Finally, as Suzuki apologized to Baker for what he was going to do to him, i.e., give him and only him Dharma transmission, Suzuki knew that all was not right or ripe or both with Baker. Baker Sums It Up This change in demography caused a rift in the Sokoji community. That Kapleau never received Dharma transmission was exposed in a public letter from Yamada roshi dated,1/16/86. Access to movies showing San Francisco Zen Center's founder, who died in 1971. In this sect, Dharma transmission is commonly a father-son transmission ritual culminating in the son's inheritance of the family temple. ", Lachs, Stuart: The idea and ritual of Dharma transmission rather than the meaning or content of that transmission, becomes the prominent and meaningful fact. 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). 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. This is one reason why we are looking at his case, to see how the system works, how it has always worked. After failing to re-create his Zen empire in Santa Fe, N.M., he settled in Crestone, Colo., where he presides over a much smaller Zen center. Zen Groups Distressed by Accusations Against Teacher Joshu Sasaki in New Mexico in 2007. Bibliographical Notes He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. 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." 22, no.3-4. One student stated it as, "The one thing that seemed unquestionable was Richard's Transmission." Its raison d'etre is to produce people who possess a fundamental insight into life, people who are not fooled by appearances or ideas. And three of the four, Afable noted when we spoke, have caused major public sex scandals: first Maezumi, and more recently Shimano and Sasaki. Under the Zen approach, the Chan masters are clearly more potent than the monastics of other Buddhist sects, who merely explicate the Dharma through texts, often texts that are further distanced from their authoritative origins by the act of translation. Original Dwelling Place by Robert Aitken book review by Robert Goss buy this book now However, it should be noted, that he let interviewees voice any number of inaccuracies without comment. Foulk disagrees with this view. 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. 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. [3] Because his family moved around frequently, he lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Pittsburgh growing up. We agree that the Constitutional Convention made law for all the people, and for all generations to come; we agree that the government will back up our money, if no longer with gold, then with its promises. 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. By Kurt Wolff, Free Press Paperback, 1950 for a discussion of authority, prestige, subordination, and sociability. 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. It is common talk around Zen Centers to hear that the Master can tell your state of mind just in hearing your footsteps in going to sanzen/dokusan, in simply seeing you in any activity, seeing you with a single glance, or in the most idealized version, "he just knows from a distance!" This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. Members along with Baker literally built their world based on the language and view of Zen accompanied by ritualized behavior that added to the sense of being embedded in and being an active participant of that sacred world. One justification sometimes heard, glib to my ear, is that enlightenment is not about morality. Zen Center members did not think there was any thought control or propaganda necessary to escape when it came to Zen. And that gets the juices flowing. 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. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. However, I do not mean to imply there is no inner spiritual content to the Zen tradition. 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. Andy Afable, one of Shimanos former head monks, called these four the major missionaries of Zen, as they had all received transmission from leading Japanese teachers: That is, they had been deemed worthy to be the heirs, to be responsible for the persistence of the teachings. A special note is given to the papers of Heine, Wright, Foulk, McRae, Welter, Schlutter, Michel Mohr and Ishii Shudo. critical insights into Zen/Buddhism have strongly influenced my views: Robert Buswell, Alan Cole, Bernard Faure, T. Griffith Foulk, Robert M. Gimello, Peter N. Gregory, John Kieschnick, John R. McRae, A. Charles Muller, Mario Poceski, Robert H. Sharf, Morten Schlutter, Gregory Schopen, Brian Victoria, Albert Welter and Dale Wright. 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). Zen at War by Brian Daizen A. Victoria: a link to varioius book reviews buy this book now "It was a fantastic drive," he said, it was safe to drive and that he liked to keep his legs in zazen posture. It all came tumbling down in a 1983 event known in Zen Center circles as "the Apocalypse." Had he misused confidences given to him in dokusan (a private meeting between teacher and student pertaining to the student's practice, an extremely important element in Zen training) for self-serving reasons? 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. Tassajara baked bread for student and guest consumption since 1967, and Edward Espe Brown's Tassajara Bread Book, demonstrated consumer interest. Zen Center survived, reorganizing in a manner that made it more democratic, but also more bureaucratic. Why did Baker perpetuate such a simplistic view of Suzuki? For example there was the claim that Zen monasteries in China were self- sufficient, which makes it seem that they were not dependent on the state and elite elements of society and were not actively promoting themselves to get this support and patronage. 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.. 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. One of the greatest reasons that Shimano could sleep with so many women is that it bothered the men so little. "On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. 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. There is a wealth of contemporary exciting Zen scholarship available in English. 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. "[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. 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. If Suzuki was California's Zen messiah, then Richard Baker was his Apostle Paul. Also available are practice sessions with SF Zen Center teachers. 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. Hence, questioning and dissent became a shortcoming of the person expressing such a view. The land was purchased from one of the founders of Polaroid, George Wheelwright. Zen Center members accepted and internalized most all of Zen's self definitions, history and social forms. He was a very traditional Rinzai master: stern when he needed to be, very rarely encouraging. There are two kinds of authority. This relationship between the public and private was easily translated to the needs of the San Francisco Zen Center, with meditation halls and public spaces on the lower levels, and residential areas for practicing students on the upper floors. [7] Thich Nhat Hanh wrote of Baker, "To me, he embodies very much the future of Buddhism in the West with his creative intelligence and his aliveness. It could fairly be said that what is effectively transmitted by Dharma transmission is institutional authority, rather than religious wisdom. At the same time, this supposed desireless image of the roshi is meant to invoke desire in us for him. Foulk doubts that the Chan sect existed as a separate sect with its own monastic institutions during the Tang dynasty. Importantly, the head of every Soto temple must have Dharma transmission. 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. So it is natural to ask, why did Suzuki's and Baker's students mention this so often? Members soon raised funds for a zendo to be built there, and over time the farm transformed into a monastery and retreat center for residents and guests with an organic farm, flower gardens, a teahouse and a plant nursery. 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. This has a direct bearing on the Baker story and the way mythology continues to be constructed even in the present. For a very fine book review of Shoes Outside the Door, see Crews, Frederick, "Zen & the Art of Success," The New York Review of Books, 28 Mar. 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. This is a person without a defect, showing no self-interest, desire, interior calculation, or a shortcoming. Even when Dharma transmission does reflect some level of something we may call spiritual attainment, it is not based on the idealized version proffered by the Zen institution: a mystical meeting of minds between teacher and disciple sharing a timeless truth that unvaryingly matches the minds of all teachers going back in the lineage, through the six Chan Patriarchs in China, and the twenty eight generations of the supposed Indian lineage going back to the historical Buddha, and beyond. Was he perhaps not a fully realized person? 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. Shimanos Japanese ways suited Schnyer. 145 41. He writes a religion column forThe New York Timesand is on Twitter@markopp1. From the perspective of power and control, the political and the religious spheres overlap. [5][6][7][8], Another assistant priest at SFZC was Dainin Katagiri-roshi, who served there from 1969 to 1971. Spiritual attainment, insight into timeless truth(s) or any other profound changes in one's inner life play virtually no part in the majority of these Dharma transmissions or in the every day functions of these roshis. Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Shunryu Suzuki buy this book According to this model, mind-to-mind transmission began with an encounter between the historical Buddha Sakyamuni and Mahakasyapa, and continued, in an unbroken lineage, through twenty-eight Indian Patriarchs. 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. Richard Baker also survived. 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. 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. I hope this is the case with this paper. Learn and Practice at San Francisco Zen Center, residential guest student practice opportunities, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. [20] Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life. 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. Zen's highly ritualized activities added a visceral instantiation to the cognitive edifice. 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. Having wisdom, in the Zen view, is based on Dharma transmission, which implies that the person is an enlightened being. At a meeting of the Board of Directors of Lindisfarne at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, Thompson convinced the board to donate the campus that he had establishedwith its passive solar Lindisfarne Fellows House, Founder's House, and Lindisfarne Chapelto Baker-roshi's Dharma Sangha. Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities. The Zen Studies Society was marked by frequent turnover. Your support is crucial to sustain our practice centers and thriving online community. The social contract and national constitutions count because we believe them to count, because we will them into reality. For more on the Soto Zen institution in Japan see Foulk, T. Griffith, "The Zen Institute in Modern Japan", pp.157-177, Zen, Tradition and Transition, Kenneth Kraft ed., NY, Grove Press, 1988. Rather than report this to the police, Anderson returned to the body over several days to meditate over the corpse. But for Schnyer this constantly refreshing membership was proof that the sangha did disapprove of Shimanos treatment of women. After six months, he returned to his position. Spiritual authority is that second kind of authority. At that time, Baker also became the official leader of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC). 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. " He was married three times. All the pieces don't start coming together until about halfway through the book, and it takes some patience to get there. San Francisco Zen Center offers seven charming guest rooms for short-term stays. Suzuki Roshi 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. 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. In particular, Berger, Peter,L. Not only is the book a compelling read; it also, more importantly perhaps, provides raw data for observing Zen mythmaking in action. It also spun off its business and stopped pretending that work without compensation was "spiritual practice.". Interestingly, Suzuki did not mention "spiritual attainment," but rather commitment. There was a widespread conceit in their thinking that they were the center or "cutting edge" of Zen in America, not cognizant that many other Zen groups were forming city/country Centers and also experimenting with the ideas of setting up monasteries, group practice, communal living and forming a sangha. It did not matter that Baker did not appear to offer his students the "living proof that the seemingly impossible goal [of Zen] can be realized in this lifetime" as Baker himself described the function of the teacher. Religion occupies a distinctive place in this enterprise." City Center A vibrant community in an urban temple in the heart of San Francisco. It matters that we keep assenting to the stories. Months later Suzukiwith the help of his American studentspurchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street. Please send to slachs@worldnet.att.net. The first is grounded in something tangible, concrete, observable: the soldier with his gun, or the scientist with her laboratory results. Shimano was not the bad guy; rather, those who made too much noise, who refused to go quietly, and thus disturbed Schnyers and others Zen practice, were the blameworthy ones. 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. As noted in the paper, senior members consistently reassured newer members that all was well when they raised questions about Baker's activities. I had a kind of insecurity and self-importance, which I didn't see for a long time, that was a bad dynamic in the community. And after his death, several students of Dainin Katagiri, the founding abbot of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, in Minneapolis, reported having affairs with their teacher, who had been married. Baker also gives seminars at Boulder Zen Center in Boulder, Colorado twice each year, typically on the last weekends of January and April. This would have led any impartial observer to question the spiritual implications of Dharma transmission. Soto temples in Japan often are a family business, handed down from father to son, as Suzuki himself had done with his son Hoitsu. "[33], In the 1980s Baker ordained Issan Dorsey as a priest. This new Buddha is also alive and homegrown and hence more immediate and real. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. The Examiner reports that Preston has wants to use the mostly vacant 555 Fulton as . We did something great. [1] Zen Hospice Project was the subject of the Netflix 2018 Academy Award-nominated[24] short documentary End Game,[25] about terminally ill patients in a San Francisco hospital as well as at the Zen Hospice Project house, featuring the work of palliative care physician BJ Miller and other palliative care clinicians. This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. I have seen such a view expressed in four other major Zen communities as well as in a Tibetan community. 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). As in any field, there is a need for experienced and knowledgeable teachers. 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. And that very presentation is the freight of the Zen machine. [9] In the midst of the growth, Baker became a popular public figure. He writes, " The perfect disciplinary apparatus would make it possible for a single gaze to see everything constantly." 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. Join the San Francisco Zen Center Membership Program. [21][22][23] Today SFZC is the largest Soto organization with a foothold in the West. The situation is now reversing, as the Japanese, in particular, abandon Buddhism as an old relic, while it continues to find adherents in the West. 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. He was neither. Steve Hagen. The last of these was Bodhidharma, who began the patriarchal line in China that led to Hui-neng, traditionally considered to be the sixth and last Chan patriarch. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Downing interviewed roughly eighty people, most of them Baker's students, approximately eighteen years after Baker was forced to resign. He became the leader of the Sanbokyodan school of Zen started by Yasutani. by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, Oxford University Press, 2000. Members had not the slightest inkling that their view of Zen was controlled. This article was excerpted from the new e-bookThe Zen Predator of the Upper East Side,out now. 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