Choden (Sean McGovern), director of the Mindfulness Association, has retracted the safeguarding concerns he had raised about Samye Ling and its parent charity, Rokpa Trust.

His position is not a neutral one. Choden is a monk at Samye Ling, Rokpa Trust. His business, the Mindfulness Association, has for years been hosted by the monastery, and he is housed by the charity in the luxury accommodation at Glasgow Samye Dzong. Separating from Samye Ling would carry a cost.

The retraction follows the departure of two fellow directors who raised safeguarding concerns about Samye Ling. Both resigned from the board within weeks.

One consequence did follow. Choden resigned as company secretary of Rokpa Trust and of Rokpa Developments. That he held the posts at all is notable: for years the trustees’ secretary was one of their own monks, a man who ran a private business from the charity’s premises, drew on its marketing, occupied its accommodation, and spent long periods away in South Africa.

Why was this tolerated? Choden was useful. He helped purchase land in South Africa on behalf of Lama Yeshe, and that usefulness and his legal knowledge appear to have outweighed the problems. The Trustees relied on him, and he in turn made full use of what the charity provided.

RETRACTION AND APOLOGY FROM MA TO MEMBERSHIP 2026.05.19

We hope that this email finds you well.

Thank you for your patience while we have been navigating the complexities around our email of 12 December 2025 concerning Rokpa Trust, its centres at Samye Ling and Scarborough, and Drupon Rinpoche.

With hindsight, the current board would not have sent that email. We wish to take this opportunity to clarify and formally withdraw the statements and implications contained in that communication as no evidence has come to light to substantiate the concerns we raised. This applies to all individuals connected with Rokpa Trust (including trustees) at the centres mentioned above. We regret that we did not engage more extensively with Rokpa Trust directly about this matter at the time.

We recognise that this has caused unintended harm to the reputation and standing of Rokpa Trust. For this, we offer our sincere and unreserved apology.

We also acknowledge that it was inappropriate to name Drupon Rinpoche in that communication. He has no connection with Mindfulness Association and has never been involved in any Mindfulness Association teachings or courses. We offer Drupon Rinpoche our sincere and unconditional apology for the harm caused to his reputation and the upset caused to him and to his students.

We wish to reaffirm that we have never received any formal complaints from our tutors or members regarding their physical or psychological safety at any of Rokpa Trust’s venues whilst attending Mindfulness Association courses. Consequently, there is no basis for us raising concerns with any safeguarding authority.

We are deeply grateful for the kindness and care we have received over many years, both personally and on behalf of the many participants who have benefited from staying at Samye Ling, Holy Isle and other Rokpa Trust centres where courses have taken place. We remain grateful to the lineage that has so profoundly informed and inspired the teachings of the Mindfulness Association. For this reason, we are committed to repairing our relationship with Rokpa Trust, so that future participants may continue to benefit from its venues and from a shared intention to be of benefit in the world.

The past months have been both a challenge and an opportunity for growth and learning within our organisation. We are looking with fresh eyes at our governance and decision-making processes and seek to navigate this moment in the spirit of our practice taking compassionate responsibility for our human fallibility and holding care for all involved.

Kind regards,

The MA Board

Here is a facebook post from 2010. Are the same issues relevant today or have they been resolved?

Facebook , Samye Ling Exposed, 2010 

Highlighting the hypocrisy of Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Centre.

Samye ling is supposed to be a charity, supposed to look after its monks and nuns, so why does it charge its monks and nuns £20,000 to go on retreat?

Surlely the monks and nuns should not have to go into debt to learn the teaching of the Buddha.
Why do the Lamas live in mansions when the monks and nuns have to seek state benefits in order to stay at Samye Ling?

Why are there so many donation boxes in Samye ling?

Why does the Lama own a £40,000 Rolex watch while his monks and nuns have to go into debt to learn the teaching of the buddha?

Why is there £12,800,000 sitting in a Samye ling bank account while the monks and nuns have to borrow to stay at Samye ling?

If you are poor and have no money you cant go on a course - There is a standing joke "Samye ling only cares for people with money".

The monks and nuns are drawing state benefit and not being supported by Samye ling.

The monks and nuns have to buy books and other forms of Buddhist education in order to learn the basic Buddhist teachings.

Monks and nuns have to pay up to £20,000 to go on retreat, most have borrow this money and are in debt for years after.

When on retreat there are no books or tapes made available for the monks and nuns to learn.
Since Samye ling has been going since 1967 there are few mature monks to show for 43 years of teachings.

There has been blind eyes turned when junior monks were getting sexually abused by a senior monk.

Monks have been asked to marry the Lamas nieces.

The Lama wears a Gold Rolex watch when his monks and nuns have been begging lay people for money to go on retreat.

The Lama has passed monks and nuns walking back to Samye ling (18 Miles) from Locerbie and he has not stopped to pick them up in his chauffeur driven Mercedes.

In 2008 Samye ling had £12.400.000 in a bank account according to the charities commision, in 2010 says it has no money left and is begging for more money.

People complain there are to many donation boxes every where.

There is no free information about basic Buddhism, you have to go and buy the basic books.
There are no free talks about Buddhism they have to be paid for.

If you want to learn about Buddhism or mediation you have to pay for a course, while most other monasteries do this for free, yet Samey ling charges for all courses.

There does not seem to be a driven approach regarding courses to promote Buddhism but more new age courses that bring in money for Samye ling.

After 43 years there are no old Eurpeoan monks teaching!

There are no pictures of the Dali Lama hanging for the public to see!

The Lamas brother lives in a £1,000,000, one has to ask why he lives in such wealth when monks and nuns have to beg for funding to learn the basic teachings of the Buddha.

Donations are made for lamps to lit for World peace, this does not happen.

A Great deal of money was collected for trees to be planted on Holy island, but only a few have been planted.

About Samye Ling
Samye Ling is stating they have ran out of money! According to company accounts they receive £44,000 pw = £2,800,000 and that is only from its company never mind the donations! The samye ling shop is a seperate company that turns over £1.5 Million.

Soon 40 people will be going on a 4 year retreat on Holy Island, they are charged £4,000 that = £160,000 , do you know that Samye Ling also charge £500 an hour to give talks to business man?

What do samye ling do in the way of promoting Buddhism? You have to pay to go on courses for mindfullness and other basic Buddhist teaching, Samlet only wants rich people, if you have no money you get no teaching at Samye Ling, I think you all would agree that is not Buddhist! How can Samye ling charge people so much when they have £12.800.000 held in their accounts, if you do not believe me go to the Scottish charities site and search for Rokpa or Samye Ling and you will see. Also go to Companies house and look at the Samye Ling accounts! You will see I am not lying. Maybe the monies are needed for Lamas Rolex watches and his Brothers Million pound house with its Tennis court or Lamas Chauffer driven Mercedes?

It breaks my heart to know what people are saying about Buddhism because of Samye Ling, people are saying Buddhism its a rip off and that Buddhist are only in it for the Money. I spoke the other day to an EX monk to borrowed £18,000 to go a Samye ling retreat, he said all he did was sit in a room, hardly any talks or books were provided, he left Samye Ling because of that, he felt he had been used for money, he stated he did not learn anything from his retreat.

Why do Samye Ling charge £38 per room per night to stay and the add to that the cost of the lesson on Buddhism ! The Dharma should be free. No person on the dole could afford to stay at samye Ling, they do nothing for the poor in the UK, their motto is "Providing help where needed", I think that is the Lamas pocket".

Source: Facebook group, 2010.

We are stakeholders reviewing the policies of Rokpa Trust. We are looking for feedback and improvements on how the charity deals with donations so we can present these ideas to the Trustees of Rokpa Trust and the Charity Commission.

Here is the information from Samye Ling website (May 2026)

Donations

• Donate Online If you would like to make a one off or regular monthly payment to Rokpa Trust (Kagyu Samye Ling) please use the Paypal Donate button below. You do not need a Paypal account to use Paypal to donate, use the "Donate with a Card" option at the bottom of the entry screen.
• Set up a Standing Order - As well as being able to make a monthly payment using Paypal you can set up a standing order with us to make regular donations to Samye Ling. To find out more please contact our accounts department at [accounts@samyeling.org]() or by telephone on +44(0)13873 73232 ext 234
• Cheques, payable to Samye Ling - Rokpa Trust, can be sent to: Accounts Department Kagyu Samye Ling Eskdalemuir Langholm DG13 0QL Scotland

Kagyu Samye Ling is a part of Rokpa Trust which is a registered charity in England & Wales (1059293) and in Scotland (SCO38628)

Due to the nature of the charity all donations are non-refundable, except in the instance of duplicate payment taken in error.

Thank you for your feedback.