I took a course at Rochester, an overview of Eastern religion and Confucianism. Dharma transmission has been awarded and is still awarded for many reasons besides spiritual attainment. You wont find anybody within the Zen Studies Society who has tolerated this stuff from start to finish, Schnyer said. [21][22][23] Today SFZC is the largest Soto organization with a foothold in the West. Around 1970, he began sitting regularly with a group in Santa Cruz that went on to form the Santa Cruz Zen Center. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Despite its iconoclastic image, Zen has in actuality been a remarkably conservative institution throughout its history, almost always tied to and controlled by the state and elite elements of society. Suzuki Roshi But for the [Zen Studies Society,] my gullibility, spiritual gullibilityI didnt realize that it was a borderline cult. This story appears to be an example of modern day creation of hagiography that will be repeated in the future. One student stated it as, "The one thing that seemed unquestionable was Richard's Transmission." Your support is crucial to sustain our practice centers and thriving online community. 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! "If you scratch under the bitterness, there's a lot of beauty there," says Norman Fischer, abbott of the Zen Center from 1995 to 2000. The student who enters the "practice" having read a myth will expect to find the myth, and will think they have found the myth. 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. 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. Ruling year info. As noted in the paper, senior members consistently reassured newer members that all was well when they raised questions about Baker's activities. Nor did anyone even think to view the situation through the lens of the Buddhist teachings themselves or even the particular teachings of their beloved founder Suzuki. San Francisco Zen Center's purpose is to make the teachings and practice of Soto Zen Buddhism widely available, to train teachers, and to help cultivate mindfulness and compassion in the world. Tassajara baked bread for student and guest consumption since 1967, and Edward Espe Brown's Tassajara Bread Book, demonstrated consumer interest. Zen Center members did not think there was any thought control or propaganda necessary to escape when it came to Zen. 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. Baker also claimed that he was trying "to protect Suzuki Roshi's legacy and lineage." 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. He may have slept with dozens; I personally have identified over a dozen, and spoken to many of them. Perhaps the biggest change is that the two current co-abbotts are women. 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. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. [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]. We seem to forget that we live with other humans and that society is a human product that we act upon and that acts upon us and in a sense produces us. 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. Although his salary was reportedly modest, he lived a lifestyle which many perceived as extravagant. 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. Suzuki had asked Baker to locate a farm in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist life while working together. Reviewed December 27, 2012 . 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. I finished high school early, and at 17 I went to college, Schnyer said. 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. Mark Oppenheimeris the author of three other books, includinga memoir of high school debateand atravelogue about crashing bar mitzvahs. Zen Nationalism Revisited by Robert H. Sharf This has a direct bearing on the Baker story and the way mythology continues to be constructed even in the present. Below is the information about san francisco zen center scandal . 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. If some one would like copies, please email me at: slachs@worldnet.att.net . Unfortunately, this issue is not raised or considered by any of the Zen Center members interviewed in the book. We can begin to approach an answer by thinking about the nature of authority. 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. 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. 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. The volunteer project's founding director was Frank Ostaseski, who served until 2004. A full overview of what is open can be found here. The historical fact is that monasteries actively courted the state and elite elements of society, depended on donations from wealthy patrons and or the state, had tenant farmers work their often vast donated and inherited land holdings, etc. 1969 - Suzuki was asked to resign as priest at Sokoji by the temple's board of directors because he was spending more time with his Western students than the Japanese-American congregation. Why did Baker perpetuate such a simplistic view of Suzuki? Access SFZC Online wherever you are, anytime. Elizabeth is married to Jason Kibbey. 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Downing quotes a prominent older student who expressed it differently, "Dick tried to take over Zen Center again." However, I do not mean to imply there is no inner spiritual content to the Zen tradition. Senior members also appeared blind to the voices of others and closed to criticism. However Zen texts may define the role, Zen masters have not been fully enlightened beings beyond question. When I heard about it, I was like, Thats for me. Soon, Schnyer was practicing Buddhism. While jogging through Golden Gate Park, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some bushes. "[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. He attended Harvard University, where he studied architecture and history. Which means it's basically my fault. Their sins are far worse than what goes on in Zen circles. This is not surprising, being, as it is, a natural result of the customs and environment created by the Zen institution. And all of us worshipped him to a certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a student named David Schnyer. 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. Great Experience with Western Zen Practice. A large institution like Zen requires hundreds of such living role players. Interestingly, the later versions of the supposed events often have more detail than the earlier versions, implying that we are dealing with literary creations rather than historical biography. But in the end it is not the extraordinariness of the teacher that perplexes, intrigues, and deepens the student, it is the teacher's utter ordinariness. 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. Zen Mind? [5], In 1969, Sokoji's board of directors asked Suzuki to resign his position as the temple's priest, asserting that he was spending more time with his Western students than the Japanese-American congregation. He was 67 years old. Baker then moved to Crestone, Colorado and Germany to found other practice sites for Dharma Sangha. Eighteen years later, there is still lingering bitterness about his overthrow. In addition, if there were something to reform in Japanese Soto Zen, the automatic Dharma transmission for virtually all priests, often between father and son, would be high on the list. A good part of the goal of Buddhism is to reduce illusion and suffering. 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. Anybody who traveled to Japan, as many American Buddhists would, quickly learned that every monastery there had its own variations on the traditionas with any other religious practice, there is no one true form. 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. 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. 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. This was especially true of people wanting to climb Zen Center's ladder to positions of authority, power, and prestige, which was totally dependent on Baker's sanction. [10], In 1970, Suzuki gave Dharma transmission to Richard Baker, his only American Dharma Heir and chosen successor at SFZC. With this investment it is understandable that one might not want to question too closely the teacher's behavior. 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!" The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. 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. The suit cost the SFZC $35,000 to $40,000 in legal fees at a time when it was under financial pressure. Until recently, the United States had very few natives who possessed that knowledge. A pioneer of gourmet vegetarian cuisine in America, the restaurant's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown and Deborah Madison. A number of Downing's interviewees spoke of receiving the true or pure Zen teaching from Suzuki Roshi. 2 Thank Kelly S . How San Francisco Zen Center Operates It is a performance meant to confirm and display the current master's significance, authority and attainment. Likewise, Dharma transmission was as much about institutional prosperity, prestige, authority, continuity and acceptance and control by imperial authorities as it was about notions of enlightenment and spiritual perfection. The 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 After the founding of Dharma Sangha in New Mexico, Baker met with William Irwin Thompson, the founder of the Lindisfarne Association. 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. Some Zen followers believe that Zen is only concerned with enlightenment and is not concerned with personal behavior or with ordinary morality. Why do we need to rehash this one again? 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. Surely others felt the same way, but only Schnyer and Kelly have been so bold or articulate, have made clear the amorality, and the misogyny, that can infect Zen practice and enable its malefactors. This is the sort of detail, which might be useful to both present and future students, but it is absolutely missing from all of the completely standard biographies of Zen masters through the ages. Sasaki, of Rinzai-ji, a Zen center in Los Angeles, is now 106 years old and, as his board members finally admitted in 2013, was groping and fondling unwilling students well into his 11th decade. Not surprisingly, virtually 100% of the time these breaches of morality serve the pleasure and interests of the supposed enlightened one. The Zen understanding of wisdom imputes Foucault's "single gaze to see everything constantly" to the Master. 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. Please consider a donation to San Francisco Zen Center. Baker Sums It Up It was considered "real" because it came from the saintly Suzuki and Suzuki made a point of saying it was "real." According to a 1982 letter from George Zournas to Jack Clareman, the Zen Studies Societys lawyer, a litany of charges was read against Shimano at a board meeting on September 14 of that year. He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. Cases like this are important simply because the study of Zen history has shown us the whole lineage tradition is built so heavily on questionable written and word-of-mouth accounts; what is said in the present will surely be repeated long into the future. He is now a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, and in December 2012 I spoke with him by telephone. Before Victoria's book was published these people, many who were influential in bringing Zen to the west, were routinely presented as flawless examples of Zen attainment. 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. 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. Anderson became entangled in an incident in 1987 that reached back to 1983 just after Zentatsu Richard Baker had resigned as abbot. I believe the trouble at the San Francisco Zen Center, and at many other prominent Zen Centers, across the country to this day, is caused by a lack of understanding as to how the ideas of Dharma transmission, unbroken lineage, and Zen master have been used historically. Yet we all know that no human is like this. 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. [6] One student who followed him to his new community was the priest Philip Whalen (ordained by Baker as a priest in 1973), who became tanto (head monk) of the new center. The center received significant media coverage concerning the 1984 resignation of then abbot Zentatsu Richard Baker, who was ousted after it was alleged that he had been having an affair with the wife of a prominent Zen Center member. [1][15], In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). 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 Center members accepted and internalized most all of Zen's self definitions, history and social forms. I have copies of these letters. Above all, we agree to the stories that prop up constitutions or money. pp.347-379. He occupies an authoritative place in East Asian cultures that have already been imbued with a special level of hierarchy since ancient times. But there is another kind of authority, an opposite kind, grounded in the invisible, the faith-based, the fictional. Why should we think that Suzuki chose Baker as his only American Dharma heir based on his level of "spiritual attainment?" Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. 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). 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. These revelations led to community-wide pandemonium, and in 1984 Baker was forced to resign as abbot. Explore and learn more about the San Francisco Zen Center community. Most people think of Zen as being iconoclastic, anti-authoritarian, simple, direct, and unattached. These events are a helpful reminderboth to me and to othersof my vulnerability to arrogance and inflation. The Zen Institution 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. I think that really helped to put everybody on their best behavior. This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. 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?. 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