdon captured iconic backlit portraits of celebrities in the 1980s, including those commissioned by Dr. Frederick Lenz for promotion of meditation, leading followers to experience euphoria and inner beauty. Despite successful programming career transitions for Lenz's students, exploitation, manipulation, and deprogramming challenges led to the ultimate dissolution of the Cult Awareness Network and a decline in Lenz's influence posthumously.

Insights

Dr. Frederick Lenz, also known as Zen master Rama, attracted followers through meditation techniques focusing on breath, body, and gazing, leading to improved focus, emotional control, and motivation.
Lenz's association with Sri Chinmoy highlighted his spiritual background, emphasizing the power of meditation in achieving a psychedelic state and creative miracles, fostering a large following through endurance challenges and free meditation classes.
Frederick Lenz's controversial practices, including financial exploitation, manipulation, and mistreatment of followers, led to deprogramming efforts by individuals like Joe, culminating in legal battles and the dissolution of Cult Awareness Network due to lawsuits by Scientology.

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What did Frederick Lenz promote through meditation?
Inner beauty and happiness.

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Summary

00:00

"1980s Celebrities Embrace Backlit Portraits"

In the 1980s, celebrities sought out photographer Harry Langdon for iconic backlit portraits, solidifying their status in pop culture.
Dr. Frederick Lenz commissioned Langdon for glamor shots in 1984, leading to widespread posters and magazine features, promoting meditation with Rama.
Dr. Lenz, also known as Zen master Rama, claimed enlightenment and attracted followers by posing questions about past lives and urging meditation.
Lenz's followers were led across America to achieve enlightenment by mastering ancient disciplines and climbing to the top of profitable industries.
Lenz's meditation technique involved focusing on breath or body, with a technique called gazing, leading to improved focus and control over emotions.
Lenz's followers experienced increased motivation, academic success, and a love for activities like running through meditation.
Lenz's meditation promised inner beauty and happiness, with followers experiencing euphoria and a sense of perfection through quieting the mind.
Some followers, like Brenda Kerber, went missing after joining Lenz's group, with reports of students cutting off contact with families and giving up custody of children.
Lenz's association with Sri Chinmoy, a guru known for strength feats and peace efforts, revealed Lenz's spiritual background and dedication to Chinmoy.
Chinmoy, based in Queens, NY, attracted a large following through free meditation classes and endurance challenges, showcasing the power of a focused mind through meditation.

14:30

"Guru's Record-Breaking Art and Spiritual Teachings"

A guru in Queens set a world record by completing sixteen thousand paintings in 24 hours, averaging a few seconds per piece.
Through meditation, the guru claimed to achieve a psychedelic state called oneness with a supreme being.
Students meditated by focusing on a photograph of the guru in a high meditative state, aiming to reach a similar consciousness.
The guru's followers gathered in event rooms to witness his creative miracles, including playing over a hundred instruments in one performance.
The guru's recruitment efforts led by Frederick Lenz, who later separated from the guru to establish his own organization.
Lenz offered his students spiritual energy through meditation, claiming to accelerate their spiritual growth significantly.
Lenz formed a rock/new age band called Zazen with three students, producing albums with unique tracks like "Death is Sexual" and "Gandalf the Wizard."
Lenz required students to submit essays detailing their progress in meditation and engage in supplementary disciplines like martial arts.
Lenz took a western-oriented approach to Enlightenment, emphasizing career progression and salary increases as indicators of spiritual growth.
Lenz encouraged students to switch careers to computer programming, believing it to be similar to advanced meditation due to the required mindset.

29:53

"Lenz's Cult: Programming, Exploitation, and Chaos"

Relational databases are compared to three- or four-D databases, not flat spreadsheets, with some struggling to understand the concept.
Lenz, likened to Steve Jobs, aimed to inspire people to enter the lucrative field of computer programming.
Students began embellishing resumes with programming skills and fake job experiences, using each other as references.
Many inexperienced individuals in the field worked long hours copying code and studying to grasp programming concepts.
Lenz's followers were accused of inserting themselves into accounts and causing chaos, leading to some being blacklisted.
Lenz claimed to have developed software used by numerous American companies, with successful programmers paying him substantial amounts monthly.
Lenz justified high financial demands by claiming threats on his life and the need for protection in energy-rich locations.
Lenz's followers were convinced to give him large sums of money, believing it would enhance their enlightenment.
Lenz was accused of exploiting women in the group, claiming sexual encounters were for spiritual energy transfer.
Lenz amassed over a thousand followers, predominantly women, with a high-tuition inner circle and meditation bases across the country.

43:20

Deprogramming Cult Followers: Joe's Success Story

Joe was involved in deprogramming individuals impacted by cults, including Frederick Lenz (Rama) in 1986.
Lenz's mistreatment of a woman, Mercedes Hughes, involved LSD use and manipulation, leading to her deprogramming.
Joe assisted in deprogramming Lenz's followers, including mistresses, with successful outcomes.
Challenges in deprogramming Lenz's devoted followers included initiating conversations and offering alternative perspectives.
Former students of Lenz, counseled by Joe, often joined interventions and protested outside Lenz's seminars.
Characteristics of Rama's students included attractiveness, intelligence, and a desire for spiritual enlightenment or success.
The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was formed post-Jonestown Massacre to disseminate information about controversial groups.
Jennifer Jacobs was forcibly deprogrammed from Lenz's group, leading to a legal battle and her escape from a rehab center.
Lenz's career saw a decline in the 1990s despite book sales and endorsements, with ex-followers exposing his manipulative tactics.
Lenz used fear tactics to prevent followers from leaving, claiming dire consequences if they disconnected from his spiritual energy.

56:41

"Lenz's Cult Exposed: Controversy and Mystery"

Ex-students successfully removed Lenz's novels from Barnes & Noble promotions.
Reports emerged of a group named Lenz-Watch collaborating with the Cult Awareness Network to connect students with exit counselors.
Cult Awareness Network and Lenz-Watch are resources for information on Lenz and his followers.
A personal account of being approached by the Cult Awareness Network to deprogram from a cult.
Dateline NBC aired an expose on Lenz, featuring an ex-member criticizing his songwriting credits.
Lenz was reported to have used LSD, uppers, downers, and possibly cocaine, appearing ill on television.
Lenz's declining influence led to followers breaking away from him.
A defected member recounted witnessing Lenz's supposed supernatural abilities.
Lenz's mysterious death in 1998 involved a damaged railing and a dog collar around his neck.
The Frederick P Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism was established posthumously to promote Zen teachings and meditation.

01:10:06

Cult follower's disappearance and aftermath revealed.

Brenda Kerber, a meditation student, disappeared in 1988, and her remains were found in 2021 after her car was intentionally driven into a reservoir.
Brenda had given up custody of her children to follow Frederick Lenz, referred to as "Golden Boy," across the country.
The Cult Awareness Network was dissolved in the late 1990s after being sued multiple times by Scientology, leading to bankruptcy and acquisition by Scientology in 1996.
Deprogramming cases, though rare after the 1990s, still occur, with one recent case in India.
Former students of Lenz, now in the computer programming industry, have mixed feelings about their experiences, with some turning them into cautionary tales and others finding success in various fields like filmmaking and entrepreneurship.

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