As the American Dharma heir to Shunryu Suzuki, Baker assumed abbotship of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) shortly before Suzuki's death in 1971. After six months, he returned to his position. Zen Center members accepted and internalized most all of Zen's self definitions, history and social forms. Sarasota, Florida. 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. Was it all really such a big deal? As in any field, there is a need for experienced and knowledgeable teachers. This formulaic collection of qualities of a Zen master, is not neutral. For a many sided view of the Zen koan see, The Koan, Ed. [The teacher] had been in a Zen monastery for a year in Japan. But in truth, neither Suzuki nor Baker fit the saintly mold. 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. 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. 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. 1962 - SFZC is founded by Shunryu Suzuki and his Western students. 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 believed their way of living and of practicing Zen was the best alternative available in America. Zen Groups Distressed by Accusations Against Teacher Joshu Sasaki in New Mexico in 2007. This is not surprising, being, as it is, a natural result of the customs and environment created by the Zen institution. (I don't mean to say that Kapleau is any more or less qualified to teach for receiving transmission or not, and in fact he is one of the few major teachers not involved with sexual or other scandal though one of his disciples did have a major scandal.) But there is another kind of authority, an opposite kind, grounded in the invisible, the faith-based, the fictional. Why do we need to rehash this one again? I am thankful for Michael Downing's work, which is extremely valuable. The deeper you go into practice, the deeper you find your teacher's mind is, until you finally realize that your mind and his mind are Buddha's mind. 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. 3. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews. In America, it is common in Zen and other communities led by a charismatic teacher to view events that could generate questions such as these not as real life-problems, but as "skillful means" employed to convey the essence of "the teaching." It allows us a much closer look than we get through, say, looking at the many biographies of past masters from Chan in China during the Tang dynasty (CE 618-907). At the time, Schnyer was just 24 years old, yet he had been a Shimano student since he was a teenager. One of the most interesting aspects of the Baker case is that the people at the SFZC did not change their fundamental understanding of the process they had gone through for, in some cases, twenty or more years. Though these themes are mentioned a number of times by students, it seems curious that in Downing's interviews, no one ever questioned what this meant, no one mentioned what Suzuki meant, why Baker's transmission was supposedly real or if Suzuki or Baker ever explained the difference between "real" and unreal transmissions. The San Francisco Zen Center "scandal" was not unique in American Zen history. I welcome any comments from the reader. Baker adds he was "on a roll," was in love with his latest girlfriend and that his peers, est founder Werner Erhard and the well known Tibetan teacher Trungpa, had chauffeurs and large Mercedes, so "I thought I should buy a car." 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. However Zen texts may define the role, Zen masters have not been fully enlightened beings beyond question. He served as Abbot there until 1978, moving the group to Jikoji in Los Gatos, California in 1979. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. On May 23, 1959, Shunryu Suzuki (then age 55) came from Japan to San Francisco to serve as head priest of Sokojia Soto Zen temple then located at 1881 Bush Street in Japantown. But Downing does approach the story with an open mind, and doesn't fall into the trap of trying to portray Baker as a monster or a saint. If youre going to do this, youre going to do it on your own, but Im not going to nurse you. For me he was perfect Somebody looking from the outside could say thats why we stuck with him all the time. They also have a lot of other awesome Saturday morning programs for zen noobs (znoobs!!). The idea of the enlightened Zen master authenticated through the ritual of dharma transmission and maintained by an unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha is at the heart of the Zen tradition. Learn about the latest news from affiliate sanghas with Tova's newsettes and other timely articles. Understandably, Suzuki may not have been able to read across the Japanese-American cultural divide and therefore not see the character flaws of Baker that were obvious to some of his unenlightened American students. 145 41. There is nothing in the description that allows someone in the future to distinguish Suzuki, Hoitsu or any of their heirs from any of thousands of hallowed ancestors. Definitely worth checking them out on their website and trying to attend the beginners lesson! There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. For a history of early Soto Zen as well as how the Soto sect has understood Dharma transmission since roughly 1700, see Bodiford, William M., Soto Zen in Medieval Japan, University of Hawaii Press, 1993, p. 215. . But for the [Zen Studies Society,] my gullibility, spiritual gullibilityI didnt realize that it was a borderline cult. That "something else" is what Michael Downing tries to find in "Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion and Excess at the San Francisco Zen Center. " In time Suzuki, Baker, Hoitsu, and Unknown will blend into that "history" of immaculate patriarchs. 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. After six months, he returned to his position. 1967 also saw the arrival of Kobun Chino Otogawa of Eiheiji, who served as assistant to Suzuki. This paper can also serve the non-scholar as an overview or introduction to modern Zen scholarship and introduce a critical view of the important Zen ideas of master, Dharma transmission, and unbroken lineage. There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. This is also extremely disempowering which can lead to all sorts of problems, as the SFZC case clearly shows. It means, "Don't ask. Sanbkydan Zen and the Way of the New Religions by Robert H. Sharf Mel Weitsman and Michael Wenger, University of California Press,1999 and for a biography of Suzuki's life see, Chadwick, David, Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunyru Suzuki, Broadway Books, 1999. It was not surprising, then, that when trouble arose at the Center it was mostly assumed that something must be wrong with the members themselves; that it was because they did not use or handle well Suzuki's pure teaching. Under the Zen form of legitimization, each Zen roshi is viewed as a saint. And perhaps most importantly, his authority will be understood with a taken-for-granted quality of being natural. And three of the four, Afable noted when we spoke, have caused major public sex scandals: first Maezumi, and more recently Shimano and Sasaki. Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. 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. [20] Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life. I remember many heated arguments, he told me, and no doubt one of my many arguments was: this is personal behavior, not illegal behavior., Denis Kelly, a former Dai Bosatsu vice abbot, and himself no model of sexual continencehe too has had affairs, he told me, including one that almost broke up his current sanghashared Schnyers understanding of the proper hierarchical relationship between the Zen master and his female students. But there are many lesser-known yet just as randy Zen teachers. San Francisco Zen Center students and other students throughout history were also one cause of the problem. All trouble at the Center was internalized and personalized by its members. A vibrant community in an urban temple in the heart of San Francisco. Many women and others in the Zen community have suffered as a result, and we regret and apologize for our collective failure to stop this harm. A roshi is a person who has actualized that perfect freedom which is the potentiality for all human beings. Latest News. I dont know, he said. A student was also liable to believe that her teacher was conveying the one true form of Zen Buddhism. In the West in general, but particularly in America, we place great importance on each person's individuality and uniqueness and hence on our personal experience. The question is: How do so many Zen Buddhist teachers get away with it, and for so long? 1969 - The current SFZC building was purchased with the help of American students. The senior disciples consistently stressed that Baker's transmission was real; it made him into a "pure vessel of the Dharma," a man of wisdom, far beyond the questioner's obviously limited understanding and suspicion. 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. 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. 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. Suzuki had asked Baker to locate a farm in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist life while working together. Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. The situation is now reversing, as the Japanese, in particular, abandon Buddhism as an old relic, while it continues to find adherents in the West. Under Baker's leadership, it appears that the Center functioned as a dysfunctional family, denying that anything was wrong or problematic. A good part of the goal of Buddhism is to reduce illusion and suffering. He became the leader of the Sanbokyodan school of Zen started by Yasutani. Suzuki planned to give transmission to Bill Kwong but died before his completion. So it is natural to ask, why did Suzuki's and Baker's students mention this so often? [34], Following Baker's resignation, Dainin Katagiri led the community until 1985. Anderson became entangled in an incident in 1987 that reached back to 1983 just after Zentatsu Richard Baker had resigned as abbot. 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. For an outstanding article on Sanbokyodan Zen, a Zen sect important in the West see, Sharf, Robert, "Sanbokyodan, Zen and the Way of New Religions", Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Fall 1995, Vol. The virgin birth, the Buddha, Joseph Smiths golden plates that became the Book of Mormonto build spiritual tradition, it does not matter if the people were real or if the events happened. Original Dwelling Place by Robert Aitken book review by Robert Goss buy this book now His whole being testifies to what it means to live in the reality of the present. [citation needed], Additional businesses run by SFZC were the Alaya Stitchery storefront, which made zafus, zabutons and clothing, and Green Gulch Grocery, which sold produce from Green Gulch Farm. If someone attempted to question some aspect of Baker's behavior, both Baker and senior disciples reminded them that Baker was the only American Dharma heir of Suzuki. These recordings of zazen instruction feature a variety of teachers offering an introduction to meditation. After failing to re-create his Zen empire in Santa Fe, N.M., he settled in Crestone, Colo., where he presides over a much smaller Zen center. These and any number of other questions, complaints, hurts or criticisms harbored by his disciples, were not raised. I finally asked Schnyer if he had said what Zournas attributed to him: He hasnt raped anyone yet, has he? 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. 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]. Not surprisingly, virtually 100% of the time these breaches of morality serve the pleasure and interests of the supposed enlightened one. Shoes Outside The Door, p.135. Introduction "The years people spent here were not wasted years of being duped. [2], In the late-1980s Baker also gave shiho to Issan Dorsey, whom he had ordained as a priest in 1975. For example, the San Francisco Zen Center, after a scandal involving Suzuki-roshi's dharma heir Richard Baker-roshi, decided to elect its two abbots to four-year terms. Before Victoria's book was published these people, many who were influential in bringing Zen to the west, were routinely presented as flawless examples of Zen attainment. This has a direct bearing on the Baker story and the way mythology continues to be constructed even in the present. Guests stay at the Lindisfarne Guest House, a traditional Japanese building with a wood-burning stove as the heating source. This reminder served an important purpose: the Center's members viewed Suzuki's authority as if it were a divine fiat, so that any dissent or criticism was ended. Foulk disagrees with this view. He was doing what Japanese roshis are supposed to do, what they have done for centuries. This article was excerpted from the new e-bookThe Zen Predator of the Upper East Side,out now. [5][16][17][18][19], In 2000 Jiko Linda Cutts was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. Most people think of Zen as being iconoclastic, anti-authoritarian, simple, direct, and unattached. 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. I don't know for certain but Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind was published in 1970, only one year before Baker himself received Dharma transmission and the title, Zen master. About. Until one begins to view religious institutions as institutions that function in a particular context, subject to the same problematic power relationships as secular institutions, problems such as those that arose at the San Francisco Zen Center and Buddhist organizations across the West will be almost inevitable. Religion occupies a distinctive place in this enterprise." In not clearly explaining the meaning, to his disciples at the SFZC, of his transmission to Baker, while stressing that it was "real;" Suzuki chose to perpetuate a fiction and to dishonor the trust they had given him. Months later Suzukiwith the help of his American studentspurchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street. Dharma transmission has been awarded and is still awarded for many reasons besides spiritual attainment. Or was it that Baker, in addition to his commitment to Zen, was more committed to institutional growth than the others, and importantly, was the only disciple who possessed the necessary skills and qualities to achieve the growth; the growth that Suzuki desired? In fifteen years, the Center's annual budget increased from $6,000, to $4 million. Baker and the senior priests dismissed any questioning of Baker's behavior or activities as a lack of insight into enlightenment on the part of the questioner. There was an article and follow up piece by Brian Victoria discussing anti-Semitic remarks made by Yasutani roshi in Tricycle magazine (Fall and Winter 1999). Visitors can enjoy the springs, go swimming or on hiking trips, and have the opportunity to arrange for practice with the community living at the monastery for a few days. 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 first is grounded in something tangible, concrete, observable: the soldier with his gun, or the scientist with her laboratory results. While traveling back to school after a vacation, he stopped with a friend at Dai Bosatsuthe Zen Studies Society's monastery in the Catskillsand was impressed immediately. He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. The past generations are presented in a saintly and exalted manner, which adds to the prestige of the tradition as a whole, but most importantly, to the prestige of the last name on the lineage chart, the living teacher. To this end, Zen Center is engaged in numerous social and ecological initiatives. Koun Yamada was Yasutani roshi's Dharma heir. This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. [5], In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shiho (Dharma Transmission) from Richard Baker. (See Foulk, "Myth, Ritual, and Monastic Practice," listed in the notes for a fuller discussion.) In some ways, it was an obvious choice. How bad was Shimanos womanizing? I asked Schnyer. With so many students and so much public attention, some felt Baker became less available to the members of the community. And then I went back and basically never left. The deal I cut with him, Kelly told me, was that he stop sleeping with Western women and only sleep with Japanese women, because they dont tell.. ", Lachs, Stuart: Money, too, is worth something because we believe it iswe give the $20 bill the magical properties of being worth more than the $1 bill, even though the paper and ink are identical. I highly recommend this book, especially the first 101 pages. The Zen master is a role that stands as a representative of the entire Zen institution. Political authority can function in this second way. These events are a helpful reminderboth to me and to othersof my vulnerability to arrogance and inflation. A gem! And he found them quite easily, because Westerners practicing Zen have an almost infantile relationship to what they perceive to be the authentic, Oriental father. This is not surprising if we remember that in Soto Zen "spiritual attainment" is rarely a criterion for Dharma transmission. Richard Baker is an extremely bright and talented person and a born salesman. [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. Any genuine interpretation or questioning of the meaning of Dharma transmission, lineage, the Zen roshi, their place in the institution, their accountability, and so on is made to seem absurd. There are some good, and unavoidable, reasons for Americans dependence on Japanese roshis (and, more recently, as Americans have become interested in Tibetan Buddhism, for their dependence on foreign teachers like the Dalai Lama). [7], Baker received Dharma transmission from Suzuki in 1970,[2] and then was installed as abbot of San Francisco Zen Center during the "Mountain Seat Ceremony" on November 21, 1971. Please consider a donation to San Francisco Zen Center. Shimanos Japanese ways suited Schnyer. It seems that Zen's emphasis on wisdom, while giving compassion only lip service, is really about power. Ironically, what follows is in many ways a religious text. But in the end it is not the extraordinariness of the teacher that perplexes, intrigues, and deepens the student, it is the teacher's utter ordinariness. Supporting tools to make this narrative seem real and unconstructed include the particular methods of meditation and interactions between teacher and student as well as an abundance of validating mythologies most often presented as history in the form of biography, along with accommodating literary and ritual devices. Despite having only had 12 years in the United States, Suzuki had gone a long way toward establishing Soto Zen in America. 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. One student expressed it as, "some of the senior priests were in it for a payoff-Transmission," another stated it as, "They were ambitious, and only Richard could give it [transmission] to them, because he was the only one who had it." I too was a member of a Zen center where we also felt that our group and style of practice were in some ways unique. This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. 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. The meeting, which Zournas had hoped would mark the end of Shimanos tenure, turned out to be another show of support. How San Francisco Zen Center Operates Like whoa, and when you start the practice, the practice I feel isits very profound. 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