Public opinion shows that while parishioners are, of course, disturbed by priests' abuse of children and young teens, they are more upset by the institutional cover up and denial of that behavior. Mind-to-mind transmission implies that the student has attained an understanding equal to his Zen master/roshi and so on backwards, hence being equal to the original, unmediated wordless understanding that supposedly passed between Sakyamuni and Mahakasyapa. But for Schnyer this constantly refreshing membership was proof that the sangha did disapprove of Shimanos treatment of women. The supposed enlightened Master gets the last word in judging not only the student's behavior and verbal responses, but also the whole of the past enlightened lineage including the historical Buddha by commenting on and judging any and all of the past Masters in the old cases (koan) and in their recorded sayings. One member quoted Baker as saying, "I always act from pure motives; I never worry about the world." "[12] And Baker, for his part, is quoted as having said in a 1994 interview with Sugata Schneider: I don't think that the gossipy or official versions of what happened are right, but I feel definitely that if I were back in the situation again as the person I am now, it wouldn't have happened. Therefore, in the need to remain at the Center, members had a powerful incentive to fully buy into Zen's mythology. It was like a "game" of Zen where if any one speaks out or asks the wrong question, the "game" is ruined or finished, at least for that person. The bakery supplied Greens Restaurant and some local grocers.[16]. Students in their early 30s, even younger, could find themselves among the senior monks at Dai Bosatsu, in a tradition that is supposed to be ungraspable even after a whole lifetime of study. [1] Zen Hospice Project was the subject of the Netflix 2018 Academy Award-nominated[24] short documentary End Game,[25] about terminally ill patients in a San Francisco hospital as well as at the Zen Hospice Project house, featuring the work of palliative care physician BJ Miller and other palliative care clinicians. This is a convenient and economical way to stay in the city while experiencing life in a Zen Buddhist temple and enjoying the serene elegance of a building designed by Julia Morgan. The current crisis in the Catholic Church proves the need for such an institutional analysis. In the 1960's and 70's, San Francisco Zen Center students, like most other Zen students in the U.S.A., thoroughly accepted (among a range of glaring historical inaccuracies) the idealistic Zen rhetoric, including the notion that Dharma transmission is only about spiritual attainment, that all roshis are essentially equal, and that Zen institutions in East Asia are apolitical and divorced from the state. I am thankful for Michael Downing's work, which is extremely valuable. Foulk, T. Griffith, "The Zen Institute in Modern Japan", pp.157-177. Your support is crucial to sustain our practice centers and thriving online community. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. 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. I have found the work of the following social analysts to be especially illuminating: Peter L. Berger, Pierre Bourdieu, Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman, David C. Korten, Thomas Lukach, Howard Zinn and Angela Zito. But during the 1960s, Suzuki attracted an eager flock of meditating Westerners, including Baker, who showed up in 1962 and was soon singled out as a possible successor. He was leader of the largest Zen center in the United States and founder of Tassajara, the first Zen monastery in America; he sent a number of American disciples to study in Japan and was surrounded, as was Baker, by hundreds of devoted, unquestioning, often young and energetic followers. We seem to forget that we live with other humans and that society is a human product that we act upon and that acts upon us and in a sense produces us. In July 1987 Baker gave Dharma transmission to Whalen; Whalen later became abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center (following the tenure of Issan Dorsey) in the Castro district of San Francisco. San Francisco is not mentioned in Newsom's plans, but Supervisor Dean Preston has proposed a similar action. (It should also be noted that Victoria is fluent in Japanese while Baker and Chadwick are not.) However, it should be noted, that he let interviewees voice any number of inaccuracies without comment. You can see how much more potent it is to have a teacher presented as a living Buddha or at least Buddha-like, who, instead of simply interpreting and explaining the words of the Buddha, actually speaks with the same voice as the Buddha. In the early 1990s the Board of Directors at the Zen Center created the "Ethical Principles and Procedures for Grievance and Reconciliation" for its members, for conflict resolution mediation guided by Buddhist precepts. And he was also just a guy, kind of like Bill Clinton was just a guy. With one or two exceptions, the only views expressed of Baker's errant behavior among the Center's members was in the context of their personal experience. In fact, it was often not based on spiritual attainment at all, most especially so in Japanese Soto Zen, which is the sect of Suzuki, Baker and the San Francisco Zen Center. However, there is no surviving text of Pai-chang's Rules. Brian Victoria was so interested in the possibility of a public pacifist/anti-war Soto monk that he contacted Suzuki's son Hoitsu who told him: "I don't know where all of this antiwar talk comes from, but my father and the rest of the family supported Japan's war effort just like everyone else." The issue here is not how individual students behave foolishly or even in a self-serving way, it is the admonition to "just sit" - even for twenty thousand hours - is no guarantee against foolishness or delusion. It is because one was wrong about him, because one misinterpreted the states of his soul and drew as sharp a line as is possible between oneself and him, as if he were something utterly incomparable and strangely superhuman-that he gained that extraordinary power with which he could dominate the imagination of whole peoples and ages. Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki: this link will take you to the website buy this book now Suzuki Roshi It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Suzuki, in so many ways an admirable person, had a large hand in the problems that followed his death. You have to ask whether Suzuki was aware of the claims made by Baker and, if so, why he permitted them to stand without correction. In this sect, Dharma transmission is commonly a father-son transmission ritual culminating in the son's inheritance of the family temple. All of this discontent emerged when it was made public that Baker had allegedly been having an affair with the wife of an influential sangha member. Live the Temple Life It is an institutional dream that needs to be analyzed using its own description. This imputation of power and attainment has given one Zen roshi after another the power to abuse their position while remaining beyond reproach. Sokojifounded by Hosen Isobe in 1934had been housed in a former Jewish synagogue that is now Kokoro Assisted Living. [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. It did not matter that Baker did not appear to offer his students the "living proof that the seemingly impossible goal [of Zen] can be realized in this lifetime" as Baker himself described the function of the teacher. 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. He then drove after the alleged mugger and followed him into a housing project with the revolver (unloaded) in hand, being arrested minutes later by a police officer with his own gun pointed at him. Examining the work of any of the above-mentioned scholars will greatly reward the interested reader who would like to explore contemporary Zen/Buddhist scholarship. In his letter, Zournas, who had resigned the presidency in July, details for the lawyers benefit how the various board members reacted to a motion that Shimano and his wife, then the organizations treasurer, be fired. is co-abbess of the San Francisco Zen Center. There are two kinds of authority. The conception of an unbroken lineage based on the idea of mind-to-mind transmission going back to the Buddha superceded a previous idea of authority that was based on texts, i.e., the sutras, which were understood to embody the words of the historical Buddha. A gem! 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. 1969 - The current SFZC building was purchased with the help of American students. He served as Abbot there until 1978, moving the group to Jikoji in Los Gatos, California in 1979. He may have slept with dozens; I personally have identified over a dozen, and spoken to many of them. Find classes, retreats, practice periods, and many more offerings in the San Francisco Zen Center calendar of events. [2] However, San Francisco Zen Center's website now comments: "Although the circumstances leading to his resignation as abbot in 1984 were difficult and complex, in recent years, there has been increased contact; a renewal of friendship and dharma relations. Shoes Outside The Door, p.237. In this way the teacher was like a deity, a minor god. by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, Oxford University Press, 2000. Zen Nationalism Revisited by Robert H. Sharf The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. Suzuki planned to give transmission to Bill Kwong but died before his completion. The land was purchased from one of the founders of Polaroid, George Wheelwright. 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. The teacher knew all; the American knew nothing. In 1971, he became resident priest at Haiku Zen Center, a practice center in Los Altos where Suzuki-roshi had been giving lectures, and soon after the sangha there grew and changed its name to Bodhi. "On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. The San Francisco Zen Center community includes residents and non-residents at all three centers, priests and lay practitioners, long-term and short-term participants, and opportunities to attend a wide variety of events and programs. The monastery is closed to outsiders from the months of September through April, then opens to the public by reservation from May through August - offering retreats, seminars, and workshops. Zen is a Chinese invention roughly beginning in the seventh or eighth century of this era. 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. More tellingly, Baker, inserted the very idealized description of qualities and characteristics supposedly of Suzuki Roshi, generalized to all roshi, knowing it would inevitably, indeed shortly, be applied to himself. Founded in 1972 by the San Francisco Zen Center and Zentatsu Richard Baker, the site is located on 115 acres (0.47 km 2) in a valley seventeen miles (27 km) north of San Francisco [1] and offers a variety of workshops and classes throughout the year. [3] He has two daughters, Sally and Elizabeth, from a prior marriage to Virginia Baker. But how real is this history? He was perfect for me, Schnyer said. Was he acting primarily with his own self-interest in mind? Tassajara baked bread for student and guest consumption since 1967, and Edward Espe Brown's Tassajara Bread Book, demonstrated consumer interest. Suzuki's prescription to "just sit" as a kind of medicine to answer all questions and problems apparently did not apply to his Dharma transmitted son Hoitsu. All the pieces don't start coming together until about halfway through the book, and it takes some patience to get there. It is no longer ruled by an almighty abbott-for- life, but abbotts with term limits. Green Gulch An organic farm and garden in a beautiful coastal valley in Marin County Tassajara A monastery and retreat center in a remote mountain valley in the Ventana Wilderness Learn and Practice at San Francisco Zen Center SFZC Online defending Deshimaru's teacher Sawaki roshi's wartime involvement dating from 1905 through WWII is available on the internet at, http://www.zen-azi.org/html/guerre_e.html#replybyb. Likewise, Dharma transmission was as much about institutional prosperity, prestige, authority, continuity and acceptance and control by imperial authorities as it was about notions of enlightenment and spiritual perfection. Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. To see how the most prominent Japanese Zen roshi as well as some of the roshi associated with bringing Zen to America, in spite of the rhetoric of the standard model of Zen, functioned in Japan from roughly 1911 through WWII, see Victoria, Brian, Zen At War , Weatherhill, 1997. 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. Was he hypocritical for reprimanding his students for flirting while he carried on numerous affairs with his female students, including one that ruptured his best friend's marriage? 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. Suzuki or any other Zen master only looks this way if we avoid looking at their real life. Please consider a donation to San Francisco Zen Center. 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 by James Ishmael Ford Importantly, the head of every Soto temple must have Dharma transmission. In addition, if there were something to reform in Japanese Soto Zen, the automatic Dharma transmission for virtually all priests, often between father and son, would be high on the list. Furthermore this creation has to be ongoing. Zen at War by Brian Daizen A. Victoria: a link to varioius book reviews buy this book now Unfortunately, the Western Zen community has not explored the many important questions implied by Zen At War. In fact, David Chadwick, a student of both Suzuki and Baker, lent some credence to this assertion in his 1999 book about Suzuki, Crooked Cucumber. Excellent. Zen Center members did not think there was any thought control or propaganda necessary to escape when it came to Zen. It allows bureaucratic transmission, but it also uses "historical" biographies of eminent masters presented as desireless beings, the koans, and the many Zen stories and dialogues (mondo) to legitimize and to enhance authority, that make clear that transmission is given because of a deep insight into reality or spiritual attainment. This was because Aitkin, being a foreigner, was forbidden by the new leader Kubota Roshi, from giving Dharma transmission, while Japanese of equal standing in the organization were permitted this privilege (p.451). It depends not on miracles or mystical figures or discoveries of secret books, but merely on our willingness to believe, against evidence if need be, that those things were real. Sanbkydan Zen and the Way of the New Religions by Robert H. Sharf What was or was not implied in Baker's transmission from Suzuki? Rather than report this to the police, Anderson returned to the body over several days to meditate over the corpse. For an in-depth look at three special projects happening at SFZC, check out our new Impact Report. Despite having only had 12 years in the United States, Suzuki had gone a long way toward establishing Soto Zen in America. Below is the information about san francisco zen center scandal . The admonition to "just sit," to "just practice," is one more way in which trust in one's discriminating faculties or any other Buddhist practice are cut off. However, I do not mean to imply there is no inner spiritual content to the Zen tradition. (It should be noted that Suzuki could read English.) Suzuki's prestige grew enormously. Spiritual attainment, insight into timeless truth(s) or any other profound changes in one's inner life play virtually no part in the majority of these Dharma transmissions or in the every day functions of these roshis. A large institution like Zen requires hundreds of such living role players. Members along with Baker literally built their world based on the language and view of Zen accompanied by ritualized behavior that added to the sense of being embedded in and being an active participant of that sacred world. Suzuki had asked Baker to locate a farm in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist life while working together. Not surprisingly, virtually 100% of the time these breaches of morality serve the pleasure and interests of the supposed enlightened one. Kwong's transmission was later completed by Suzuki's son, Hoitsu.[1][11][12]. This group is by far the largest Zen group in France and is active in the U.S.A. as well as in other parts of Europe. Writings featured as biography in Zen are most often an idealized presentation of how a master should perform his role rather than the life of a real person. Baker wrote an introduction to Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, an edited collection of Suzuki's talks, in which Baker said (p.17), "During the Second World War he [Suzuki] was the leader of a pacifist group in Japan." He was convincing not just because of his own facility with a story, but because he found Americans who were very receptive to that story. Throughout the 1980s Greens, which obtained produce from Green Gulch Farm, was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco. They weren't so much about about money (Chapter 27, if that's your cup of tea). Suzuki indeed had ordinary and even tragic circumstances in his life, as is shown in Downing's book, who references David Chadwick's book, Crooked Cucumber, for the following details. Perhaps the biggest change is that the two current co-abbotts are women. Stay connected. These recordings of zazen instruction feature a variety of teachers offering an introduction to meditation. The social contract and national constitutions count because we believe them to count, because we will them into reality. Zen elevates its leaders to super-human status, then emphasizes that we should be obedient and subservient to a powerful and supremely accomplished authority figure, precisely because he is powerful and supremely accomplished. They should take credit for the fact that we did it for many years. 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. Spiritual authority is that second kind of authority. Was Baker's commitment to Zen practice much greater than a number of other of Suzuki's close, very committed senior disciples? Sarasota, Florida. Not only the work of Zen writers, but political analysts, social critics, sociologists, and my involvement with the practice have informed my thinking about the state of contemporary Zen in the West. In the last few decades as opposed to the past, we have had a clear personal view of the actual people involved, Richard Baker being only one. We agree that the Constitutional Convention made law for all the people, and for all generations to come; we agree that the government will back up our money, if no longer with gold, then with its promises. Baker claimed the Center was "denying 2,500 years of how Buddhism was developed and continued" He made a number of other historically inaccurate claims, and finally dropped the suit saying that he was pressured to institute the threat by a lawyer student of his: "There was a lawyer who kept bugging me." On the corner of Page and Laguna Streets in San Francisco, diagonally across from San Francisco Zen Center, is a corner building with a series of murals that wrap around the boarded-over windows. The only one of the four whose reputation was unblemished, Shunryu Suzuki of the San Francisco Zen Center, gave his sangha over to a man named Richard Baker, who was later embroiled in a sex scandal of his own, resigned from his abbacy, and became the subject of a book with the appropriately suggestive title Shoes Outside the Door. His death came shortly after the publication of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, a collection of lectures translated into numerous languages and considered a classic of contemporary Zen literature. Downing quotes a prominent older student who expressed it differently, "Dick tried to take over Zen Center again." [10] The Residence combined residential rooms that could house 70 women on the upper floors, with public spaces for spiritual, recreational, and educational uses on the ground floor and basement. Senior members also appeared blind to the voices of others and closed to criticism. Why did Baker perpetuate such a simplistic view of Suzuki? [9] The building, designed by Julia Morgan, was built as the Emanu-el Residence Club in 1922 for the Emanu-el Sisterhood. It was almost like a magic theater, where if someone received Dharma transmission, and hence, was a supposed enlightened being, he would become a different person who could do anything he pleased. Shimano was not the bad guy; rather, those who made too much noise, who refused to go quietly, and thus disturbed Schnyers and others Zen practice, were the blameworthy ones. But in truth, neither Suzuki nor Baker fit the saintly mold. About. 2002: 8-11. This is not surprising, being, as it is, a natural result of the customs and environment created by the Zen institution. 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." Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. [2] From 1968 to 1971, he traveled to Japan to practice at the primary St monasteries there, including Antaiji, Eiheiji, and Daitokuji. He writes a religion column forThe New York Timesand is on Twitter@markopp1. Richard Dudley Baker (born March 30, 1936) is an American Soto Zen master (or roshi), the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sanghawhich consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum[1] (Johanneshof) in Germany's Black Forest. It all came tumbling down in a 1983 event known in Zen Center circles as "the Apocalypse." is the head teacher at the Dharma Field Meditation and Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When it came to Baker's transmission from Suzuki, virtually all the students interviewed by Downing assumed that it was a "real" transmission. We may however, ask, "What commitment was Suzuki referring to?" At first, I had trouble with Downing's refusal to bend to the dictates of chronology and a quirky writing style that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. [2][6][14], A once controversial figure, Richard Baker was publicly criticized for his behavior at San Francisco Zen Center. [6] Baker was instrumental in orchestrating the acquisition of Tassajara, raising $150,000 for the purchase in a short period of time. But that is the way that Suzuki or Baker or any roshi is presented. The latter choice was too painful for many for any number of reasons, including: 1) many believed that the Center was the best place to practice Zen and so leaving meant giving up what made life seem most meaningful, 2) their self-identities as Zen practitioners were connected to the Center, 3) loyalty to Suzuki Roshi, 4) leaving close friendships established through communal living and especially through practicing meditation together, 5) loving the lifestyle and 6) fear of losing one's position in the hierarchy and the possibility for future higher positions culminating in being Dharma transmitted oneself. Greens Restaurant, opened in 1979 in Fort Mason of San Francisco, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker. It was a spiritual scandal starring the usual suspects -- sex, money and the abuse of religious authority. The experience of legitimacy, realness and of being believable hides the underlying power relations. His focus on having the Center grow quickly and on reforming Soto Zen in Japan may also have contributed to the problems. Institutional mythology, which created a seamless picture of unbroken lineage along with pure, desireless perfection and attainment housed in the body of the master, was not questioned, and hence, remained intact. Upon Suzuki's arrival at Sokoji, the congregation was composed entirely of members of the Japanese-American population. Despite this, few people interviewed seemed to be aware that by continually repeating the transmission story without reflection and without making the effort to understand what they were part of, they were in fact becoming an integral component in the creation of a new myth-which was then used by people like Richard Baker. And stayed for 10 years.. Besides the personal power of his position Baker lived with paid travel, an abundance of high-priced worldly goods, a number of well-appointed residences, a steady supply of household help and assistants, sex with his students and access to high profile friends. And what was Suzuki's intention here? This scheme was later institutionalized through the ritual of Dharma transmission. Zen ascribes to Pai-chang (died 814) its earliest monastic code that supposedly set Chan apart as a separate sect in the Tang dynasty. One member suggested that the Shimanos instead be given an extended sabbatical. [7] Thich Nhat Hanh wrote of Baker, "To me, he embodies very much the future of Buddhism in the West with his creative intelligence and his aliveness. Nevertheless, following extensive investigation, even Chadwick was forced to admit: "Anything Shunryu had done that could be considered remotely antiwar he had done before the Pacific war started" (p. 97). Reviewed December 27, 2012 . It all came tumbling down in a 1983 event known in Zen Center circles as "the Apocalypse." It was a spiritual scandal starring the usual suspects -- sex, money and the abuse of religious. "It was a fantastic drive," he said, it was safe to drive and that he liked to keep his legs in zazen posture. People interviewed had the luxury of hindsight. Did it not occur to him that Richard had a family, too, as did many of the priests of Zen Center?" 2 Thank Kelly S . For an earlier view of the immediate events surrounding Baker, see Butler, Katy, "Events Are The Teachers", The CoEvolution Quarterly, winter 1983, pp.112-123. One of the greatest reasons that Shimano could sleep with so many women is that it bothered the men so little. It is a sanitized description wherein any one roshi is replaceable by any other roshi, which is really no person at all. What the teacher really offers the student is literally living proof that all this talk and the seemingly impossible goals can be realized in this lifetime. Berger begins, "Every human society is an enterprise of world-building. The finances are terrible, and the beautiful carriage house on East 67th Street may have to be sold to pay legal debtsor, if he wins the lawsuit, to pay damages to Eido Shimano, the 82-year-old Zen master who built the society up but also, in a way, has destroyed it. Thanks to Mr. Oppenheimer's efforts, women have come forward, some even using their names; we think this kind of courage can only embolden other survivors of abuse to speak out. Why do we need to rehash this one again? Five years later (in 1988), roughly fifteen months after Anderson had become abbot of the San Francisco, Anderson was arrested for brandishing this same firearm in public. 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Life it is no surviving text of Pai-chang 's Rules the police, Anderson returned to police! The congregation was composed entirely of members of the supposed enlightened one for such an analysis! That we did it for many years on having the Center grow quickly and reforming! Roshi is replaceable by any other Zen master only looks this way teacher! Zen institution returned to the problems George Wheelwright Openings and Closings Updates,.
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