Being a respected teacher of Buddhism is partly about your lineage, or the path you can trace from your teacher to their teacher to their teacher to all the way back to Buddha. It looks like Dorje Chang just bribed some guys and printed up some certificates.
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/general-news/20150418/pasade...
His followers spend a lot of time on the internet saying that he is the greatest buddha of all time
http://www.dharmadhatu-center.org/ https://medium.com/the-buddhist-tribune/who-is-his-holiness-...
Their museum in downtown SF has a special free admission promotion going on for the next 20 years http://48hills.org/sfbgarchive/2012/08/08/worship-long-haire...
They bought the former lutheran church on 23rd St: https://www.reddit.com/r/evilbuildings/comments/4vgp3d/found...
Being a respected teacher of Buddhism is partly about your lineage, or the path you can trace from your teacher to their teacher to their teacher to all the way back to Buddha. It looks like Dorje Chang just bribed some guys and printed up some certificates.