But Shimano is hardly alone; his is not an isolated case. "[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. The senior members blindly and unquestioningly bought into Zen's mythology and Baker's transmission being above and beyond question. University of Michigan, 1987. This "history" has added weight because it is presented as biographical fact. But the Soto sect tries to have it both ways. While this is obviously a general statement that demands further qualification, it serves to introduce some of the basic problems to be dealt with here. "Hollow" transmissions such as those between father and son are incorporated into the unbroken lineage to the Buddha. Was his lifestyle less than exemplary? Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Shunryu Suzuki buy this book Former students have said that he was addicted to power, abusive of his position, extravagant in his personal spending, and inappropriate in his love life. SteveSiesta. 22, no.3-4. This is also extremely disempowering which can lead to all sorts of problems, as the SFZC case clearly shows. He was leader of the largest Zen center in the United States and founder of Tassajara, the first Zen monastery in America; he sent a number of American disciples to study in Japan and was surrounded, as was Baker, by hundreds of devoted, unquestioning, often young and energetic followers. Ironically, one may ask, is that what Suzuki hoped to reform? 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. [11][13][14][15], In 1976, SFZC purchased the Gallo Pastry Company to found the Tassajara Bakery, which became popular before being sold to the company Just Desserts in 1992. [3] Because his family moved around frequently, he lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Pittsburgh growing up. For some thirty years a significant group of scholars have been investigating the development of the Chan sect in Chinese Buddhism. It may be Zen-like, but it can also be annoying. [13], Following his departure from the San Francisco Zen Center in 1984, Baker relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he founded a new community known as Dharma Sangha. The focus itself is on the master. At the time, Schnyer was just 24 years old, yet he had been a Shimano student since he was a teenager. [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. In time Suzuki, Baker, Hoitsu, and Unknown will blend into that "history" of immaculate patriarchs. Berkeley, March 17th, 2002. 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. by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, Oxford University Press, 2000. Most of the narratives of the early heroes of Chan that we have today were composed hundreds of years after the ostensive events, complete with verbatim accounts of the master's interaction with a disciple presented as if a court stenographer had been recording the entire interaction. What passes for "knowledge" in society is built on the foundation of language. Institutional and personal motives played an important part in the composing of Buddhist biographical collections; this was especially so in earl Chan lineage texts. 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. These days, when we think of predatory clergy, we think of Roman Catholic priests. In addition, the few American students of his who went to Japan came back disappointed, which upset Suzuki because he thought these students would then think less ofBuddhism. Baker Sums It Up 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. Zen at War by Brian Daizen A. Victoria: a link to varioius book reviews buy this book now 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. Students that come to practice at the monastery from September through April must undergo the tradition known as tangaryo. The teacher knew all; the American knew nothing. 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. ", Read more about this topic: San Francisco Zen Center, Problems, laws havent the slightest interest for meexcept in the world of science, in which they are always changing; or in the world of art, in which they are unchanging; or in the world of Being in which they are, for the most part, unknown.Margaret Anderson (18861973), One does not arrest Voltaire.Charles De Gaulle (18901970). 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. 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. A descendant of Thomas Dudley,[4] Baker was raised in a family of moderate wealth. However, there is no surviving text of Pai-chang's Rules. [5][16][17][18][19], In 2000 Jiko Linda Cutts was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. [Note: This section offers background mostly not covered in Downing's book.] The historical Zen masters we have all come to know are always presented in terms of supposedly real people, with names, dates, and locations, and reports of purportedly real conversations and interactions with other monks and sometimes lay people as if there is no doubt at all that we are dealing with historical individuals. 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. 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. A pioneer of gourmet vegetarian cuisine in America, the restaurant's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown and Deborah Madison. Please keep it in mind. These events are a helpful reminderboth to me and to othersof my vulnerability to arrogance and inflation. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. 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. Anderson became entangled in an incident in 1987 that reached back to 1983 just after Zentatsu Richard Baker had resigned as abbot. Baker wrote an introduction to Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, an edited collection of Suzuki's talks, in which Baker said (p.17), "During the Second World War he [Suzuki] was the leader of a pacifist group in Japan." Which means it's basically my fault. It has three practice places which offer daily meditation, regular monastic retreats and practice periods, classes, lectures and workshops throughout the Bay Area. Means of Authorization: Establishing Hierarchy in Ch'an/Zen Buddhism in America In 2003 Paul Haller, who received transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was installed as co-abbot with her. Baker also claimed that he was trying "to protect Suzuki Roshi's legacy and lineage." 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. But the percentage of the Zen clergy implicated in sexual misdeeds is many times greater than that of the Catholic clergy. Right now, Manhattans Zen Studies Society, perhaps the most prestigious Zen Buddhist center in the United States, is being torn apart by lawsuits, backstabbing, and infighting. In fact, Suzuki's lineage, now and as long as the line survives, comes through his son Hoitsu and Baker and that unknown person. I remember many heated arguments, he told me, and no doubt one of my many arguments was: this is personal behavior, not illegal behavior., Denis Kelly, a former Dai Bosatsu vice abbot, and himself no model of sexual continencehe too has had affairs, he told me, including one that almost broke up his current sanghashared Schnyers understanding of the proper hierarchical relationship between the Zen master and his female students. The issue here is not how individual students behave foolishly or even in a self-serving way, it is the admonition to "just sit" - even for twenty thousand hours - is no guarantee against foolishness or delusion. Our personal experience is socially constructed in dialogue with society and with ourselves. 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 was perfect for me, Schnyer said. If the past is any indication these present teachers will be referred to as honored patriarchs in the future. 145 41. 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. Baker's friends and supporters say the Zen Center never regained the spark and spiritual power of the Suzuki/Baker years. I said, I have to come back here. So I did one more semester of school and then dropped out. 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. Many women and others in the Zen community have suffered as a result, and we regret and apologize for our collective failure to stop this harm. Zen is a Chinese invention roughly beginning in the seventh or eighth century of this era. I have seen such a view expressed in four other major Zen communities as well as in a Tibetan community. 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. Baker presided over it all like a feudal lord, hosting dinner parties with then-Gov. Please see the Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page as well as the Calendar. On the corner of Page and Laguna Streets in San Francisco, diagonally across from San Francisco Zen Center, is a corner building with a series of murals that wrap around the boarded-over windows. 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." By Kurt Wolff, Free Press Paperback, 1950 for a discussion of authority, prestige, subordination, and sociability. It will not do for future generations if there are gaps in the line of saintly figures. 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. The Zen master is a role that stands as a representative of the entire Zen institution. An interesting debate between Victoria and members of the Deshimaru group (A.Z.I.) The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. Was he acting primarily with his own self-interest in mind? [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. It is an institutional dream that needs to be analyzed using its own description. pp.347-379. All the pieces don't start coming together until about halfway through the book, and it takes some patience to get there. With so many students and so much public attention, some felt Baker became less available to the members of the community. We see in Downing's book that it is precisely the idealized notion of Dharma transmission that pre-empted anything that Zen Center members saw for themselves when viewing Baker, their Dharma-transmitted leader, at least prior to the rupture in 1983. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. 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. 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. [5][6][7][8], Another assistant priest at SFZC was Dainin Katagiri-roshi, who served there from 1969 to 1971. Zen Center businesses embodied other Bay Area delights. Me and my friend always had suspicions he had ongoing relationships with Japanese women that were kept quiet, and were more or less continuous. 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. 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. " If you are new to Zazen, they have a great Saturday morning tutorial session every week. 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. Downing, who lives in Cambridge, Mass., provides an outsider's view into the incestuous circles at the first Buddhist monastery in the West. Please consider a donation to San Francisco Zen Center. I took a course at Rochester, an overview of Eastern religion and Confucianism. I feel sorry for anybody who's bitter. Also see, Brown, Edward Espe, Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen, Harper Collins, 2002, Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai, Ed. [10], In 1970, Suzuki gave Dharma transmission to Richard Baker, his only American Dharma Heir and chosen successor at SFZC. Join the San Francisco Zen Center Membership Program. A number of Downing's interviewees spoke of receiving the true or pure Zen teaching from Suzuki Roshi. This article was excerpted from the new e-bookThe Zen Predator of the Upper East Side,out now. I am greatly indebted to the works of the following scholars, among others, whose Not Always So: practicing the true spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki book review buy this book How bad was Shimanos womanizing? I asked Schnyer. San Francisco Zen Center 300 Page Street San Francisco, California 94102 www.sfzc.org. 2002: 8-11. In 1989, some six years after Baker was forced to leave, he threatened to take back Zen Center by going to court. He then arrived in San Francisco, California in 1960beginning to sit with Shunryu Suzuki in 1961. And all of us worshipped him to a certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a student named David Schnyer. The tension was alleviated when Suzuki's Western students began gathering for separate services, albeit still at Sokoji, in 1961. Koun Yamada was Yasutani roshi's Dharma heir. 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. It is clear that the senior members of Zen Center surrounding Baker were well-indoctrinated vessels of Zen ideology. For students of the San Francisco Zen Center, one of America's oldest and most prestigious Buddhist institutions, the world has already ended. San Francisco Zen Center students and other students throughout history were also one cause of the problem. Shimanos Japanese ways suited Schnyer. The supposed enlightened Master gets the last word in judging not only the student's behavior and verbal responses, but also the whole of the past enlightened lineage including the historical Buddha by commenting on and judging any and all of the past Masters in the old cases (koan) and in their recorded sayings. He exists freely in the fullness of his whole being. Zen Center Members Besides Suzuki's chosen heir Baker's questionable behavior, Downing reveals many of the senior people scrambling for positions of authority, power, money and perks. 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. Baker and the senior priests dismissed any questioning of Baker's behavior or activities as a lack of insight into enlightenment on the part of the questioner. The land was purchased from one of the founders of Polaroid, George Wheelwright. Political authority can function in this second way. Baker also gives seminars at Boulder Zen Center in Boulder, Colorado twice each year, typically on the last weekends of January and April. 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. I dont know, he said. Some former students say they were encouraged to believe that being groped by him was part of their. 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