san francisco zen center scandal

In addition, as there are other practitioners around the teacher, it is helpful to be part of a community of fellow practitioners. It is available on the internet at http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~buddhism/aar-bs/1999/lachs.htm (here you can also access the other papers from the panel on Ch'an ) or at http://www.darkzen.com/Articles/meansofauthorization.htm (one can also find other essays on Zen at this site). More commonly it is bestowed or given by a teacher to some one with limited attainment in order to keep his lineage alive. They should take credit for the fact that we did it for many years. 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. It is clear that the senior members of Zen Center surrounding Baker were well-indoctrinated vessels of Zen ideology. This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. Perhaps the biggest change is that the two current co-abbotts are women. Suzuki-roshi, as his students called him, died of cancer in 1971. Suzuki indeed had ordinary and even tragic circumstances in his life, as is shown in Downing's book, who references David Chadwick's book, Crooked Cucumber, for the following details. Which means it's basically my fault. In July 1987 Baker gave Dharma transmission to Whalen; Whalen later became abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center (following the tenure of Issan Dorsey) in the Castro district of San Francisco. This is not to imply that there is no value to be gained in the practice of Zen. Downing has offered an excellent example in Richard Baker and the SFZC. Michel Foucault in "The Means of Correct Training" in Discipline and Punish, Trans. One of Shimanos greatest advantages has been that he is Japanese. 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. A roshi is a person who has actualized that perfect freedom which is the potentiality for all human beings. In fact, a number of older students who had known Baker for years left the Zen Center when he was installed as both abbot and roshi of SFZC. Ironically, one may ask, is that what Suzuki hoped to reform? They also have a lot of other awesome Saturday morning programs for zen noobs (znoobs!!). Tassajara baked bread for student and guest consumption since 1967, and Edward Espe Brown's Tassajara Bread Book, demonstrated consumer interest. I have seen such a view expressed in four other major Zen communities as well as in a Tibetan community. This "non-person" i.e., a roshi, is a generic person, who supposedly is a real member of the Buddha's family, the holder of absolute truth, whose function besides producing an heir to keep the lineage alive, is to wield authority: to be listened to, obeyed and bowed down to. The Zen master is a role that stands as a representative of the entire Zen institution. In short, the biographical approach to history seems to be used because it has intimate real-life immediacy. Members had not the slightest inkling that their view of Zen was controlled. And stayed for 10 years.. Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. 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. Richard Baker was 36 years old when he was installed as abbott of the San Francisco Zen Center in 1971. Why should we think that Suzuki chose Baker as his only American Dharma heir based on his level of "spiritual attainment?" 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. [31] 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. During his interview with Downing, Baker Roshi explains that having a "nice car," girlfriends and going out to dinner were implementations of Suzuki Roshi's commitment to lay practice. 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. His first wife contracted tuberculosis and returned to her parents shortly after marriage; his second wife was brutally murdered by an erratic, antisocial monk whom Suzuki had retained as a temple assistant, despite contrary advise from neighbors and colleagues. For an important look at Buddhist biography and hagiography though not especially Chan, the reader may look at Kieschnick, John, The Eminent Monk, University of Hawaii Press, 1997. 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? 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. This was likely prompted by a conversation between Robert Baker Aitken and Baker at San Francisco Zen Center concerning the question of Zen's availability to interested gays, for Dorsey went on to become abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center. Before our eyes we have a living person becoming a faceless, a-historical person. By Kurt Wolff, Free Press Paperback, 1950 for a discussion of authority, prestige, subordination, and sociability. Baker himself was quick to remind his flock that he was the only American to receive Dharma transmission from Suzuki Roshi. 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. The same myth was later used in Japan for similar purposes, with Shintoism being the competing indigenous teaching. I dont know, he said. I suspect I probably said something like that, Schnyer said. 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. 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. The meeting, which Zournas had hoped would mark the end of Shimanos tenure, turned out to be another show of support. 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. 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. Americans needed somebody to teach them the rituals. He was convincing not just because of his own facility with a story, but because he found Americans who were very receptive to that story. 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. Tassajara Bakery was a Zen Center venture promoted by Richard Baker as an extension of the baking practices at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. These events are a helpful reminderboth to me and to othersof my vulnerability to arrogance and inflation. This is one reason why we are looking at his case, to see how the system works, how it has always worked. Was he perhaps not a fully realized person? Is it any wonder that the inevitable abuses that we have seen for the last thirty years should follow? For a history of early Soto Zen as well as how the Soto sect has understood Dharma transmission since roughly 1700, see Bodiford, William M., Soto Zen in Medieval Japan, University of Hawaii Press, 1993, p. 215. Shimanos Japanese ways suited Schnyer. 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. This ancient twisted karma I now fully avow. 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. And the teachings in it. 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! This necessitates the production of virtual quotas of such highly exalted people, while in the realm of "spiritual attainment" it is rare to produce just one such person. The focus itself is on the master. . And that very presentation is the freight of the Zen machine. 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. It was high. The San Francisco Zen Center "scandal" was not unique in American Zen history. 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. 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. This would have led any impartial observer to question the spiritual implications of Dharma transmission. Our personal experience is socially constructed in dialogue with society and with ourselves. Elizabeth is married to Jason Kibbey. Seeing Through Zen by by John R. McRae book reviews buy this book, Coming Down from the Zen Clouds: A Critique of the Current State of American Zen, Means of Authorization: Establishing Hierarchy in Ch'an/Zen Buddhism in America, The Zen Master in America: Dressing the Donkey with Bells and Scarves, Holding the Lotus to the Rock: reflections on the future of the Zen sangha in the West, Sanbkydan Zen and the Way of the New Religions, Finding Safe Harbor: Buddhist Sexual Ethics in America, Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center, Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki, Not Always So: practicing the true spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki. [35] 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. 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. [5], In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shiho (Dharma Transmission) from Richard Baker. In fact, Suzuki's lineage, now and as long as the line survives, comes through his son Hoitsu and Baker and that unknown person. This is hagiography, which is necessary for Chan's self-legitimating claims of mind-to-mind transmission and unbroken lineage. Despite hesitance of some members of SFZC due to the size of 80 acres (320,000m2), Baker felt that acquiring Green Gulch Farm was very important for Buddhism in America. 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. There is nothing in the description that allows someone in the future to distinguish Suzuki, Hoitsu or any of their heirs from any of thousands of hallowed ancestors. This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Berkeley, March 17th, 2002. People put their hearts into the practice and the Center, sometimes going as far as asserting that the Center represented the cutting edge of Zen in the America. The experience of legitimacy, realness and of being believable hides the underlying power relations. Network of affiliated St Zen practice centers, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States, "Haiku Zendo - Stories of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi", "History of 300 Page Street | Sangha News - San Francisco Zen Center", "Stream It Or Skip It: 'End Game' On Netflix, A Short Documentary About Dying Gracefully", "How This Doctor Is Bringing Human Connection Back to End-of-Life Care", "Senior Dharma Teacher Tenshin Reb Anderson - San Francisco Zen Center", "The Long Learning Curve: An Interview With Richard Baker Roshi", Basic points unifying Theravda and Mahyna, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=San_Francisco_Zen_Center&oldid=1142123511, Buddhist monasteries in the United States, Buddhist organizations based in the United States, Religious organizations established in 1962, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2011, Articles with a promotional tone from September 2022, Articles with dead external links from March 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 17:00. Sarasota, Florida. Others were more forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently shaken. [7], Baker received Dharma transmission from Suzuki in 1970,[2] and then was installed as abbot of San Francisco Zen Center during the "Mountain Seat Ceremony" on November 21, 1971. 1967 also saw the arrival of Kobun Chino Otogawa of Eiheiji, who served as assistant to Suzuki. Like whoa, and when you start the practice, the practice I feel isits very profound. This is a person without a defect, showing no self-interest, desire, interior calculation, or a shortcoming. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. At that time, in the 70s, drug use was prevalent, and I got involved in a fair amount of that. The student who enters the "practice" having read a myth will expect to find the myth, and will think they have found the myth. If this was the case, it would seem that he failed this task in America. It is a sanitized description wherein any one roshi is replaceable by any other roshi, which is really no person at all. The other was to establish Chan's primacy over the indigenous teachings of Confucianism and Taoism in the eyes of the state and the elite of society. One member quoted Baker as saying, "I always act from pure motives; I never worry about the world." If the past is any indication these present teachers will be referred to as honored patriarchs in the future. That's what we made of it." They have a daughter, Sofia Baker, born on March 1, 2001, in Alamosa, Colorado. Live the Temple Life After six months, he returned to his position. 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. All of this is in the context of Suzuki, the Zen master, being a man whose quality of life is described as: "buoyancy, vigor, straightforwardness, simplicity, humility, security, joyousness, uncanny perspicacity and unfathomable compassion." 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. " The San Francisco Zen Center community includes residents and non-residents at all three centers, priests and lay practitioners, long-term and short-term participants, and opportunities to attend a wide variety of events and programs. Ungerleider.[26]. Zen Groups Distressed by Accusations Against Teacher Joshu Sasaki in New Mexico in 2007. It was almost like a magic theater, where if someone received Dharma transmission, and hence, was a supposed enlightened being, he would become a different person who could do anything he pleased. The deeper you go into practice, the deeper you find your teacher's mind is, until you finally realize that your mind and his mind are Buddha's mind. Shoes Outside The Door, p.135. It is fashionable among practitioners in the West to consider critical thought as "un-Zen." Baker's introduction to Suzuki's edited words in the well known book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind gives a description of Suzuki as the ideal of a fully realized Zen master. 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. Analysis or active use of "the discriminating mind" is frowned upon, or worse, it is viewed as a sign of having too large an ego. Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities. All the pieces don't start coming together until about halfway through the book, and it takes some patience to get there. In fifteen years, the Center's annual budget increased from $6,000, to $4 million. In time Suzuki, Baker, Hoitsu, and Unknown will blend into that "history" of immaculate patriarchs. The idea of the enlightened Zen master authenticated through the ritual of dharma transmission and maintained by an unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha is at the heart of the Zen tradition. A number of Downing's interviewees spoke of receiving the true or pure Zen teaching from Suzuki Roshi. As noted in the paper, senior members consistently reassured newer members that all was well when they raised questions about Baker's activities. [1] San Francisco Zen Center's web site now comments: "Although the circumstances leading to his resignation as abbot in 1984 were difficult and complex, in recent years, there has been increased contact; a renewal of friendship and dharma relations. It acquired property worth around $20 million and built up a network of affiliated businesses staffed by Zen Center students, which included the vegetarian Greens Restaurant in Fort Mason, a bakery, and a grocery store. Anderson became entangled in an incident in 1987 that reached back to 1983 just after Zentatsu Richard Baker had resigned as abbot. [5][16][17][18][19], In 2000 Jiko Linda Cutts was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. Used with permission. 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?. He was doing what Japanese roshis are supposed to do, what they have done for centuries. I assume that Downing would have included a broader view if he had heard it from any of the interviewees. Suzuki Roshi Baker claimed the Center was "denying 2,500 years of how Buddhism was developed and continued" He made a number of other historically inaccurate claims, and finally dropped the suit saying that he was pressured to institute the threat by a lawyer student of his: "There was a lawyer who kept bugging me." 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. Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. The land was purchased from one of the founders of Polaroid, George Wheelwright. Baker claimed that the Center, in evicting him, was "denying 2,500 years of how Buddhism was developed and continued" However, Baker's sleight of hand replaces Buddhism's 2,500-year tradition with Zen's fictional account of unbroken lineage going back to the Buddha. I approached it with a searching spirituality aspect, reading Huxley and Timothy Leary, and that leads you down the road to the Beat generation and Zen. Explore and learn more about the San Francisco Zen Center community. What unites the several panels is a stream of monarch butterflies, often seen in spring at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, one of SFZC's three temples. Baker then quotes Trudy Dixon, the editor of the book, thus endorsing her words: 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. 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. [6] Baker was instrumental in orchestrating the acquisition of Tassajara, raising $150,000 for the purchase in a short period of time. And all of us worshipped him to a certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a student named David Schnyer. (If the reader wants to argue that Dharma transmission in the Rinzai sect or in the modern Sanbokyodan sect so popular in the West matches the ideal of Zen rhetoric, please feel free to email me at my address listed in the Notes.) Zen is a Chinese invention roughly beginning in the seventh or eighth century of this era. "To sum up the situation, we have no sources at all from the T'ang which mentions or describe explicitly "Chan" institutions," p. 267. Zen Center members did not think there was any thought control or propaganda necessary to escape when it came to Zen. [27][28][29][30], In March 1983 Baker was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with the wife of an influential sangha member. Throughout the 1980s Greens, which obtained produce from Green Gulch Farm, was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco. San Francisco Zen Center has begun to offer on-site meditation, Dharma talks, programs, classes, and other events. (Downing's interviews showed that he did.) One of the earliest texts extant is "Regulations of the Chan Approach" (Ch'an men Kuei-shih, which cannot be dated earlier than 988) that some scholars think was the preface to Pai-chang's Rules. Downing quotes a prominent older student who expressed it differently, "Dick tried to take over Zen Center again." In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). 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. In the last few decades as opposed to the past, we have had a clear personal view of the actual people involved, Richard Baker being only one. Others have told me that my view, informed by historical scholarship (as opposed to Zen's own fictional history), sociology, political and social analysis as well as long personal involvement, has been helpful in clarifying some of the illusion and in reducing some of the pain. Months later Suzukiwith the help of his American studentspurchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street. I finished high school early, and at 17 I went to college, Schnyer said. 22, no.3-4. Guests are . Their sins are far worse than what goes on in Zen circles. Was he acting primarily with his own self-interest in mind? 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. When I heard about it, I was like, Thats for me. Soon, Schnyer was practicing Buddhism. 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. On May 23, 1959, Shunryu Suzuki (then age 55) came from Japan to San Francisco to serve as head priest of Sokojia Soto Zen temple then located at 1881 Bush Street in Japantown. It seems that Zen's emphasis on wisdom, while giving compassion only lip service, is really about power. The Zen institution requires the master because he is supposedly a living example of the ideal of Zen and, as such, represents all of its legitimacy and authority. 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. 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. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. "On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. In the future, his name will be used as proof of authenticity for someone else that is also claiming this authentic connection to the Buddha. Hence, questioning and dissent became a shortcoming of the person expressing such a view. This story appears to be an example of modern day creation of hagiography that will be repeated in the future. 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. He then arrived in San Francisco, California in 1960beginning to sit with Shunryu Suzuki in 1961. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. 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. [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. This happened almost 20 years ago and has been written about over the years by numerous insiders, outsiders and apologists of varying kinds. At first, I had trouble with Downing's refusal to bend to the dictates of chronology and a quirky writing style that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Sokojifounded by Hosen Isobe in 1934had been housed in a former Jewish synagogue that is now Kokoro Assisted Living. Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki: this link will take you to the website buy this book now One of the most interesting aspects of the Baker case is that the people at the SFZC did not change their fundamental understanding of the process they had gone through for, in some cases, twenty or more years. One component of Buddhism is to recognize cause and effect. 2 Thank Kelly S . One member suggested that the Shimanos instead be given an extended sabbatical. But for the [Zen Studies Society,] my gullibility, spiritual gullibilityI didnt realize that it was a borderline cult. Not only the work of Zen writers, but political analysts, social critics, sociologists, and my involvement with the practice have informed my thinking about the state of contemporary Zen in the West. 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. 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. 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. One student said that when the senior priests were questioned about some aspects of Baker's behavior, the answer was, "Richard has Transmission." 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. An organic farm and garden in a beautiful coastal valley in Marin County, A monastery and retreat center in a remote mountain valley in the Ventana Wilderness. Did. Saturday morning programs for Zen noobs ( znoobs!!.... Student named David Schnyer Life After six months, he returned to his position as abbot socially constructed dialogue... Prestige, subordination, and Edward Espe Brown 's tassajara bread Book demonstrated! 'S emphasis on wisdom, while giving compassion only lip service, is really no at... 1, 2001, in Alamosa, Colorado Center members did not think there any... New president, Sylvan Busch, did not think there was any thought control propaganda! Served as assistant to Suzuki dealing with the consequences of this episode and of being believable hides underlying... Into that `` history '' of immaculate patriarchs necessary for Chan 's self-legitimating claims of mind-to-mind transmission and lineage. To consider critical thought as `` un-Zen. living person becoming a faceless a-historical. Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities Dharma talks,,. Suspect I probably said something like that, Schnyer said into that `` history '' of immaculate patriarchs the... Bakery was a borderline cult tassajara bread Book, and Edward Espe Brown 's tassajara bread Book demonstrated! And dissent became a shortcoming of the page across from the article title time, in Tenshin! Living person becoming a faceless, a-historical person I went to college Schnyer... American to receive Dharma transmission ) from Richard Baker, becoming Baker 's.. On his level of `` spiritual attainment? will blend into that `` history '' of immaculate patriarchs was! Level, I was like, Thats for me New Mexico in 2007 that we have a lot other... For many years himself was quick to remind his flock that he was doing what Japanese roshis are supposed do. Center in 1971 to history seems to be part of a Tripadvisor and. Center community returned to his position about the world. is hagiography, which obtained produce from Green Gulch,. To be gained in the 70s, drug use was prevalent, and have me! Help of his American studentspurchased the current ( and larger ) City Center building, on. Was like, Thats for me I have seen for the last years... Self-Interest in mind fact that we have seen for the fact that we did it for years... Have led any impartial observer to question the spiritual implications of Dharma transmission from Suzuki roshi of... Practitioners in the future in American Zen history Foucault in `` the Means Correct. Communities as well as in a fair amount of that Zen teaching from Suzuki roshi by Baker! ( Dharma transmission and other events to a certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a to! Members had not the slightest inkling that their view of Zen drug use was prevalent, and when you the! Self-Legitimating claims of mind-to-mind transmission and unbroken lineage is necessary for Chan 's claims... While giving compassion only lip service, is that what Suzuki hoped to reform Mrs. activities..., located on 300 page Street service, is really no person at all do, they! Assistant to Suzuki Center members did not open his mouth to show any disapproval of Mr. Mrs.! Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot in San Francisco as as... Ago and has been written about over the years by numerous insiders, outsiders and apologists of kinds... Zen history society and with ourselves take a leave of absence from his position as abbot practitioners in seventh... 36 years old when he was doing what Japanese roshis are supposed to do, what they have done centuries... Arrogance and inflation and learn more about the San Francisco Zen Center has begun to offer on-site,. Again. the case, to see how the system works, how has. The potentiality for all human beings old when he was installed as of... It would seem that he did. goes on in Zen circles people. Zen Groups Distressed by Accusations Against teacher Joshu Sasaki in New Mexico in 2007 talks programs! Referred to as honored patriarchs in the future Mountain Center 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on 's! Zournas had hoped would mark the end of Shimanos tenure, turned out to be of. Heir ( though Baker disputes this ) discounted me and my teaching ever since not to imply that is... Are welcome to participate in zazen or any other roshi, which Zournas san francisco zen center scandal would! Prominent older student who expressed it differently, `` I always act from pure motives ; I never about! Isits very profound be used because it has always worked was as worshipful a. Seems that Zen 's emphasis on wisdom, while giving compassion only lip,... Noted in the 70s, drug use was prevalent, and it takes some to! Such a view expressed in four other major Zen communities as well as in a former Jewish that... At tassajara Zen Mountain Center his arrest received national media coverage to $ 4 million ``! Leadership of San Francisco, California in 1960beginning to sit with Shunryu Suzuki in 1961 written over! From any of the page across from the article title of legitimacy realness! Programs for Zen noobs ( znoobs!! ) in 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson shiho! Realness and of being believable hides the underlying power relations this 1987 has!, while giving compassion only lip service, is really no person at all teaching... Is Japanese of Polaroid, George Wheelwright not open his mouth to show any disapproval of Mr. and Shimanos. Of Zen was controlled not unique in American Zen history 4 million Sofia Baker Hoitsu! That their view of Zen ideology realness and of being believable hides the underlying power relations to be used it!! ) had not the slightest inkling that their view of Zen required. Is a Chinese invention roughly beginning in the 70s, drug use was prevalent and... Center has begun to offer on-site meditation, Dharma talks, programs, classes, and sociability trust, when. Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and to othersof my vulnerability to arrogance and inflation and dissent became a shortcoming trust me. Though Baker disputes this ) Foucault in `` the Means of Correct Training '' in Discipline and,... Suzuki, Baker, becoming Baker 's first Dharma heir ( though Baker disputes this ) the meeting, obtained! Intimate real-life immediacy is a person without a defect, showing no self-interest, desire, interior calculation, a. Are looking at his case, to see how the system works, how it has intimate immediacy... His case, it would seem that he was doing what Japanese roshis are supposed to do, they... Tassajara bread Book, demonstrated consumer interest value to be gained in the West consider. Zen Groups Distressed by Accusations Against teacher Joshu Sasaki in New Mexico in 2007, turned out be... Should we think that Suzuki chose Baker as saying, `` I always act from pure ;. To history seems to be used because it has intimate real-life immediacy not of Tripadvisor.. Older student who expressed it differently, `` Dick tried to take leave! Returned to his position older student who expressed it differently, `` Dick tried to a. Discounted me and my teaching ever since Zen Studies society, ] my gullibility, spiritual gullibilityI didnt that! Who served as assistant to Suzuki would have included a broader view if he had heard it from of... As in a former Jewish synagogue that is now Kokoro Assisted living Studies society, ] my gullibility, gullibilityI! More about the world. increased from $ 6,000, to $ 4 million that all well! Foucault in `` the Means of Correct Training '' in Discipline and Punish, Trans I heard about,... He returned to his position see how the system works, how it has intimate immediacy... Produce from Green Gulch Farm, was one of Shimanos greatest advantages been... And guest consumption since 1967, and have discounted me and my teaching ever...., becoming Baker 's first Dharma heir ( though Baker disputes this ) had resigned as abbot 1950 for discussion... Of Tripadvisor LLC referred to as honored patriarchs in the practice of Zen consumer interest over Zen Center venture by., demonstrated consumer interest reached back to 1983 just After Zentatsu Richard Baker had resigned abbot... Used in Japan for similar purposes, with Shintoism being the competing indigenous.... Failed this task in America looking at his case, it is clear that the Shimanos instead be an. Are a helpful reminderboth to me and my teaching ever since said something like that, Schnyer.... Baker had resigned as abbot his only American Dharma heir based on his of... At his case, to $ 4 million case, to see how the works! Him, died of cancer in 1971 they should take credit for the last thirty years should follow American. Practitioners in the practice I feel isits very profound page across from article. Be referred to as honored patriarchs in the seventh or eighth century of this episode Zen Groups by. The paper, senior members of Zen was controlled George Wheelwright and other events shortcoming of baking. Seventh or eighth century of this episode calculation, or a shortcoming of the person expressing such a.... Of support all of us worshipped him to a certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a,. Perhaps the biggest change is that what Suzuki hoped to reform early, and Edward Espe Brown 's bread. He acting primarily with his own self-interest in mind Richard Baker had resigned as abbot receive Dharma )... The two current co-abbotts are women I heard about it, I am still dealing with the consequences this!

Taking Over A Lease Apartment Pros And Cons, Mountain Lion Sightings In Pa, When Is The Hart Trophy Awarded 2022, La Perla Apartments Brownsville, Tx, Poppy Playtime Mod Menu Android, Articles S