san francisco zen center scandalsan francisco zen center scandal

All of this authority and potency is manifested in the rituals of the Zen master commenting on and judging the words and actions of not only their disciples, but also of anyone in the lineage going all the way back to and including, the historical Buddha. Shocked by the series of scandals involving its senior teachers, the organization decided to appoint two abbots, who would share the position at any one time. He occupies an authoritative place in East Asian cultures that have already been imbued with a special level of hierarchy since ancient times. 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. Although his salary was reportedly modest, he lived a lifestyle which many perceived as extravagant. Introduction 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. Soon these Westerners participated in regular services, and new non-Asian students came to outnumber the Japanese-American congregation. Baker presided over it all like a feudal lord, hosting dinner parties with then-Gov. They weren't so much about about money (Chapter 27, if that's your cup of tea). [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. It also spun off its business and stopped pretending that work without compensation was "spiritual practice.". Zen Center members accepted and internalized most all of Zen's self definitions, history and social forms. We can begin to approach an answer by thinking about the nature of authority. In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). He then arrived in San Francisco, California in 1960beginning to sit with Shunryu Suzuki in 1961. 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. He attended Harvard University, where he studied architecture and history. Despite the controversy connected with his resignation, Baker was instrumental in helping the San Francisco Zen Center to become one of the most successful Zen institutions in the United States. . Richard Baker also survived. He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. How San Francisco Zen Center Operates The suit cost the SFZC $35,000 to $40,000 in legal fees at a time when it was under financial pressure. These and any number of other questions, complaints, hurts or criticisms harbored by his disciples, were not raised. Also see the public letter from Mr. Kapleau toYamada, dated 2/17/86. "[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. 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. To legitimize the various family lines within Zen, Zen's self-definition necessitates establishing a continuing unbroken lineage of transmitted masters connected to the historical Buddha. [2], In the late-1980s Baker also gave shiho to Issan Dorsey, whom he had ordained as a priest in 1975. Introduction Zen is a Chinese invention roughly beginning in the seventh or eighth century of this era. Eighteen years later, there is still lingering bitterness about his overthrow. At the time of the purchase, Baker claimed he needed so expensive a car because of the amount of driving he did. They should take credit for the fact that we did it for many years. "It was a fantastic drive," he said, it was safe to drive and that he liked to keep his legs in zazen posture. 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. 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. In one well-known collection, the famous Grand Master Yunmen is not recorded at all. Shoes Outside The Door, p.135. 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." Months later Suzukiwith the help of his American studentspurchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street. ", Lachs, Stuart: This would have led any impartial observer to question the spiritual implications of Dharma transmission. 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. Baker Sums It Up That Kapleau never received Dharma transmission was exposed in a public letter from Yamada roshi dated,1/16/86. His American students accept this theme unquestioningly. Before long, Sokoji had non-Japanese Americans mostly beatniks coming to the temple to sit zazen with him in the morning. 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. 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. 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. 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. He was what I needed. Some of the most senior members appeared afraid to raise difficult questions with Baker perhaps for fear of losing their own privileged positions. 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). 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. "[16], On September 25, 1999 in Salem, Baker married Marie Louise, daughter of Maximilian, Margrave of Baden, and grandniece of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Upon his final visit he found the body no longer there, and a fellow priest in whom he had confided showed him a newspaper article covering the apparent suicide. [10] The community's sense of crisis sharpened when the woman's husband, one of SFZC's primary benefactors, threatened to hold the organization legally responsible for its abbot's apparent misconduct.[11]. 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. 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. One of the greatest reasons that Shimano could sleep with so many women is that it bothered the men so little. "Something above ninety percent of us had come from alcoholic families or families that were dysfunctional with the same patterns." A gem! (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.) This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. Until recently, the United States had very few natives who possessed that knowledge. 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. San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated St Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. [32], These revelations led Baker to resign as abbot in 1984. It was also mentioned that Suzuki believed that Dharma transmission must be "real", implying that there is "not real" Dharma transmission. 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. One was to make the state consider Chan the primary sect of Buddhism. "The years people spent here were not wasted years of being duped. I dont remember saying that., Schnyer maintains a tidy understanding of his personal Zen galaxy, in which Shimano is the sun, hot and dangerous but necessary. Zen Center survived, reorganizing in a manner that made it more democratic, but also more bureaucratic. I have seen such a view expressed in four other major Zen communities as well as in a Tibetan community. What they really found is another story of flawed human behavior. "[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. So why did none of Baker's students, as expressed in their interviews with Downing, show any awareness that institutional self-definition encouraged their idealization of Baker, which allowed, perhaps even fostered, the occurrence of many of the alleged abuses? Not surprisingly, virtually 100% of the time these breaches of morality serve the pleasure and interests of the supposed enlightened one. 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]. For a look at how religious fantasies may cause trouble, especially with leaders, see "Religion and Alienation" in Berger, Peter L., The Sacred Canopy, pp, 81-101. Baker manifested his authority by giving his followers two choices: obey his words without question or be marginalized, which was tantamount to being forced to leave. #28 of 84 Specialty lodging in San Francisco. Under Baker's leadership, it appears that the Center functioned as a dysfunctional family, denying that anything was wrong or problematic. It was not mentioned in the interviews that Suzuki himself might be partially responsible for the ensuing trouble. Suzuki's prestige grew enormously. 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. " Spiritual authority is that second kind of authority. This article was excerpted from the new e-bookThe Zen Predator of the Upper East Side,out now. 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. Yet Baker certainly knew that, at best, few if any roshi are so fully realized. Mission. 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. (It should also be noted that Victoria is fluent in Japanese while Baker and Chadwick are not.) Yamada gave Dharma transmission to Robert Aitkin, though Aitkin and his Diamond Sangha later separated from the Sanbokyodan organization after Yamada's death. It has three practice places which offer daily meditation, regular monastic retreats and practice periods, classes, lectures and workshops throughout the Bay Area. 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. The Zen Buddhist Who Preyed on His Upper East Side Students, The Zen Predator of the Upper East Side,. Was he acting primarily with his own self-interest in mind? Despite having only had 12 years in the United States, Suzuki had gone a long way toward establishing Soto Zen in America. He writes a religion column forThe New York Timesand is on Twitter@markopp1. Greens Restaurant, opened in 1979 in Fort Mason of San Francisco, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker. If the past is any indication these present teachers will be referred to as honored patriarchs in the future. He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. Zen Mind? The Zen Studies Society was marked by frequent turnover. 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. Some Zen followers believe that Zen is only concerned with enlightenment and is not concerned with personal behavior or with ordinary morality. Ruling year info. These recordings of zazen instruction feature a variety of teachers offering an introduction to meditation. 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. Ask Kelly S about San Francisco Zen Center. 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. 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.. He also grabbed the land for Green Gulch farm and retreat center, located in a spectacular valley near Muir Beach. I suspect I probably said something like that, Schnyer said. And what was Suzuki's intention here? 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. Their sins are far worse than what goes on in Zen circles. Nevertheless, following extensive investigation, even Chadwick was forced to admit: "Anything Shunryu had done that could be considered remotely antiwar he had done before the Pacific war started" (p. 97). "On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. This recommended class series offers listeners an overview of the fundamentals of Buddhism and Zen. As noted in the paper, senior members consistently reassured newer members that all was well when they raised questions about Baker's activities. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. 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. By the seventies he calculates 10-15,000 hours and that by 1987 the most senior practitioners had each meditated some 20- 25,000 hours on the cushion. After six months, he returned to his position. Steve Hagen. The land was purchased from one of the founders of Polaroid, George Wheelwright. The meeting, which Zournas had hoped would mark the end of Shimanos tenure, turned out to be another show of support. Shoes Outside The Door, p.237. 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. With this view in place, the entire spectrum of permissible thought is now caught and limited within Zen's mythological presentation, which was a completed creation by the eleventh century in China. The social contract and national constitutions count because we believe them to count, because we will them into reality. All the pieces don't start coming together until about halfway through the book, and it takes some patience to get there. Not only is the book a compelling read; it also, more importantly perhaps, provides raw data for observing Zen mythmaking in action. 4 Thank Kai C . 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. [6] Baker was instrumental in orchestrating the acquisition of Tassajara, raising $150,000 for the purchase in a short period of time. Unfortunately, this issue is not raised or considered by any of the Zen Center members interviewed in the book. 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. For an analysis of the idealized, one-dimensional style of describing a roshi, the one of Suzuki in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind being just one contemporary example, see "Simpleness" in Alan Cole's previously mentioned paper, "It's All in the Framing", p.6. One of Shimanos greatest advantages has been that he is Japanese. 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. 1962 - SFZC is founded by Shunryu Suzuki and his Western students. I assume that Downing would have included a broader view if he had heard it from any of the interviewees. 145 41. 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. 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. Dharma transmission has been awarded and is still awarded for many reasons besides spiritual attainment. Soto temples in Japan often are a family business, handed down from father to son, as Suzuki himself had done with his son Hoitsu. 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. Rather than report this to the police, Anderson returned to the body over several days to meditate over the corpse. Me and my friend always had suspicions he had ongoing relationships with Japanese women that were kept quiet, and were more or less continuous. It was more about power, about finding another way to govern and manage an operation that was never sure if it was a California commune, a Japanese monastery or a New Age business. It was considered "real" because it came from the saintly Suzuki and Suzuki made a point of saying it was "real." No one took the opportunity to stand back and view the entire affair from any sort of sociological, anthropological, psychological or religious-historical perspective. [34], Following Baker's resignation, Dainin Katagiri led the community until 1985. Political authority can function in this second way. About. When it came to Baker's transmission from Suzuki, virtually all the students interviewed by Downing assumed that it was a "real" transmission. 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. However, it should be noted, that he let interviewees voice any number of inaccuracies without comment. Shoes Outside The Door, p.289. 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. Furthermore, Chadwick told Victoria that when he (Chadwick) had once asked Baker himself about the basis for the claim, Baker replied that he could not remember! 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. [3] He has two daughters, Sally and Elizabeth, from a prior marriage to Virginia Baker. Kai C. Half Moon Bay, California. 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. Mark Oppenheimer hosts the podcast Unorthodox for Tablet magazine and writes for The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, and GQ, among other publications. Throughout the 1980s Greens, which obtained produce from Green Gulch Farm, was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco. Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. In this way the teacher was like a deity, a minor god. One older student expressed it this way, "In our hands, and it was in our hands, it [Suzuki's pure teaching] became a bludgeon of power, a source of competition, jealousy, and paranoia. They also have a lot of other awesome Saturday morning programs for zen noobs (znoobs!!). Victoria describes how the most prominent roshis from all sects of Japanese Zen interpreted Zen's teachings to support the imperial and militaristic goals of Japan from the early twentieth century through the end of World War II and beyond. It should be kept in mind that the senior members, by 1982, were often over forty years old and had been practicing at Zen Center for fifteen or more years. Alcoholic families or families that were dysfunctional with the same patterns., and new non-Asian students to. 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