A large institution like Zen requires hundreds of such living role players. 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. 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. Zen Center members accepted and internalized most all of Zen's self definitions, history and social forms. In 2003 Paul Haller, who received transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was installed as co-abbot with her. The conception of an unbroken lineage based on the idea of mind-to-mind transmission going back to the Buddha superceded a previous idea of authority that was based on texts, i.e., the sutras, which were understood to embody the words of the historical Buddha. In short, the biographical approach to history seems to be used because it has intimate real-life immediacy. He was 67 years old. In fact, Kapleau never received Dharma transmission in the first place, so there was nothing to rescind. However, there is no surviving text of Pai-chang's Rules. Former students have said that he was addicted to power, abusive of his position, extravagant in his personal spending, and inappropriate in his love life. While we remain committed to the health and safety of our residential and wider sangha, we deeply value the importance of gathering in person and sharing the Dharma in proximity with others. 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. They have a daughter, Sofia Baker, born on March 1, 2001, in Alamosa, Colorado. Greens Restaurant, opened in 1979 in Fort Mason of San Francisco, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker. This is the sort of detail, which might be useful to both present and future students, but it is absolutely missing from all of the completely standard biographies of Zen masters through the ages. The meaning of these terms evolved as a means of self-definition for the Zen sect to differentiate itself from other Buddhist sects in a way that particularly matched the Chinese social system based on genealogy and to gain legitimization and authenticity from the imperial powers that always maintained tight control over Buddhism. Also see, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, Trans.and Ed. After a major fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center purchased the landwhich contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967. The tension was alleviated when Suzuki's Western students began gathering for separate services, albeit still at Sokoji, in 1961. One has to ask if something is not missing in Suzuki's simple prescription to "just sit?" [Note: This section offers background mostly not covered in Downing's book.] 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. 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. 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. In this regard Mr. Foulk doubts that the Chan sect existed as a separate sect with its own monastic institutions during the Tang dynasty. One student stated it as, "The one thing that seemed unquestionable was Richard's Transmission." The duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. 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. Students that come to practice at the monastery from September through April must undergo the tradition known as tangaryo. How bad was Shimanos womanizing? I asked Schnyer. However, I do not mean to imply there is no inner spiritual content to the Zen tradition. 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. Hence, questioning and dissent became a shortcoming of the person expressing such a view. A special note is given to the papers of Heine, Wright, Foulk, McRae, Welter, Schlutter, Michel Mohr and Ishii Shudo. But the Soto sect tries to have it both ways. One was to make the state consider Chan the primary sect of Buddhism. San Francisco Zen Center has begun to offer on-site meditation, Dharma talks, programs, classes, and other events. Rather than report this to the police, Anderson returned to the body over several days to meditate over the corpse. I suspect I probably said something like that, Schnyer said. Suzuki had asked Baker to locate a farm in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist life while working together. 2002: 8-11. Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. But in truth, neither Suzuki nor Baker fit the saintly mold. Elizabeth is married to Jason Kibbey. In 1995 Zoketsu Norman Fischer was installed as Abbot at SFZC, and in 1996 Zenkai Blanche Hartman was appointed as co-Abbot with him (becoming the first female Abbot in SFZC history). With this investment it is understandable that one might not want to question too closely the teacher's behavior. This would have led any impartial observer to question the spiritual implications of Dharma transmission. This formulaic collection of qualities of a Zen master, is not neutral. Zen's highly ritualized activities added a visceral instantiation to the cognitive edifice. During his interview with Downing, Baker Roshi explains that having a "nice car," girlfriends and going out to dinner were implementations of Suzuki Roshi's commitment to lay practice. ", Lachs, Stuart: The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. Eighteen years later, there is still lingering bitterness about his overthrow. An interesting debate between Victoria and members of the Deshimaru group (A.Z.I.) I feel sorry for anybody who's bitter. 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." Established in 1962, the San Francisco Zen Center is one of the largest residential training Soto Zen Buddhist organizations outside of Asia. Katagiri would go on to establish his own practice centerthe Minnesota Zen Centerin 1972 in Minneapolis. That's what we made of it." Please visit the Calendar page for more details or sign up for our weekly Sangha News email to receive notices of upcoming events. And perhaps most importantly, his authority will be understood with a taken-for-granted quality of being natural. There's too much court intrigue and "monastic" gossip, and not enough effort to put the Zen Center and its scandal in the larger story of American Buddhism and the spiritual supermarket's never-ending list of gurus-gone-bad. Baker Sums It Up When it came to Baker's transmission from Suzuki, virtually all the students interviewed by Downing assumed that it was a "real" transmission. (If the reader wants to argue that Dharma transmission in the Rinzai sect or in the modern Sanbokyodan sect so popular in the West matches the ideal of Zen rhetoric, please feel free to email me at my address listed in the Notes.) 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. Explore hundreds of dharma talksby San Francisco Zen Center teachers, practice leaders, and speakers from the wider community. This "non-person" i.e., a roshi, is a generic person, who supposedly is a real member of the Buddha's family, the holder of absolute truth, whose function besides producing an heir to keep the lineage alive, is to wield authority: to be listened to, obeyed and bowed down to. I think this happened because Zen's teaching to avoid words and explanation was taken too literally and has fostered an unfortunate narrowing of perspective. I finally asked Schnyer if he had said what Zournas attributed to him: He hasnt raped anyone yet, has he? Right now, Manhattans Zen Studies Society, perhaps the most prestigious Zen Buddhist center in the United States, is being torn apart by lawsuits, backstabbing, and infighting. 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. In this sect, Dharma transmission is commonly a father-son transmission ritual culminating in the son's inheritance of the family temple. Guests stay at the Lindisfarne Guest House, a traditional Japanese building with a wood-burning stove as the heating source. Your support is crucial to sustain our practice centers and thriving online community. It is clear that the senior members of Zen Center surrounding Baker were well-indoctrinated vessels of Zen ideology. [15], In the twenty-five years since leaving San Francisco Zen Center, Baker has continued his career as a Zen teacher, founding and developing two practice centers. Interestingly, the later versions of the supposed events often have more detail than the earlier versions, implying that we are dealing with literary creations rather than historical biography. Without anything said or done, just the impact of meeting a personality so developed can be enough to change another's whole way of life. 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. Senior members also appeared blind to the voices of others and closed to criticism. "It was a fantastic drive," he said, it was safe to drive and that he liked to keep his legs in zazen posture. You can quarrel with their authority, but if the gun works, or if the experiment was well designed and conclusive, you are likely to lose the argument. As is common among members of new religions, they viewed themselves as special. The teacher knew all; the American knew nothing. While this is obviously a general statement that demands further qualification, it serves to introduce some of the basic problems to be dealt with here. 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.. Most of the narratives of the early heroes of Chan that we have today were composed hundreds of years after the ostensive events, complete with verbatim accounts of the master's interaction with a disciple presented as if a court stenographer had been recording the entire interaction. 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.[36]. Some former students say they were encouraged to believe that being groped by him was part of their. 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. Suzuki's prestige grew enormously. I believe that the reason for this surrender, in the case of Zen, is clear, structural, and self-perpetuating. 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. The land was purchased from one of the founders of Polaroid, George Wheelwright. 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). But it always seemed as though the real story and the real scandal were about something else. This is a very interesting piece of "history" which is no doubt destined to be repeated. Suzuki planned to give transmission to Bill Kwong but died before his completion. [1] San Francisco Zen Center's web site 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. Institutional power, authority, hierarchy and order are, hence, accomplished through self-censorship by the members, a more effective method for controlling dissent and questioning than coercion by the leaders. Bibliographical Notes But in the 1960s and 70s, American Buddhists needed the foreigners. Throughout the 1980s Greens, which obtained produce from Green Gulch Farm, was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco. It is common talk around Zen Centers to hear that the Master can tell your state of mind just in hearing your footsteps in going to sanzen/dokusan, in simply seeing you in any activity, seeing you with a single glance, or in the most idealized version, "he just knows from a distance!" One of the greatest reasons that Shimano could sleep with so many women is that it bothered the men so little. [20] Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life. "[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. Besides Suzuki's chosen heir Baker's questionable behavior, Downing reveals many of the senior people scrambling for positions of authority, power, money and perks. 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). Alan Sherman, Vintage Books, 1995 (reprint edition), 1995, pp.170-195 discusses a number of aspects of the penal system, its disciplinary power and the simple instruments from which it derives its power: hierarchical observation, normalizing judgment, and their combination-the examination. 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