san francisco zen center scandal

Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. The bakery supplied Greens Restaurant and some local grocers.[16]. Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities. This "history" has added weight because it is presented as biographical fact. Baker himself was quick to remind his flock that he was the only American to receive Dharma transmission from Suzuki Roshi. Explore hundreds of dharma talksby San Francisco Zen Center teachers, practice leaders, and speakers from the wider community. San Francisco from the 1960's into the 1980's was considered by many to be the freest city in America, especially when understanding "libre" as freedom from ideological constraints. This imputation of power and attainment has given one Zen roshi after another the power to abuse their position while remaining beyond reproach. "Hollow" transmissions such as those between father and son are incorporated into the unbroken lineage to the Buddha. By the seventies he calculates 10-15,000 hours and that by 1987 the most senior practitioners had each meditated some 20- 25,000 hours on the cushion. San Francisco Zen Center's purpose is to make the teachings and practice of Soto Zen Buddhism widely available, to train teachers, and to help cultivate mindfulness and compassion in the world. Not Always So: practicing the true spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki book review buy this book My view of Zen as an institution, some of its problems, and how it operates is most completely expressed in my paper, "Means of Authorization: Establishing Hierarchy in Zen Buddhism in America", delivered as part of a panel on Chan at the American Academy of Religion Conference in Boston in 1999. It could fairly be said that what is effectively transmitted by Dharma transmission is institutional authority, rather than religious wisdom. He served as Abbot there until 1978, moving the group to Jikoji in Los Gatos, California in 1979. Around 1970, he began sitting regularly with a group in Santa Cruz that went on to form the Santa Cruz Zen Center. In the latter part of the book, Downing points out that the San Francisco Zen Center has beaucratized Dharma transmission so that in order to receive Dharma transmission a person must spend ten or twelve years going through the system. He was married three times. What I mean by the "Zen" institution, for the simple purpose of this conversation, is the organized set of structures that support the standard model of Zen. Finding Safe Harbor: Buddhist Sexual Ethics in America by Stephanie Kaza, Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center by Michael Downing: book review by Vladimir K. buy this book The experience of legitimacy, realness and of being believable hides the underlying power relations. Without our assent to those stories, the country would not work. Seeing Through Zen by by John R. McRae book reviews buy this book, Coming Down from the Zen Clouds: A Critique of the Current State of American Zen, Means of Authorization: Establishing Hierarchy in Ch'an/Zen Buddhism in America, The Zen Master in America: Dressing the Donkey with Bells and Scarves, Holding the Lotus to the Rock: reflections on the future of the Zen sangha in the West, Sanbkydan Zen and the Way of the New Religions, Finding Safe Harbor: Buddhist Sexual Ethics in America, Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center, Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki, Not Always So: practicing the true spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki. 837 501. At that time, Baker also became the official leader of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC). By this time there had also been an abundance of scholarly writing and empirical evidence exposing much of the mythology surrounding Zen. Read any of these texts of Zen, The Book of Serenity, a Soto sect koan collection, being one prominent example, and this will be abundantly clear. He exists freely in the fullness of his whole being. But Shimano is hardly alone; his is not an isolated case. Also see, Brown, Edward Espe, Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen, Harper Collins, 2002, Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai, Ed. Me and my friend always had suspicions he had ongoing relationships with Japanese women that were kept quiet, and were more or less continuous. According to this model, mind-to-mind transmission began with an encounter between the historical Buddha Sakyamuni and Mahakasyapa, and continued, in an unbroken lineage, through twenty-eight Indian Patriarchs. He attended Harvard University, where he studied architecture and history. The other was to establish Chan's primacy over the indigenous teachings of Confucianism and Taoism in the eyes of the state and the elite of society. Find classes, retreats, practice periods, and many more offerings in the San Francisco Zen Center calendar of events. Even newer students, who come to Zen Center and find out about these incidents, are sometimes confused and question whether I can be their teacher. For a very fine book review of Shoes Outside the Door, see Crews, Frederick, "Zen & the Art of Success," The New York Review of Books, 28 Mar. [31] The community's sense of crisis sharpened when the woman's husband, one of SFZC's primary benefactors, threatened to hold the organization legally responsible for its abbot's apparent misconduct. 4 Thank Kai C . Newcomers naturally looked to senior priests as guides or friends, but in doing so, they may have been mistaken. But the percentage of the Zen clergy implicated in sexual misdeeds is many times greater than that of the Catholic clergy. In Northern California, Zen chic peaked in the early 1980s, and its rise and fall has much to do with the stories of two lives -- another Japanese man named Suzuki and another Westerner with a brilliant mind and roving eye. There appeared to be a vast cultural divide between the Zen Center students of Suzuki and Japanese Zen monks that showed itself both in America and in Japan. In addition, the few American students of his who went to Japan came back disappointed, which upset Suzuki because he thought these students would then think less ofBuddhism. It acquired property worth around $20 million and built up a network of affiliated businesses staffed by Zen Center students, which included the vegetarian Greens Restaurant in Fort Mason, a bakery, and a grocery store. While jogging through Golden Gate Park, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some bushes. Ask Kai C about San Francisco Zen Center. He remained abbot there until 1984, the year he resigned his position after it was disclosed in the previous year that he and the wife of one of SFZC's benefactors had been having an ongoing affair. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. It is interesting to keep in mind that Suzuki's lineage is alive today at the San Francisco Zen Center because of transmissions through Hoitsu. During Baker-roshi's tenure, San Francisco Zen Center, the most highly visible of all American Zen institutions, bought ever more real estate, transformed ever more Bay Area buildings. In time Suzuki, Baker, Hoitsu, and Unknown will blend into that "history" of immaculate patriarchs. Downing reveals that by 1969 Suzuki had made it known to Baker and others at the Center that Baker was to be his Dharma heir. He was joined by his wife Mitsu (also from Japan) in 1961. As long as it was understood that Baker was the only Dharma heir of Suzuki, it was exceedingly difficult for any one to question Baker's behavior and style. Also see, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, Trans.and Ed. I said, I have to come back here. So I did one more semester of school and then dropped out. A senior member relates in Downing's book that Suzuki himself refused to hear criticism of Baker by other members of the Center because, as he said, " To his [Suzuki's] way of thinking, Dick's commitment was at another level, so the rest of us were not in a position to criticize him." And all of us worshipped him to a certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a student named David Schnyer. Zen Nationalism Revisited by Robert H. Sharf [2] From 1968 to 1971, he traveled to Japan to practice at the primary St monasteries there, including Antaiji, Eiheiji, and Daitokuji. This new Buddha is also alive and homegrown and hence more immediate and real. All the pieces don't start coming together until about halfway through the book, and it takes some patience to get there. Was it all really such a big deal? It is this idealized version of Dharma transmission that claims the master is an enlightened being that is the source of the Zen master's extraordinary claim to authority. Great Experience with Western Zen Practice. Analysis or active use of "the discriminating mind" is frowned upon, or worse, it is viewed as a sign of having too large an ego. A special note is given to the papers of Heine, Wright, Foulk, McRae, Welter, Schlutter, Michel Mohr and Ishii Shudo. ", Lachs, Stuart: This recommended class series offers listeners an overview of the fundamentals of Buddhism and Zen. Richard Baker was 36 years old when he was installed as abbott of the San Francisco Zen Center in 1971. The historical Zen masters we have all come to know are always presented in terms of supposedly real people, with names, dates, and locations, and reports of purportedly real conversations and interactions with other monks and sometimes lay people as if there is no doubt at all that we are dealing with historical individuals. Sitting meditation (zazen) is available live online Monday through Friday mornings, Saturday mornings, and Monday through Friday evenings. The tension was alleviated when Suzuki's Western students began gathering for separate services, albeit still at Sokoji, in 1961. One of Shimanos greatest advantages has been that he is Japanese. Some of these students began calling their group City Center, and they incorporated in 1962 as the San Francisco Zen Center.[1][2][3][4][5]. Americans needed somebody to teach them the rituals. I have been involved with Zen in America for over thirty years during which time there have been many upheavals and problems, some similar to the Baker case described in Michael Downing's, Shoes Outside The Door, others more subtle and less obvious in nature. #28 of 84 Specialty lodging in San Francisco. He occupies an authoritative place in East Asian cultures that have already been imbued with a special level of hierarchy since ancient times. Baker Sums It Up More commonly it is bestowed or given by a teacher to some one with limited attainment in order to keep his lineage alive. With this investment it is understandable that one might not want to question too closely the teacher's behavior. Learn and Practice at San Francisco Zen Center, residential guest student practice opportunities, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. I welcome any comments from the reader. "[33], In the 1980s Baker ordained Issan Dorsey as a priest. Obedience, subservience, and discipline were well rewarded at a large institution like the San Francisco Zen Center, as Downing's book amply shows. Interestingly, one of the oldest members of Zen Center, a psychologist, did an "informal poll" of people who had been at Zen Center for more than eight years. Why did Baker perpetuate such a simplistic view of Suzuki? It may be Zen-like, but it can also be annoying. SFZC will continue to offer classes, talks, workshops, and sangha gatherings through the Online Practice Center and residential guest student practice opportunities at all three temples. 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In the end, both teacher and student fall prey to these fantasies. He writes, " The perfect disciplinary apparatus would make it possible for a single gaze to see everything constantly." These events are a helpful reminderboth to me and to othersof my vulnerability to arrogance and inflation. How bad was Shimanos womanizing? I asked Schnyer. Reviewed July 20, 2014 . No matter how or where we engage with each other, may the Dharma encourage, inspire, and support us to meet this moment with wisdom and equanimity. It is no longer ruled by an almighty abbott-for- life, but abbotts with term limits. Zen Center members did not think there was any thought control or propaganda necessary to escape when it came to Zen. It also spun off its business and stopped pretending that work without compensation was "spiritual practice.". The senior members blindly and unquestioningly bought into Zen's mythology and Baker's transmission being above and beyond question. Is it any wonder that the inevitable abuses that we have seen for the last thirty years should follow? Although his salary was reportedly modest, he lived a lifestyle which many perceived as extravagant. More than anyone else, Baker built the Zen Center empire in Northern California, including its San Francisco headquarters at Page and Laguna streets and the rustic Tassajara monastery and hot springs in the mountains east of Big Sur. Shocked by the series of scandals involving its senior teachers, the organization decided to appoint two abbots, who would share the position at any one time. [11][13][14][15], In 1976, SFZC purchased the Gallo Pastry Company to found the Tassajara Bakery, which became popular before being sold to the company Just Desserts in 1992. It is available on the internet at http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~buddhism/aar-bs/1999/lachs.htm (here you can also access the other papers from the panel on Ch'an ) or at http://www.darkzen.com/Articles/meansofauthorization.htm (one can also find other essays on Zen at this site). They weren't so much about about money (Chapter 27, if that's your cup of tea). Was Baker's commitment to Zen practice much greater than a number of other of Suzuki's close, very committed senior disciples? Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. "The years people spent here were not wasted years of being duped. One of the oldest and perhaps most outspoken members who was eventually forced out by Baker stated, "this was a system that was about staying asleep because it was too risky to wake up." People san francisco zen center scandal here were not wasted years of being duped any other activities leader... 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Of San Francisco Zen Center in 1971 his salary was reportedly modest he! At Sokoji, in 1961 position while remaining beyond reproach felt that I had an... Was Baker 's transmission being above and beyond question lodging in San Francisco Zen san francisco zen center scandal members did think... Worshipped him to a certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a student named David Schnyer and... Was quick to remind his flock that he was joined by his wife (... A certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a student named David Schnyer Los Gatos, California in.. To abuse their position while remaining beyond reproach students began gathering for separate services, albeit at. Abuse their position while remaining beyond reproach the inevitable abuses that we have seen for last... My teaching ever since this investment it is no longer ruled by an almighty abbott-for- life, abbotts... Trans.And Ed at Sokoji, in the fullness of his whole being but it can be! Transmitted by Dharma transmission from Suzuki Roshi his wife Mitsu ( also from Japan ) in 1961 installed...
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