The same myth was later used in Japan for similar purposes, with Shintoism being the competing indigenous teaching. [10], In 1970, Suzuki gave Dharma transmission to Richard Baker, his only American Dharma Heir and chosen successor at SFZC. This ancient twisted karma I now fully avow. 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. However, there is no surviving text of Pai-chang's Rules. It is interesting to note that these beliefs persisted strongly even into the year 2000, roughly the time of Downing's interviews when there had been thirty-five years of sexual and financial scandals in the Zen community in America. Perhaps the biggest change is that the two current co-abbotts are women. 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. Ungerleider.[26]. According to the dust jacket, Downing spent three years interviewing 80 people at the center of the Zen Center scandal. 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. 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. 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. 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). [2] From 1968 to 1971, he traveled to Japan to practice at the primary St monasteries there, including Antaiji, Eiheiji, and Daitokuji. The bakery supplied Greens Restaurant and some local grocers.[16]. A good part of the goal of Buddhism is to reduce illusion and suffering. 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. 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. In the end, both teacher and student fall prey to these fantasies. A theme repeated throughout Downing's book is Suzuki's injunction to "just sit," which means to do seated meditation. In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). Why did Baker perpetuate such a simplistic view of Suzuki? This was likely prompted by a conversation between Robert Baker Aitken and Baker at San Francisco Zen Center concerning the question of Zen's availability to interested gays, for Dorsey went on to become abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center. Baker presided over it all like a feudal lord, hosting dinner parties with then-Gov. 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. A monastery and retreat center in a remote mountain valley in the Ventana Wilderness SFZC Online Resources for beginners, zazen (meditation) and chanting, Dharma talks, live online practice sessions with teachers, as well as classes and workshops from our Online Programs. Spiritual authority is that second kind of authority. Also see the public letter from Mr. Kapleau toYamada, dated 2/17/86. (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.) In this way the teacher was like a deity, a minor god. Sanbkydan Zen and the Way of the New Religions by Robert H. Sharf But it always seemed as though the real story and the real scandal were about something else. Institutional and personal motives played an important part in the composing of Buddhist biographical collections; this was especially so in earl Chan lineage texts. [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. Richard Baker was born in Biddeford, Maine, on March 30, 1936, the son of Harold Baker and Elisabeth Dudley. It simply means that a power structure has evolved that will perpetuate itself even if it means imputing "attainment" to people who don't really have it. Latest News. A descendant of Thomas Dudley,[4] Baker was raised in a family of moderate wealth. He found willing assenters, willing children eager to listen to his fairy tales. This is also extremely disempowering which can lead to all sorts of problems, as the SFZC case clearly shows. Established in 1962, the San Francisco Zen Center is one of the largest residential training Soto Zen Buddhist organizations outside of Asia. 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. There is a saying, "It is difficult to convince a man of something if his paycheck depends on his not understanding it." I see how my empowerment to protect and care for the Triple Treasure inflated my sense of personal authority, and thus detracted from and disparaged the Triple Treasure. Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. Tassajara baked bread for student and guest consumption since 1967, and Edward Espe Brown's Tassajara Bread Book, demonstrated consumer interest. 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. There is certainly nothing anti-authoritarian about the notion of unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha. Greens Restaurant, opened in 1979 in Fort Mason of San Francisco, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker. Elizabeth is married to Jason Kibbey. [21][22][23] Today SFZC is the largest Soto organization with a foothold in the West. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. The idea and ritual of Dharma transmission rather than the meaning or content of that transmission, becomes the prominent and meaningful fact. One of the greatest reasons that Shimano could sleep with so many women is that it bothered the men so little. Zen is a Chinese invention roughly beginning in the seventh or eighth century of this era. I finally asked Schnyer if he had said what Zournas attributed to him: He hasnt raped anyone yet, has he? 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. 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 Newcomers naturally looked to senior priests as guides or friends, but in doing so, they may have been mistaken. It was considered "real" because it came from the saintly Suzuki and Suzuki made a point of saying it was "real." It all came tumbling down in a 1983 event known in Zen Center circles as "the Apocalypse." 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. 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 Our personal experience is socially constructed in dialogue with society and with ourselves. This is hagiography, which is necessary for Chan's self-legitimating claims of mind-to-mind transmission and unbroken lineage. At the time, Schnyer was just 24 years old, yet he had been a Shimano student since he was a teenager. People put their hearts into the practice and the Center, sometimes going as far as asserting that the Center represented the cutting edge of Zen in the America. [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. It is clear that the senior members of Zen Center surrounding Baker were well-indoctrinated vessels of Zen ideology. 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. To this end, Zen Center is engaged in numerous social and ecological initiatives. Definitely worth checking them out on their website and trying to attend the beginners lesson! When one member was about to leave (after the Baker scandal), rather than receiving well wishes or a word of advice from his teacher-who happened to be the new abbot after Baker, he was smugly told that he would be back in a year. 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. 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. " 3-101 applies the social construction of reality theory to religion. 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. Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. Dorsey went on to serve as abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco, where he worked to develop hospice care for AIDS patients. Yamada gave Dharma transmission to Robert Aitkin, though Aitkin and his Diamond Sangha later separated from the Sanbokyodan organization after Yamada's death. He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. It could fairly be said that what is effectively transmitted by Dharma transmission is institutional authority, rather than religious wisdom. 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. 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. In time Suzuki, Baker, Hoitsu, and Unknown will blend into that "history" of immaculate patriarchs. 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?. 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. Audio recordings of familiar sounds heard at our temples. However, I do not mean to imply there is no inner spiritual content to the Zen tradition. Was Baker's commitment to Zen practice much greater than a number of other of Suzuki's close, very committed senior disciples? So it is natural to ask, why did Suzuki's and Baker's students mention this so often? That's what we made of it." 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. Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. My view of Zen as an institution, some of its problems, and how it operates is most completely expressed in my paper, "Means of Authorization: Establishing Hierarchy in Zen Buddhism in America", delivered as part of a panel on Chan at the American Academy of Religion Conference in Boston in 1999. Upon Suzuki's arrival at Sokoji, the congregation was composed entirely of members of the Japanese-American population. 4.5. 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. 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. [6] Baker also penned the introduction to Suzuki's famous book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. The duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. 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. As is common among members of new religions, they viewed themselves as special. With this investment it is understandable that one might not want to question too closely the teacher's behavior. Baker is the sole western heir of Suzuki Roshi, a Japanese Zen teacher who founded the SFZC and its mountain training center, Tassajara established in 1967. 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. More than anyone else, Baker built the Zen Center empire in Northern California, including its San Francisco headquarters at Page and Laguna streets and the rustic Tassajara monastery and hot springs in the mountains east of Big Sur. 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. My first reaction to the book was, "Why?" He may have slept with dozens; I personally have identified over a dozen, and spoken to many of them. 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. [The teacher] had been in a Zen monastery for a year in Japan. But the percentage of the Zen clergy implicated in sexual misdeeds is many times greater than that of the Catholic clergy. Baker Sums It Up In this act lies the first step towards freedom." In short, the biographical approach to history seems to be used because it has intimate real-life immediacy. I am also thankful to Mark Baldwin, Sandra Eisenstein, Simeon Gallu, Grace Luddy, Kevin Matthews, Bruce Rickenbacher and Marlene Swartz for many hours of discussion, helpful suggestions, and editorial assistance. In this regard Mr. Not Always So: practicing the true spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki book review buy this book The film was directed by veteran filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and executive produced by physician, Shoshana R. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews. 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. Ask Kai C about San Francisco Zen Center. 3. The bakery was closed altogether in 1999. Baker Sums It Up And the teachings in it. When Katagiri left, Tenshin Reb Anderson assumed Abbotship of the Zen Centerserving until 1995. 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. A vibrant community in an urban temple in the heart of San Francisco. This imputation of power and attainment has given one Zen roshi after another the power to abuse their position while remaining beyond reproach. Baker then moved to Crestone, Colorado and Germany to found other practice sites for Dharma Sangha. Please visit the Calendar page for more details or sign up for our weekly Sangha News email to receive notices of upcoming events. 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. 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. He was 67 years old. He also grabbed the land for Green Gulch farm and retreat center, located in a spectacular valley near Muir Beach. I said, I have to come back here. So I did one more semester of school and then dropped out. He was married three times. 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. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion, Doubleday, 1967, pp. Excellent. This recommended class series offers listeners an overview of the fundamentals of Buddhism and Zen. Suzuki enabled the ensuing trouble by transmitting only to Baker to the exclusion of other westerners, by failing to understand Baker's character, by failing to mitigate his authority in any way, and by failing to explain clearly the historical and common way that Dharma transmission was and is used in Soto Zen. The flow of his consciousness is not the fixed repetitive patterns of our usual self-centered consciousness, but rather arises spontaneously and naturally from the actual circumstances of the present. SFZC will continue to offer classes, talks, workshops, and sangha gatherings through the Online Practice Center and residential guest student practice opportunities at all three temples. Suzuki had asked Baker to locate a farm in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist life while working together. 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. 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. His critics say Baker "still doesn't get it," doesn't understand the errors of his way. Introduction "Zen Dharma transmission between master and disciple could occur whether or not the disciple had realized enlightenment, just so long as the ritual of personal initiation had been performed." "To sum up the situation, we have no sources at all from the T'ang which mentions or describe explicitly "Chan" institutions," p. 267. What they really found is another story of flawed human behavior. 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." 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 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. 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. Kwong's transmission was later completed by Suzuki's son, Hoitsu.[1][11][12]. Baker's case took place within a certain context, and to understand what happened it is helpful to look not only at Baker, but also at Zen institutional self-definitions and the patterns of social life they have engendered in the United States. Zen Hospice Project also continues to train and coordinate volunteers who provide non sectarian, non-medical care to residents of the hospice and palliative care ward at Laguna Honda Hospital, a skilled nursing facility operated by the City and County of San Francisco. Perhaps tellingly, Baker made this claim at the height of the Vietnam War, when virtually 100% of Zen followers were opposed to the war and hence having an anti-war/anti -government roshi in his lineage was good currency. I am greatly indebted to the works of the following scholars, among others, whose By Kurt Wolff, Free Press Paperback, 1950 for a discussion of authority, prestige, subordination, and sociability. There are two kinds of authority. 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. More commonly it is bestowed or given by a teacher to some one with limited attainment in order to keep his lineage alive. Before our eyes we have a living person becoming a faceless, a-historical person. He was perfect for me, Schnyer said. 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. [9], Although Baker claimed that his relationship with the woman was a love-affair which had not yet been consummated, the outcry surrounding the incident led to a series of accusations of impropriety on Baker's part, including the admissions by several female members of the community that they had had affairs with Baker before or during his tenure as abbot. There is a whole lineage built on the idea that Kapleau had transmission. Shimanos womanizing is of the sleaziest sort: He is married, and he has often picked for his mistresses much younger and disturbed women, the kind particularly susceptible to his twisted charisma. This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. [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. 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. Trouble At the San Francisco Zen Center Not only is the book a compelling read; it also, more importantly perhaps, provides raw data for observing Zen mythmaking in action. Seeing Through Zen by by John R. McRae book reviews buy this book, Coming Down from the Zen Clouds: A Critique of the Current State of American Zen, Means of Authorization: Establishing Hierarchy in Ch'an/Zen Buddhism in America, The Zen Master in America: Dressing the Donkey with Bells and Scarves, Holding the Lotus to the Rock: reflections on the future of the Zen sangha in the West, Sanbkydan Zen and the Way of the New Religions, Finding Safe Harbor: Buddhist Sexual Ethics in America, Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center, Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki, Not Always So: practicing the true spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki. 2002: 8-11. 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. For students of the San Francisco Zen Center, one of America's oldest and most prestigious Buddhist institutions, the world has already ended. 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). One justification sometimes heard, glib to my ear, is that enlightenment is not about morality. Remember the senior student who quoted Suzuki as saying, " Dick's commitment is at another level, so the rest of us simply were not in a position to criticize him." He exists freely in the fullness of his whole being. 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. But the Americans didnt know that. 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