In 1963, Vietnamese Buddhists accused Allen Ginsberg of espionage. “He said he was a poet and a little crazy and that he liked Buddhists,” a spokesman of the group told reporters. Ginsberg, the beatnik poet and student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, was not a spy, but was stopping Vietnam en route from India to Canada. Thanks to Dangerous Minds for pointing to this bizarre moment in history. Read the whole story in the June 6, 1963 New York Times:
New York Times, June 6, 1963
For more on Allen Ginsberg, read his spiritual autobiography, “The Vomit of a Mad Tyger.”
