Gautama Dhamma

In the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter offers a chilling analysis of the serial killer Buffalo Bill. He tells Clarice Starling:

“There is no correlation between transsexualism and violence. Transsexuals are very passive. Billy is not a real transsexual, but he thinks he is. He tries to be. He tries to be a lot of things, I expect. … Look for severe childhood disturbances associated with violence. Our Billy was not a born criminal, Clarice. He was made one through years of systematic abuse. Billy hates his own identity, you see, and he thinks that makes him a transgender, but his pathology is a thousand times more savage and more terrifying…”

Lecter points away from gender identity itself and toward deeper trauma: abuse, self-hatred, and a desperate search for something—anything—to explain inner torment.

Further, Lecter’s words highlight how self-hatred and denial of one’s true identity can spiral into something monstrous. Yet, in today’s world, we see this denial not as a symptom of deeper issues but as something to be encouraged under the banner of “transgenderism.” This dangerous trend ignores the root causes and exacerbates the very conflicts it claims to resolve.

This fictional dialogue feels eerily resonant in light of the February 10, 2026, mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. The attacker, 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar—who was born male and began transitioning to female around age 12—killed her 39-year-old mother (Jennifer) and 11-year-old stepbrother at home before heading to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. There, she fatally shot five students (aged 12–13), a 39-year-old teacher, and injured more than two dozen others before dying by suicide.

Jesse had dropped out of school around age 14. Reports indicate a history of severe mental health challenges, including diagnoses of depression, autism (Asperger’s), and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. She had been hospitalized and, shortly after release at age 15, reportedly used psychedelic mushrooms while on antidepressants and other psychiatric medications—an incident linked to a house fire.

The family lived a nomadic life, moving across Newfoundland, Alberta, and British Columbia, with the mother changing family names multiple times. This instability likely made it hard for the children to form lasting friendships or a sense of community belonging. Jennifer appeared to love her son, as evidenced by social media posts, and supported his gender denial by affirming his transgender identity. She moved to the coal mining town of Tumbler Ridge for work and even pursued additional skills training, but an accident three years prior led to job loss and mounting economic pressures.

However, this support for gender denial—treating transgender identification as a valid path—did not heal the underlying wounds; it amplified them. Poverty, a wandering lifestyle, scarcity of resources, and untreated mental health issues slowly eroded the family. By enabling Jesse’s rejection of his biological male identity, Jennifer and society at large ignored the real drivers: instability, abuse, and inner turmoil. Transgenderism became a false refuge, masking savage pathologies.

From a spiritual perspective, humans embody a hybrid nature: part animal, part divine. These elements often clash, creating lifelong tension. Traditional teachings describe human growth in roughly seven-year cycles, where the divine is not in harmony with the physical—especially during puberty’s hormonal surge—can trigger intense turmoil. For some boys entering this phase, denying or rejecting the sexual/ bodily self can lead to profound self-loathing, even self-harm. Without a stable, loving family and community to provide grounding, this inner war can turn outward in destructive ways.

Jesse’s crisis was compounded by diagnoses of severe depression, Autism (Asperger’s syndrome), and obsessive-compulsive disorder, leading to hospitalization. Just one month after release at age 15, he reportedly used psychedelic mushrooms while on antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs, triggering a house fire. This mix of mental illness, substance abuse, and enabled gender denial created a perfect storm.

The real path forward lies in prevention through ethical, mindful living—not using transgender as the scapegoat.

Transgender identification often acts as a modern distraction from deeper existential tensions, encouraging individuals to reject their biological reality rather than confronting, embracing, and transcending the root conflicts between body, desire, and the soul’s higher calling.

Make peace with what we have through acceptance and self-restraint, and strive to transcend human limitations toward divine values. This isn’t about suppression but elevation: rising above base cravings to align with the Buddha’s timeless principles of clarity, compassion, and liberation.

Gautama Buddha’s teachings illuminate this profoundly, reminding us that all suffering (dukkha) stems from craving (tanha)—especially sensual desires, attachment to fleeting identities, and clinging to impermanence. Denying one’s inherent gender only amplifies this craving, causing self-hatred, and forging a false self-image that deepens inner turmoil rather than resolving it.

True freedom arises from perceiving reality as it is, restraining impulses, and cultivating self-mastery that points toward the divine. Drawing from the Buddha’s foundational wisdom, we can chart a better course:

• Cultivate loving, stable families rooted in responsibility and ethical conduct. The Buddha extolled wholesome family life, anchored in the Five Precepts (sila), as the bedrock for moral and spiritual growth. In an era of increasing conflicts between two sexes, nomadic instability and upheaval, such environments breed insecurity and escapist attachments; conversely, a grounded, responsible home equips young people to navigate puberty’s challenges with resilience, embracing their biological form rather than fleeing from it. By prioritizing presence, duty, and divine-aligned values, families become sanctuaries for transcending human frailties.
• Commit to clear, mindful living by strictly avoiding intoxicants that obscure the mind. The Fifth Precept demands abstinence from substances like alcohol, drugs, or psychedelics (suramerayamajjapamadatthana veramani), as they erode mindfulness (sati) and self-control, paving the way for heedless actions and fractured ethics. Cases like Jesse’s—where psychedelic mushrooms compounded psychiatric medications—highlight how such indulgences intensify mental chaos. The Buddha insisted that a clouded mind cannot grasp truth or curb craving; sobriety is the gateway to divine clarity and inner peace.
• Exercise restraint over sexual and sensual desires, embracing biological gender as a natural foundation while transcending attachment to the body. The Third Precept warns against sexual misconduct, but the core teaching is sense restraint (indriya-samvara) and renunciation of sensual cravings (nekkhamma). Puberty’s hormonal upheavals heighten the tension between our animal instincts and divine potential; for boys in particular, rejecting male embodiment can spiral into profound self-loathing. Instead, the Buddha urged mindful observation of desires—allowing them to arise and dissolve without indulgence or denial. By accepting and channeling bodily energies ethically, we make peace with what we are, transcend mere human limits, and orient toward higher, divine purposes.
• Pursue purpose and self-understanding via spiritual awareness and the Noble Eightfold Path. Gender distress often masks deeper soul conflicts—cravings for an alternate ego, aversion to the physical form, or fixation on illusory identities—rather than addressing the core. Right View, the path’s starting point, reveals impermanence (anicca), suffering, and non-self (anatta): no “gender identity” is permanent, and clinging to one only perpetuates dukkha. Through mindfulness meditation, ethical discipline, and wisdom, we rise above bodily fixations, embracing our given reality as a stepping stone to divine transcendence and compassionate living.
• Build communities that foster authentic healing, rejecting quick-fix labels or denial-enabling affirmations. Dhamma-centered sanghas guide toward self-mastery, not indulgence of every whim. The Buddha cautioned against misusing the senses or sexuality; modern transgender affirmation often inverts this, fueling attachments rather than quenching them. Instead, these communities should emphasize divine values—restraint, acceptance, and elevation—helping individuals make peace with their inherent form and surpass human boundaries towards the values.

Gender distress warrants deep compassion, but it must not serve as a blanket excuse or endorsed pathway for violence stemming from far graver origins: neglect, unchecked cravings, instability, and reality denial. As Hannibal Lecter insightfully notes, true pathology is often “a thousand times more savage and more terrifying” than surface identities. The Tumbler Ridge tragedy exemplifies the peril of overlooking root causes in favor of superficial solutions. Let us draw lessons from it—not through blame, but by applying the Buddha’s eternal wisdom: restraint, mindfulness, ethical integrity, and liberation from craving. In this way, we honor our biological reality, transcend toward the divine, and cultivate lasting peace.

We are what we choose to be.