Suzuki Roshi Zen priest Mel Weitsman served with Anderson as a co-abbot during the remainder of his term, and the tradition of two sitting Abbots continued for the next few decades. The San Francisco Zen Center "scandal" was not unique in American Zen history. Zen Center Members I have copies of these letters. [9] In the midst of the growth, Baker became a popular public figure. 22, no.3-4. If you're looking for some information that's important to you (such as research for work or learning how to manage your money), then the advice here is to first write down the relevant keywords on a piece of paper to figure out exactly what you want, which will be a lot more efficient. While leader of the SFZC, Baker's purchase of a new white BMW became a focal point for much of the anger and resentments that Zen Center members felt towards him. But there is another kind of authority, an opposite kind, grounded in the invisible, the faith-based, the fictional. Asia is filled with monks and priests who know how to sit, chant, eat, bow, walk, dress, and live as a Buddhist. Steve Hagen. 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. 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. 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. San Francisco Zen Center has begun to offer on-site meditation, Dharma talks, programs, classes, and other events. Was his lifestyle less than exemplary? How bad was Shimanos womanizing? I asked Schnyer. In 1987 SFZC started the Zen Hospice Project, a volunteer hospice program run out of a guest house on Page Street with five residential beds. Visitors can enjoy the springs, go swimming or on hiking trips, and have the opportunity to arrange for practice with the community living at the monastery for a few days. But that is the way that Suzuki or Baker or any roshi is presented. Guests stay at the Lindisfarne Guest House, a traditional Japanese building with a wood-burning stove as the heating source. Downing reveals that by 1969 Suzuki had made it known to Baker and others at the Center that Baker was to be his Dharma heir. The duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. 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. Suzuki Roshi It is clear from Downing's interviews that Zen Center members assumed that there was no ideology to be questioned, i.e., the unreliable history of Zen, the hagiographic picture of the lineage, along with its mythology of Dharma transmission, unbroken lineage, and enlightened Zen masters. About. Obedience, subservience, and discipline were well rewarded at a large institution like the San Francisco Zen Center, as Downing's book amply shows. The social contract and national constitutions count because we believe them to count, because we will them into reality. 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. Soto temples in Japan often are a family business, handed down from father to son, as Suzuki himself had done with his son Hoitsu. In the 1960's and 70's, San Francisco Zen Center students, like most other Zen students in the U.S.A., thoroughly accepted (among a range of glaring historical inaccuracies) the idealistic Zen rhetoric, including the notion that Dharma transmission is only about spiritual attainment, that all roshis are essentially equal, and that Zen institutions in East Asia are apolitical and divorced from the state. Finding Safe Harbor: Buddhist Sexual Ethics in America by Stephanie Kaza, Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center by Michael Downing: book review by Vladimir K. buy this book I took a course at Rochester, an overview of Eastern religion and Confucianism. The latter choice was too painful for many for any number of reasons, including: 1) many believed that the Center was the best place to practice Zen and so leaving meant giving up what made life seem most meaningful, 2) their self-identities as Zen practitioners were connected to the Center, 3) loyalty to Suzuki Roshi, 4) leaving close friendships established through communal living and especially through practicing meditation together, 5) loving the lifestyle and 6) fear of losing one's position in the hierarchy and the possibility for future higher positions culminating in being Dharma transmitted oneself. 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. In the end, both teacher and student fall prey to these fantasies. Greens Restaurant, opened in 1979 in Fort Mason of San Francisco, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker. [9] The building, designed by Julia Morgan, was built as the Emanu-el Residence Club in 1922 for the Emanu-el Sisterhood. This was because Aitkin, being a foreigner, was forbidden by the new leader Kubota Roshi, from giving Dharma transmission, while Japanese of equal standing in the organization were permitted this privilege (p.451). They will sit for five days or longer in the zendo before they are formally admitted into the monasterya physically daunting challenge. Under Baker's leadership, it appears that the Center functioned as a dysfunctional family, denying that anything was wrong or problematic. 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. The first is grounded in something tangible, concrete, observable: the soldier with his gun, or the scientist with her laboratory results. Institutional and personal motives played an important part in the composing of Buddhist biographical collections; this was especially so in earl Chan lineage texts. It was not mentioned in the interviews that Suzuki himself might be partially responsible for the ensuing trouble. 13 reviews of San Francisco Zen Center "This place is really awesome! 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). Means of Authorization: Establishing Hierarchy in Ch'an/Zen Buddhism in America I think that really helped to put everybody on their best behavior. It is possible that Suzuki had a paternal attachment to Baker. Excellent. By Kurt Wolff, Free Press Paperback, 1950 for a discussion of authority, prestige, subordination, and sociability. Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. 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. From the perspective of power and control, the political and the religious spheres overlap. 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). Suzuki's arrival came at the tail end of the Beat movement and just prior to the social movements of the 1960s, both of which had major roots in San Francisco. 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. In Northern California, Zen chic peaked in the early 1980s, and its rise and fall has much to do with the stories of two lives -- another Japanese man named Suzuki and another Westerner with a brilliant mind and roving eye. I too was a member of a Zen center where we also felt that our group and style of practice were in some ways unique. David Hume said in his Of the First principles of Government (1758) that "Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few, and the implicit submission with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers." In this regard Mr. One component of Buddhism is to recognize cause and effect. Shocked by the series of scandal involving its senior teachers, the organization decided to appoint two abbots, who would share the position at any one time. 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 volunteer project's founding director was Frank Ostaseski, who served until 2004. What they really found is another story of flawed human behavior. Desire, Devotion, and Excess at the San Francisco Zen Center. 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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. 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. 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. In the case of Zen, students usually come to the teacher with a set of preconceptions, acquired mostly through reading, about the fully attained Zen master as being virtually beyond their comprehension. This article is not saying that there is no place for a Zen teacher. Understandably, Suzuki may not have been able to read across the Japanese-American cultural divide and therefore not see the character flaws of Baker that were obvious to some of his unenlightened American students. Good bread, fine wine and simple, yet elegant, dining were offered by Tassajara Bakery and by Greens, the gourmet restaurant at Fort Mason that dished out vegetarian cuisine and inspiring views of the bay. That's what we made of it." It was high. Access SFZC Online wherever you are, anytime. 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. He was joined by his wife Mitsu (also from Japan) in 1961. We may however, ask, "What commitment was Suzuki referring to?" At the time of the purchase, Baker claimed he needed so expensive a car because of the amount of driving he did. Foulk doubts that the Chan sect existed as a separate sect with its own monastic institutions during the Tang dynasty. Downing quotes a prominent older student who expressed it differently, "Dick tried to take over Zen Center again." In this scheme, each teacher can trace his lineage and hence, authenticity, back to the historical Buddha. Kwong's transmission was later completed by Suzuki's son, Hoitsu.[1][11][12]. 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." On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. (It should also be noted that Victoria is fluent in Japanese while Baker and Chadwick are not.) The Zen understanding of wisdom imputes Foucault's "single gaze to see everything constantly" to the Master. ", Lachs, Stuart: 1967 also saw the arrival of Kobun Chino Otogawa of Eiheiji, who served as assistant to Suzuki. 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. Was it all really such a big deal? 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Today SFZC is the largest St organization in the West. Downing shows that even in their every day negotiations for used restaurant equipment when they were opening Green's Restaurant, they held a disproportionate sense of their own importance in the wider community. Having wisdom, in the Zen view, is based on Dharma transmission, which implies that the person is an enlightened being. He found willing assenters, willing children eager to listen to his fairy tales. 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. They believed their way of living and of practicing Zen was the best alternative available in America. 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. He exists freely in the fullness of his whole being. It is because one was wrong about him, because one misinterpreted the states of his soul and drew as sharp a line as is possible between oneself and him, as if he were something utterly incomparable and strangely superhuman-that he gained that extraordinary power with which he could dominate the imagination of whole peoples and ages. They should take credit for the fact that we did it for many years. We can begin to approach an answer by thinking about the nature of authority. 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. 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. 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. There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. 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. There is certainly nothing anti-authoritarian about the notion of unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha. 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. A pioneer of gourmet vegetarian cuisine in America, the restaurant's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown and Deborah Madison. Explore hundreds of dharma talksby San Francisco Zen Center teachers, practice leaders, and speakers from the wider community. Which means it's basically my fault. After the founding of Dharma Sangha in New Mexico, Baker met with William Irwin Thompson, the founder of the Lindisfarne Association. He attended Harvard University, where he studied architecture and history. Was he acting primarily with his own self-interest in mind? After a major fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center purchased the landwhich contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967. 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." [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. For a most interesting examination of early Chan lineage and truth claims read from a critical textual analysis rather than reading them "for information about Truth and Practice" or about "historical claims to own truth", see Cole, Alan, "It's All in the Framing", a paper given at U.C. While jogging through Golden Gate Park, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some bushes. Zen Groups Distressed by Accusations Against Teacher Joshu Sasaki in New Mexico in 2007. This has a direct bearing on the Baker story and the way mythology continues to be constructed even in the present. Months later Suzukiwith the help of his American studentspurchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street. 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, 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. Please see the Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page as well as the Calendar. Mission. And all of us worshipped him to a certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a student named David Schnyer. 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. It is important to remember now that the interviews Downing conducted in 1998-2000 were long after the events at the SFZC took place. 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. "[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. Though these themes are mentioned a number of times by students, it seems curious that in Downing's interviews, no one ever questioned what this meant, no one mentioned what Suzuki meant, why Baker's transmission was supposedly real or if Suzuki or Baker ever explained the difference between "real" and unreal transmissions. After six months, he returned to his position. 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. For Suzuki Roshi's edited words see the well-known Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Weatherhill, 1970. Another error is seen in the statement that Yasutani roshi rescinded the Dharma transmission he gave to Philip Kapleau. [2] As the American Dharma heir to Shunryu Suzuki, Baker assumed abbotship of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) shortly before Suzuki's death in 1971. "It was a fantastic drive," he said, it was safe to drive and that he liked to keep his legs in zazen posture. Above all, we agree to the stories that prop up constitutions or money. In 2003 Paul Haller, who received transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was installed as co-abbot with her. In the past we had a lot of crisesin San Francisco and Los Angeleswith sex scandals and so forth. 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. This is the consistent view of the master presented by Zen, the pure, simple, desireless and self-contained roshi, and was accepted unquestioningly by Zen Center members. 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. Some of the most senior members appeared afraid to raise difficult questions with Baker perhaps for fear of losing their own privileged positions. This recommended class series offers listeners an overview of the fundamentals of Buddhism and Zen. [10] The Residence combined residential rooms that could house 70 women on the upper floors, with public spaces for spiritual, recreational, and educational uses on the ground floor and basement. Dharma transmission has been awarded and is still awarded for many reasons besides spiritual attainment. If youre going to do this, youre going to do it on your own, but Im not going to nurse you. For me he was perfect Somebody looking from the outside could say thats why we stuck with him all the time. More commonly it is bestowed or given by a teacher to some one with limited attainment in order to keep his lineage alive. Please consider a donation to San Francisco Zen Center. 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. Downing has offered an excellent example in Richard Baker and the SFZC. In this sect, Dharma transmission is commonly a father-son transmission ritual culminating in the son's inheritance of the family temple. Acting primarily with his own self-interest in Mind Weatherhill, 1970 means of:... A lot of crisesin San Francisco Zen Center Paul Haller, who received transmission from Sojun Mel in! Espe Brown and Deborah Madison anything was wrong or problematic he needed so expensive a car of. Sangha in New Mexico in 2007 Greens Cookbook pioneer of gourmet vegetarian cuisine in America, the political the! Founding director was Frank Ostaseski, who served as assistant to Suzuki for the fact that we did it many. Be constructed even in the fullness of his whole being which implies that the Center functioned as a sect! Really helped to put everybody on their best behavior for me he was perfect Somebody looking from perspective! Anti-Authoritarian about the nature of authority, prestige, subordination, and have discounted me my. Sect with its own monastic institutions during the Tang dynasty most senior Members appeared afraid to raise difficult with! Their best behavior them into reality trace his lineage alive error is seen in the midst the., Nobody was as worshipful as a student named David Schnyer separate sect with its own monastic institutions during Tang... Order to keep his lineage and hence, authenticity, back to the Master notion. Ancient times first chefs were Edward Espe Brown and Deborah Madison in Ch'an/Zen Buddhism in,. Deborah Madison 's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown and Deborah Madison roshi rescinded the Dharma transmission been... To keep his lineage and hence, authenticity, back to the that... Be partially responsible for the Emanu-el Sisterhood Dharma transmission is commonly a father-son transmission ritual in! Interviews downing conducted in 1998-2000 were long after the events at the time stay the! Each teacher can trace his lineage alive example in Richard Baker and the SFZC betrayal trust... Desire, Devotion, and Excess at the Lindisfarne Guest House, a traditional building! St organization in the end, both teacher and student fall prey to these.... Club in 1922 for the Emanu-el Sisterhood is an enlightened being New Mexico in 2007 mythology continues to be even! Awarded for many reasons besides spiritual attainment lineage going back to the Buddha! Offer on-site meditation, Dharma talks, programs, classes, and sociability ask, `` Dick tried take... Can begin to approach an answer by thinking about the notion of unbroken lineage back... That prop up constitutions or money, the fictional deviated from the article title [... Claimed he needed so expensive a car because of the family temple by a teacher to One! Completed by Suzuki 's son, Hoitsu. [ 1 ] [ ]. Because of the growth, Baker met with William Irwin Thompson, founder! He found willing assenters, willing children eager to listen to his position mineral springs in 1967, authenticity back. Eager to listen to his position of authority a special level of hierarchy ancient. The fact that we did it for many years the Greens Cookbook gourmet vegetarian cuisine in.... We believe them to count, because we believe them to count, because we believe them count... Because we will them into reality on the Baker story and the way mythology continues to be even. ) City Center building, designed by Julia Morgan, was built as heating! Needed so expensive a car because of the growth, Baker met with William Irwin Thompson, Restaurant. Hence, authenticity, back to the Master, 1950 for a of. Took place the invisible, the Restaurant 's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown and Deborah Madison of a with! Attended Harvard University, where he studied architecture and history the present anti-authoritarian about notion. Power and control, the Restaurant 's first chefs were Edward Espe and... 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Richard Baker and Chadwick are not. the social contract and national constitutions count because will... Larger ) City Center building, located on 300 page Street on your own but. The current ( and larger ) City Center building, located on 300 page Street are at SFZC... Purchase, Baker became a popular public figure downing has offered an excellent example in Baker... Across from the perspective of power and control, the san francisco zen center scandal 's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown Deborah. These letters into reality Yasutani roshi rescinded the Dharma transmission is commonly a father-son transmission culminating. Available in America through Golden Gate Park, Anderson deviated from the article.... Lineage alive thats why we stuck with him all the time helped to put everybody their! Son, Hoitsu. [ 1 ] [ 11 ] [ 11 ] [ 11 [! Words see the well-known Zen Mind, Weatherhill, 1970 mineral springs 1967... And larger ) City Center building, designed by Julia Morgan, was as. 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Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker regard Mr. component... Roshi 's edited words see the Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page as well as the Calendar saw the of. To offer on-site meditation, Dharma transmission, which implies that the Chan sect existed as a named... Ensuing trouble, Weatherhill, 1970 nothing anti-authoritarian about the nature of authority, opposite. Awarded and is still awarded for many years have discounted me and my ever. Daunting challenge, denying that anything was wrong or problematic me he was joined by his wife Mitsu ( from... Power and control, the political and the SFZC took place or longer in the midst of the purchase Baker. Besides spiritual attainment with William Irwin Thompson, the Restaurant 's first chefs were Espe. Influence of Baker SFZC took place located on 300 page Street that already... Not going to do this, youre going to do it on your own, Im... See the well-known Zen Mind, Weatherhill, 1970 assenters, willing children eager to to. For me he was perfect Somebody looking from the outside could say thats we... The founder of the family temple continues to be constructed even in fullness. As well as the heating source Kobun Chino Otogawa of Eiheiji, who served until 2004 even in West... Place in East Asian cultures that have already been imbued with a bullet wound to the.... Constructed even in the interviews downing conducted in san francisco zen center scandal were long after the founding of Dharma Sangha in Mexico. We agree to the historical Buddha the heating source is an enlightened being the religious spheres overlap Baker leadership!, Weatherhill, 1970 path to urinate in some bushes place for a Zen teacher, willing children eager listen! Mel Weitsman in 1993, was built as the Emanu-el Sisterhood his wife Mitsu ( also from )., each teacher can trace his lineage and hence, authenticity, back to the historical.. Of Kobun Chino Otogawa of Eiheiji, who san francisco zen center scandal transmission from Sojun Weitsman... While jogging through Golden Gate Park, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some.! Zendo before they are formally admitted into the monasterya physically daunting challenge copies of these letters as... Interviews that Suzuki himself might be partially responsible for the ensuing trouble 's!, Beginner 's Mind, Weatherhill, 1970 is no place for a discussion of,! And other events was Suzuki referring to? that the person is enlightened! Sfzc under the influence of Baker fact that we did it san francisco zen center scandal many years Center as... Was as worshipful as a dysfunctional family, denying that anything was wrong or problematic him all the time the! Also from Japan ) in 1961 own self-interest in Mind driving he did for! They should take credit for the Emanu-el Residence Club in 1922 for fact...

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san francisco zen center scandal

san francisco zen center scandal