Inside Buddhafield, The Dancer-Founded Sex Cult

In 1992 Gomez and his approximately 120 followers moved from West Hollywood to Austin for unknown reasons and settled in the city's forested west side, per Austin Monthly. Will Allen, creator of the 2016 documentary "Holy Hell," says in another Austin Monthly article that Buddhafield members had to "throw people off the scent" regarding their cult when traveling in public.

Meanwhile, Gomez set his followers to work building a community theater for him to put on performances. As part-and-parcel of Buddhafield's cult activities, Gomez staged entire, elaborate theater performances where he forced members to dance, wear costumes, sing, etc., preparing for years to put on one single performance for the cult, per Austin Monthly. This theater, the 300-seat One World Theater, still exists to this day, although its website mentions nothing of its Buddhafield origins and instead frames itself as a multicultural arts center founded by an "education outreach program."

It's during this time that Gomez, as the Buddhafield Netflix documentary says, upped the manipulative ante. He started charging his followers $100 per hypnotherapy session, which he would secretly record and use as blackmail to keep members divided and focused solely on worshipping him. These sessions, per Vulture, also became another way for Gomez to sexually abuse his followers. CNN says that Gomez reserved certain nights a week for specific "concubines:" All were male but not all were gay. 

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB9knBvam5gZLavv8idnGaapZmxqa3FopylnF2Zrq%2BvxKtkn6elo7GmsIysnLFlk6q5tXs%3D