san francisco zen center scandal

13 reviews of San Francisco Zen Center "This place is really awesome! But the Soto sect tries to have it both ways. [5][16][17][18][19], In 2000 Jiko Linda Cutts was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. The fact is that almost everything about Zen's presentation, practice, and rituals is aimed at producing people who give up their good sense with the promise of a greater gain in the future. 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. "[36], SFZC is connected, in an unofficial capacity, to the following Zen Centers:[1], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}374626N 1222534W / 37.774009N 122.426075W / 37.774009; -122.426075. 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. This necessitates the production of virtual quotas of such highly exalted people, while in the realm of "spiritual attainment" it is rare to produce just one such person. Yet Baker certainly knew that, at best, few if any roshi are so fully realized. As in any field, there is a need for experienced and knowledgeable teachers. Trouble At The San Francisco Zen Center It seems that Zen's emphasis on wisdom, while giving compassion only lip service, is really about power. Although his salary was reportedly modest, he lived a lifestyle which many perceived as extravagant. 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. 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. Our personal experience is socially constructed in dialogue with society and with ourselves. I have copies of these letters. Shoes Outside The Door, p.237. This change in demography caused a rift in the Sokoji community. He occupies an authoritative place in East Asian cultures that have already been imbued with a special level of hierarchy since ancient times. According to revelations that have tumbled out over the past two years, and which I chronicle in-depth in a new e-book, Shimano has spent 50 years preying sexually on his students. Why did Baker perpetuate such a simplistic view of Suzuki? Why do we need to rehash this one again? Definitely worth checking them out on their website and trying to attend the beginners lesson! There is a saying, "It is difficult to convince a man of something if his paycheck depends on his not understanding it." In this act lies the first step towards freedom." A number of Downing's interviewees spoke of receiving the true or pure Zen teaching from Suzuki Roshi. And the teachings in it. Not only is the book a compelling read; it also, more importantly perhaps, provides raw data for observing Zen mythmaking in action. These recordings of zazen instruction feature a variety of teachers offering an introduction to meditation. Furthermore this creation has to be ongoing. His whole being testifies to what it means to live in the reality of the present. 4.5. Today SFZC is the largest St organization in the West. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. Newcomers naturally looked to senior priests as guides or friends, but in doing so, they may have been mistaken. Mark Oppenheimeris the author of three other books, includinga memoir of high school debateand atravelogue about crashing bar mitzvahs. It also spun off its business and stopped pretending that work without compensation was "spiritual practice.". 1962 - SFZC is founded by Shunryu Suzuki and his Western students. These and any number of other questions, complaints, hurts or criticisms harbored by his disciples, were not raised. 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. 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." However, for an in depth review of early Chan monastic codes and how early Chan viewed and supposedly treated errant behavior by monks see Foulk, T. Griffith, "The "Ch'an School" and Its Place In the Buddhist Monastic Tradition," Diss. Another error is seen in the statement that Yasutani roshi rescinded the Dharma transmission he gave to Philip Kapleau. Yet we all know that no human is like this. But how real is this history? Ironically, what follows is in many ways a religious text. Zen Center businesses embodied other Bay Area delights. 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]. From 1986 to 1988 he served as abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, and from 1988 to 1995 he served there as co-abbot with Sojun Mel Weitsman. His youngest daughter, Omi, committed suicide after spending nine years in a mental hospital; he gave Dharma transmission to his son Hoitsu, who did not study with him or even get on with him, but who inherited his temple (this is standard Soto Zen procedure); he gave, as a favor to a friend, Dharma transmission to someone he did not know or have any contact with. That little piece of paradise in the Marin County headlands is just a short drive from the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, perfect for a quick retreat. Foulk doubts that the Chan sect existed as a separate sect with its own monastic institutions during the Tang dynasty. And perhaps most importantly, his authority will be understood with a taken-for-granted quality of being natural. [1][15], In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). Despite its iconoclastic image, Zen has in actuality been a remarkably conservative institution throughout its history, almost always tied to and controlled by the state and elite elements of society. We may however, ask, "What commitment was Suzuki referring to?" At the same time, this supposed desireless image of the roshi is meant to invoke desire in us for him. Suzuki Roshi Therefore, in the living world of flesh and blood we have people with some very limited level of attainment occupying a role that is defined as Buddha-like, actualizing perfect freedom and unfathomable compassion beyond the ordinary person's understanding and hence above question. This new Buddha is also alive and homegrown and hence more immediate and real. Downing adds, "Suzuki reminded Richard [Baker] that Hoitsu had a family and two children. 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. He was what I needed. The number of practitioners at SFZC grew rapidly in the mid-sixties. 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. 22, no.3-4. The Examiner reports that Preston has wants to use the mostly vacant 555 Fulton as . The Zen Institution Their sins are far worse than what goes on in Zen circles. [2], In the late-1980s Baker also gave shiho to Issan Dorsey, whom he had ordained as a priest in 1975. It matters that we keep assenting to the stories. With so many students and so much public attention, some felt Baker became less available to the members of the community. In fact there are few major centers not touched by sexual or other scandals, but the SFZC case suffices for the discussion we will have here. Below is the information about san francisco zen center scandal . Today, one could reasonably assert that of the 30 or 40 important Zen centers in the country, at least 10 have employed head teachers who have been accused of groping, propositioning, seducing, or otherwise exploiting students. Suzuki planned to give transmission to Bill Kwong but died before his completion. Others have told me that my view, informed by historical scholarship (as opposed to Zen's own fictional history), sociology, political and social analysis as well as long personal involvement, has been helpful in clarifying some of the illusion and in reducing some of the pain. Steve Hagen. The Zen institution requires the master because he is supposedly a living example of the ideal of Zen and, as such, represents all of its legitimacy and authority. (Downing's interviews showed that he did.) Yet, I have found that within the Zen community there is little self-examination about Zen as an institution and its self-definitions and what the effects of these are in the world of flesh and blood people. He was perfect for me, Schnyer said. One member suggested that the Shimanos instead be given an extended sabbatical. 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. 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. These revelations led to community-wide pandemonium, and in 1984 Baker was forced to resign as abbot. Suzuki had asked Baker to locate a farm in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist life while working together. 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. Ruling year info. Branching Streams is a network of affiliate Dharma centers and Sanghas in the Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. 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. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion, Doubleday, 1967, pp. 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. If this was the case, it would seem that he failed this task in America. I assume that Downing would have included a broader view if he had heard it from any of the interviewees. 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. [The teacher] had been in a Zen monastery for a year in Japan. A descendant of Thomas Dudley,[4] Baker was raised in a family of moderate wealth. For a view from the political perspective that has application in the religious arena see Edwards, David, "A Chest of Tools for Intellectual Self-Defense" in Burning All Illusions, South End Press, pp.177-224. Mission. An organic farm and garden in a beautiful coastal valley in Marin County, A monastery and retreat center in a remote mountain valley in the Ventana Wilderness. I finally asked Schnyer if he had said what Zournas attributed to him: He hasnt raped anyone yet, has he? He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. In some of these biographies, people later classified as Chan monks were listed in other categories, such as Master Yantou Huo as an ascetic and Master Xingzhi as a benefactor. However, this supposed wisdom is beyond words, is not understood by the unenlightened who are then not qualified to judge or evaluate it, whether expressed in the words or in the behavior of the wise one. It all came tumbling down in a 1983 event known in Zen Center circles as "the Apocalypse." 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. Means of Authorization: Establishing Hierarchy in Ch'an/Zen Buddhism in America Maezumi, affiliated with another West Coast zendo, the Zen Center of Los Angeles, was a philanderer and an alcoholic, as the scholar Dale S. Wright has detailed at length. [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. 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. 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. 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]. Baker and Suzuki themselves were rewarded by this system. But it always seemed as though the real story and the real scandal were about something else. Its waves of people who say, Im done with this, I got what I can out of it and then a new group comes in.. Despite having only had 12 years in the United States, Suzuki had gone a long way toward establishing Soto Zen in America. This is a very interesting piece of "history" which is no doubt destined to be repeated. I welcome any comments from the reader. 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. For an in-depth look at three special projects happening at SFZC, check out our new Impact Report. 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. In the end, both teacher and student fall prey to these fantasies. Shoes Outside The Door, p.135. [20] Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life. This dissertation also asks whether the Chan sect existed at all as a separate and distinct sect in the Tang dynasty, the supposed "golden age of Chan"). 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. Also see his forthcoming book on early Chan texts for a unique dissection of early lineage claims and their supporting texts . All trouble at the Center was internalized and personalized by its members. 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. They will sit for five days or longer in the zendo before they are formally admitted into the monasterya physically daunting challenge. 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." Months later Suzukiwith the help of his American studentspurchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street. This is not surprising if we remember that in Soto Zen "spiritual attainment" is rarely a criterion for Dharma transmission. They should take credit for the fact that we did it for many years. In particular, Berger, Peter,L. Was his lifestyle less than exemplary? Around 1970, he began sitting regularly with a group in Santa Cruz that went on to form the Santa Cruz Zen Center. Tassajara Bakery was a Zen Center venture promoted by Richard Baker as an extension of the baking practices at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. When it came to Baker's transmission from Suzuki, virtually all the students interviewed by Downing assumed that it was a "real" transmission. Suzuki Roshi, the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center and its leader until his death in 1971, was an impressive person, sincerely loved by most all the Center's members. 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. [6] Baker was instrumental in orchestrating the acquisition of Tassajara, raising $150,000 for the purchase in a short period of time. 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. And as complete neophytes in Buddhism, they were apt to believe most anything a teacher said: The Americans had no competing knowledge, no critical faculties, no grounds to challenge the teacher, no fixed point on which to stand. 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 Zen Buddhism, the story of Eido Shimanos abuse of power is so commonplace as to be banal, a clich. It is mentioned often enough that Downing, interestingly calculates the hours that individual senior members had meditated. [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. Learn about the latest news from affiliate sanghas with Tova's newsettes and other timely articles. He convinced the American Zen community that he was, in effect, the Second Coming of Suzukibut even better, because he was here to stay. #28 of 84 Specialty lodging in San Francisco. He found willing assenters, willing children eager to listen to his fairy tales. Please visit the Calendar page for more details or sign up for our weekly Sangha News email to receive notices of upcoming events. Others were more forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently shaken. Downing interviewed roughly eighty people, most of them Baker's students, approximately eighteen years after Baker was forced to resign. 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. [5], In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shiho (Dharma Transmission) from Richard Baker. Richard Baker is an extremely bright and talented person and a born salesman. [2] From 1968 to 1971, he traveled to Japan to practice at the primary St monasteries there, including Antaiji, Eiheiji, and Daitokuji. 3-101 applies the social construction of reality theory to religion. The duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities. In addition, as there are other practitioners around the teacher, it is helpful to be part of a community of fellow practitioners. In the end, Baker's problems at the Zen Center weren't so much about his seven or eight sexual affairs over a 20-year span (Chapter 23, if you get impatient). 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. 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. However, crediting a teacher, by definition of their role or title, with exalted qualities he does not really possess, is begging for trouble. It is a sanitized description wherein any one roshi is replaceable by any other roshi, which is really no person at all. 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. Zen is a Chinese invention roughly beginning in the seventh or eighth century of this era. In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). 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. "If you scratch under the bitterness, there's a lot of beauty there," says Norman Fischer, abbott of the Zen Center from 1995 to 2000. Over the past 10 years, San Francisco Zen Center has devoted time and energy to studying the best practices around conflict resolution, difficult conversations, sexual harassment prevention, appropriate teacher/student boundaries, giving and receiving feedback, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, working with trauma, and Right Use of Power trainings. Baker Sums It Up 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. Although Baker claimed that his relationship was a love-affair which had not yet been consummated, the outcry surrounding the incident led to accusations of impropriety, including the admissions by several female members of the community that they had had affairs with Baker before or during his tenure as abbot. 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. Zen Center survived, reorganizing in a manner that made it more democratic, but also more bureaucratic. 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. In the 1960s, four major Zen teachers came to the United States from Japan: Shunryu Suzuki, Taizan Maezumi, Joshu Sasaki, and Eido Shimano. 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. 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. Richard Baker is a man who through the ritual of Dharma transmission has been installed in the Soto Zen sect's "authentic" unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha. And three of the four, Afable noted when we spoke, have caused major public sex scandals: first Maezumi, and more recently Shimano and Sasaki. "The years people spent here were not wasted years of being duped. Trouble At the San Francisco Zen Center 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. 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. 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. Americans needed somebody to teach them the rituals. Classes and workshops from our Online Programs, resources for beginners, zazen (meditation) and chanting, Dharma talks, and live online practice sessions with teachers. They believed their way of living and of practicing Zen was the best alternative available in America. Baker also claimed that he was trying "to protect Suzuki Roshi's legacy and lineage." 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. All of this is in the context of Suzuki, the Zen master, being a man whose quality of life is described as: "buoyancy, vigor, straightforwardness, simplicity, humility, security, joyousness, uncanny perspicacity and unfathomable compassion." Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. San Francisco is not mentioned in Newsom's plans, but Supervisor Dean Preston has proposed a similar action. 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. Original Dwelling Place by Robert Aitken book review by Robert Goss buy this book now Find classes, retreats, practice periods, and many more offerings in the San Francisco Zen Center calendar of events. 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. Spiritual authority is that second kind of authority. Did it not occur to him that Richard had a family, too, as did many of the priests of Zen Center?" The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. A vibrant community in an urban temple in the heart of San Francisco. 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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. 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 new president, Sylvan Busch, did not open his mouth to show any disapproval of Mr. and Mrs. Shimanos activities. And then there was Schnyer, the youngest board member, who, according to Zournas, defended Shimano by reportedly saying, He hasnt raped anyone yet, has he?. In this regard Mr. 145 41. 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. Establishing Soto Zen `` spiritual practice. `` was raised in a 1983 event known in Zen Buddhism the... Its own monastic institutions during the Tang dynasty Preston has wants to the! This new Buddha is also alive and homegrown and hence more immediate and.! So much public attention, some felt Baker became less available to the stories gave... Were rewarded by this system Sociological Theory of Religion, Doubleday,,. 1967, pp Baker and Suzuki themselves were rewarded by this system hurts or criticisms harbored by his disciples were... Addition, as there are other practitioners around the teacher, it would seem he... Referring to? days or longer in the Zen Institution their sins are far worse than goes. 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