"Hollow" transmissions such as those between father and son are incorporated into the unbroken lineage to the Buddha. Money, too, is worth something because we believe it iswe give the $20 bill the magical properties of being worth more than the $1 bill, even though the paper and ink are identical. He was not a sticky kind of emotional person. In the 1960s, four major Zen teachers came to the United States from Japan: Shunryu Suzuki, Taizan Maezumi, Joshu Sasaki, and Eido Shimano. He worked for me, and if he didnt work for other people, then I just wanted them to go, and often hoped theyd go more quietly than they did., Quietly or not, many people did leave. 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. For an in-depth look at three special projects happening at SFZC, check out our new Impact Report. In the case of Zen, students usually come to the teacher with a set of preconceptions, acquired mostly through reading, about the fully attained Zen master as being virtually beyond their comprehension. This is not ancient history. 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. I highly recommend this book, especially the first 101 pages. It is this idealized version of Dharma transmission that claims the master is an enlightened being that is the source of the Zen master's extraordinary claim to authority. Under Baker's leadership, it appears that the Center functioned as a dysfunctional family, denying that anything was wrong or problematic. 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. He occupies an authoritative place in East Asian cultures that have already been imbued with a special level of hierarchy since ancient times. Elizabeth is married to Jason Kibbey. This article was excerpted from the new e-bookThe Zen Predator of the Upper East Side,out now. How bad was Shimanos womanizing? I asked Schnyer. 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. My first reaction to the book was, "Why?" Learn about the latest news from affiliate sanghas with Tova's newsettes and other timely articles. 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. Zen Center members did not think there was any thought control or propaganda necessary to escape when it came to Zen. His focus on having the Center grow quickly and on reforming Soto Zen in Japan may also have contributed to the problems. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. They will sit for five days or longer in the zendo before they are formally admitted into the monasterya physically daunting challenge. After the founding of Dharma Sangha in New Mexico, Baker met with William Irwin Thompson, the founder of the Lindisfarne Association. Kwong's transmission was later completed by Suzuki's son, Hoitsu.[1][11][12]. This dissertation also asks whether the Chan sect existed at all as a separate and distinct sect in the Tang dynasty, the supposed "golden age of Chan"). 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. It means, "Don't ask. He was 67 years old. The current crisis in the Catholic Church proves the need for such an institutional analysis. 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. The Board of Directors at SFZC also began election of leaders. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Suzuki, in so many ways an admirable person, had a large hand in the problems that followed his death. What the teacher really offers the student is literally living proof that all this talk and the seemingly impossible goals can be realized in this lifetime. Religion occupies a distinctive place in this enterprise." ", 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). Zen Center businesses embodied other Bay Area delights. In fact, Kapleau never received Dharma transmission in the first place, so there was nothing to rescind. However, for an in depth review of early Chan monastic codes and how early Chan viewed and supposedly treated errant behavior by monks see Foulk, T. Griffith, "The "Ch'an School" and Its Place In the Buddhist Monastic Tradition," Diss. Because the newcomers' indoctrination into Zen ideology was incomplete, their unfortunate reliance on common sense prevented them from viewing Baker's eccentricities as qualities of an enlightened Zen master. [The teacher] had been in a Zen monastery for a year in Japan. Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities. Importantly, the head of every Soto temple must have Dharma transmission. Berkeley, March 17th, 2002. 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. 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. That made him the successor and dharma heir to Shunryu Suzuki, a Japanese Zen missionary who came to California in 1959 to serve immigrant families living in Japantown. 2015. In fact, Suzuki's lineage, now and as long as the line survives, comes through his son Hoitsu and Baker and that unknown person. Months later Suzukiwith the help of his American studentspurchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street. I am thankful for Michael Downing's work, which is extremely valuable. To this end, Zen Center is engaged in numerous social and ecological initiatives. Explore hundreds of dharma talksby San Francisco Zen Center teachers, practice leaders, and speakers from the wider community. Richard Baker is an extremely bright and talented person and a born salesman. In particular, Suzuki's San Francisco Zen Center lineage continues through his bureaucratic "transmission" to his son Hoitsu. Baker manifested his authority by giving his followers two choices: obey his words without question or be marginalized, which was tantamount to being forced to leave. This recommended class series offers listeners an overview of the fundamentals of Buddhism and Zen. It is an institutional dream that needs to be analyzed using its own description. At that time, Baker also became the official leader of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC). Any genuine interpretation or questioning of the meaning of Dharma transmission, lineage, the Zen roshi, their place in the institution, their accountability, and so on is made to seem absurd. 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. A descendant of Thomas Dudley,[4] Baker was raised in a family of moderate wealth. Excellent. The implications of this authority in some ways far outstrip that bestowed upon the highest secular authorities, since there is the implication that the Zen master is enlightened, a fully attained being. But for the [Zen Studies Society,] my gullibility, spiritual gullibilityI didnt realize that it was a borderline cult. Mel Weitsman and Michael Wenger, University of California Press,1999 and for a biography of Suzuki's life see, Chadwick, David, Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunyru Suzuki, Broadway Books, 1999. 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. 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. But, given that no one interviewed in the book expressed any view outside of the standard Zen model, one may ask, was the Zen history taught at the Zen Center just more of Zen legend? Is it any wonder that the inevitable abuses that we have seen for the last thirty years should follow? It all came tumbling down in a 1983 event known in Zen Center circles as "the Apocalypse." It was a spiritual scandal starring the usual suspects -- sex, money and the abuse of religious. Was his lifestyle less than exemplary? Ask Kai C about San Francisco Zen Center. According to the dust jacket, Downing spent three years interviewing 80 people at the center of the Zen Center scandal. San Francisco Zen Center students and other students throughout history were also one cause of the problem. In short, the biographical approach to history seems to be used because it has intimate real-life immediacy. 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. Brian Victoria was so interested in the possibility of a public pacifist/anti-war Soto monk that he contacted Suzuki's son Hoitsu who told him: "I don't know where all of this antiwar talk comes from, but my father and the rest of the family supported Japan's war effort just like everyone else." But for Schnyer this constantly refreshing membership was proof that the sangha did disapprove of Shimanos treatment of women. City Center A vibrant community in an urban temple in the heart of San Francisco. 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. It should be kept in mind that the senior members, by 1982, were often over forty years old and had been practicing at Zen Center for fifteen or more years. 1969 - The current SFZC building was purchased with the help of American students. Look, theres a certain type of person that is looking for something else in another culture, said Ed Glassing, the former resident monk at both Zen Studies Society locations, whom Shimano maligned as a homosexual. Sort of like, something they dont have, so its mysterious, exotic, its like whoa. Their sins are far worse than what goes on in Zen circles. With one or two exceptions, the only views expressed of Baker's errant behavior among the Center's members was in the context of their personal experience. If you are new to Zazen, they have a great Saturday morning tutorial session every week. "[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. 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. Shoes Outside The Door, p.289. Suzuki enabled the ensuing trouble by transmitting only to Baker to the exclusion of other westerners, by failing to understand Baker's character, by failing to mitigate his authority in any way, and by failing to explain clearly the historical and common way that Dharma transmission was and is used in Soto Zen. The tension was alleviated when Suzuki's Western students began gathering for separate services, albeit still at Sokoji, in 1961. One justification sometimes heard, glib to my ear, is that enlightenment is not about morality. But in truth, neither Suzuki nor Baker fit the saintly mold. The idea that Zen's emphasis on wisdom while only giving lip service to compassion in reality is then about power is an idea that I have just begun to examine. As is common among members of new religions, they viewed themselves as special. In reality it means, "don't question, don't look!" A Zen teacher can certainly assist his students in their practice, can encourage the students to be diligent, guide their meditation practice in both public and private meetings, offer aid in difficult times, talk about Zen texts to enrich the student's sense of the tradition and explicate Buddhist and Zen ideas. This is the consistent view of the master presented by Zen, the pure, simple, desireless and self-contained roshi, and was accepted unquestioningly by Zen Center members. 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. 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. More tellingly, Baker, inserted the very idealized description of qualities and characteristics supposedly of Suzuki Roshi, generalized to all roshi, knowing it would inevitably, indeed shortly, be applied to himself. 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. "On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. What was or was not implied in Baker's transmission from Suzuki? For example, the San Francisco Zen Center, after a scandal involving Suzuki-roshi's dharma heir Richard Baker-roshi, decided to elect its two abbots to four-year terms. 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!" 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. But how real is this history? [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 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. 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? After six months, he returned to his position. 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. [3] Because his family moved around frequently, he lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Pittsburgh growing up. Cole, who teaches at Lewis and Clark College, also has two very provocative books soon to be published, one on the Mahayana sutras and the other on early Chan texts and the "birth" of Chinese Buddhas. In America, it is common in Zen and other communities led by a charismatic teacher to view events that could generate questions such as these not as real life-problems, but as "skillful means" employed to convey the essence of "the teaching." 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. In this act lies the first step towards freedom." Without our assent to those stories, the country would not work. In this scheme, each teacher can trace his lineage and hence, authenticity, back to the historical Buddha. At the time, Schnyer was just 24 years old, yet he had been a Shimano student since he was a teenager. Stay connected. Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki: this link will take you to the website buy this book now Please consider a donation to San Francisco Zen Center. One member quoted Baker as saying, "I always act from pure motives; I never worry about the world." 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. Located atop a bumpy 10-mile (16km) road which is difficult for some vehicles to climb, Tassajara offers shuttles to and from the retreat for those inclined to forgo trying to make the trek on their own. [10], In 1970, Suzuki gave Dharma transmission to Richard Baker, his only American Dharma Heir and chosen successor at SFZC. 22, no.3-4. 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. After six months, he returned to his position. This would have led any impartial observer to question the spiritual implications of Dharma transmission. In some of these biographies, people later classified as Chan monks were listed in other categories, such as Master Yantou Huo as an ascetic and Master Xingzhi as a benefactor. This is not surprising, being, as it is, a natural result of the customs and environment created by the Zen institution. No one took the opportunity to stand back and view the entire affair from any sort of sociological, anthropological, psychological or religious-historical perspective. Baker adds he was "on a roll," was in love with his latest girlfriend and that his peers, est founder Werner Erhard and the well known Tibetan teacher Trungpa, had chauffeurs and large Mercedes, so "I thought I should buy a car." Suzuki's prestige grew enormously. 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. 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. He exists freely in the fullness of his whole being. At the same time, this supposed desireless image of the roshi is meant to invoke desire in us for him. Not what the holy man is but what he signifies in the eyes of those who are not holy gives him his world- historical value. Learn and Practice at San Francisco Zen Center, residential guest student practice opportunities, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. It is mentioned often enough that Downing, interestingly calculates the hours that individual senior members had meditated. 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. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. Downing has offered an excellent example in Richard Baker and the SFZC. 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. Original Dwelling Place by Robert Aitken book review by Robert Goss buy this book now 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. At that time, in the 70s, drug use was prevalent, and I got involved in a fair amount of that. As the American Dharma heir to Shunryu Suzuki, Baker assumed abbotship of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) shortly before Suzuki's death in 1971. One student said that when the senior priests were questioned about some aspects of Baker's behavior, the answer was, "Richard has Transmission." Baker and Suzuki themselves were rewarded by this system. Find classes, retreats, practice periods, and many more offerings in the San Francisco Zen Center calendar of events. 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. It matters that we keep assenting to the stories. In this regard Mr. When Katagiri left, Tenshin Reb Anderson assumed Abbotship of the Zen Centerserving until 1995. 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. While traveling back to school after a vacation, he stopped with a friend at Dai Bosatsuthe Zen Studies Society's monastery in the Catskillsand was impressed immediately. A number of Downing's interviewees spoke of receiving the true or pure Zen teaching from Suzuki Roshi. 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. Members had not the slightest inkling that their view of Zen was controlled. Zen Center members did not think there was any thought control or propaganda necessary to escape when it came to Zen. Also see his forthcoming book on early Chan texts for a unique dissection of early lineage claims and their supporting texts . Remember the senior student who quoted Suzuki as saying, " Dick's commitment is at another level, so the rest of us simply were not in a position to criticize him." It is fashionable among practitioners in the West to consider critical thought as "un-Zen." This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. [2] As the American Dharma heir to Shunryu Suzuki, Baker assumed abbotship of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) shortly before Suzuki's death in 1971. In the end, both teacher and student fall prey to these fantasies. The duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. Zen Nationalism Revisited by Robert H. Sharf Downing shows that even in their every day negotiations for used restaurant equipment when they were opening Green's Restaurant, they held a disproportionate sense of their own importance in the wider community. 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. Means, `` I always act from pure motives ; I never worry the. Or any other activities book on early Chan texts for a year in Japan may also contributed. 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