is co-abbess of the San Francisco Zen Center. Foulk gives translations of two versions of the text, side by side and analyses their internal structure and contents. 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 There was a widespread conceit in their thinking that they were the center or "cutting edge" of Zen in America, not cognizant that many other Zen groups were forming city/country Centers and also experimenting with the ideas of setting up monasteries, group practice, communal living and forming a sangha. While leader of the SFZC, Baker's purchase of a new white BMW became a focal point for much of the anger and resentments that Zen Center members felt towards him. 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. Downing quotes a prominent older student who expressed it differently, "Dick tried to take over Zen Center again." Political authority can function in this second way. Tassajara Bakery was a Zen Center venture promoted by Richard Baker as an extension of the baking practices at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. San Francisco from the 1960's into the 1980's was considered by many to be the freest city in America, especially when understanding "libre" as freedom from ideological constraints. In fact, Suzuki's lineage, now and as long as the line survives, comes through his son Hoitsu and Baker and that unknown person. Others were more forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently shaken. 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. 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. And what was Suzuki's intention here? Guests are . I assume that Downing would have included a broader view if he had heard it from any of the interviewees. However, I do not mean to imply there is no inner spiritual content to the Zen tradition. "[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. So it is natural to ask, why did Suzuki's and Baker's students mention this so often? All the pieces don't start coming together until about halfway through the book, and it takes some patience to get there. In short, the biographical approach to history seems to be used because it has intimate real-life immediacy. This is one reason why we are looking at his case, to see how the system works, how it has always worked. And perhaps most importantly, his authority will be understood with a taken-for-granted quality of being natural. 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. In 2003 Paul Haller, who received transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was installed as co-abbot with her. There is a wealth of contemporary exciting Zen scholarship available in English. It means, "Don't ask. This paper can also serve the non-scholar as an overview or introduction to modern Zen scholarship and introduce a critical view of the important Zen ideas of master, Dharma transmission, and unbroken lineage. This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. I hope this is the case with this paper. 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!" But in the 1960s and 70s, American Buddhists needed the foreigners. Finding Safe Harbor: Buddhist Sexual Ethics in America by Stephanie Kaza, Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center by Michael Downing: book review by Vladimir K. buy this book It was considered "real" because it came from the saintly Suzuki and Suzuki made a point of saying it was "real." 13 reviews of San Francisco Zen Center "This place is really awesome! For an earlier view of the immediate events surrounding Baker, see Butler, Katy, "Events Are The Teachers", The CoEvolution Quarterly, winter 1983, pp.112-123. At that time, Baker also became the official leader of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC). I think this happened because Zen's teaching to avoid words and explanation was taken too literally and has fostered an unfortunate narrowing of perspective. This is not to imply that there is no value to be gained in the practice of Zen. After six months, he returned to his position. He was neither. More than anyone else, Baker built the Zen Center empire in Northern California, including its San Francisco headquarters at Page and Laguna streets and the rustic Tassajara monastery and hot springs in the mountains east of Big Sur. 145 41. Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. Baker presided over it all like a feudal lord, hosting dinner parties with then-Gov. [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. From the perspective of power and control, the political and the religious spheres overlap. Classes and workshops from our Online Programs, resources for beginners, zazen (meditation) and chanting, Dharma talks, and live online practice sessions with teachers. This would have led any impartial observer to question the spiritual implications of Dharma transmission. #28 of 84 Specialty lodging in San Francisco. 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. I said, I have to come back here. So I did one more semester of school and then dropped out. Downing interviewed roughly eighty people, most of them Baker's students, approximately eighteen years after Baker was forced to resign. Trust me." Over the past 10 years, San Francisco Zen Center has devoted time and energy to studying the best practices around conflict resolution, difficult conversations, sexual harassment prevention, appropriate teacher/student boundaries, giving and receiving feedback, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, working with trauma, and Right Use of Power trainings. All of this discontent emerged when it was made public that Baker had allegedly been having an affair with the wife of an influential sangha member. Foulk doubts that the Chan sect existed as a separate sect with its own monastic institutions during the Tang dynasty. 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. This is not ancient history. 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. 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? Dorsey went on to serve as abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco, where he worked to develop hospice care for AIDS patients. 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. But in truth, neither Suzuki nor Baker fit the saintly mold. Institutional power, authority, hierarchy and order are, hence, accomplished through self-censorship by the members, a more effective method for controlling dissent and questioning than coercion by the leaders. The Zen Studies Society was marked by frequent turnover. I finally asked Schnyer if he had said what Zournas attributed to him: He hasnt raped anyone yet, has he? [15], In the twenty-five years since leaving San Francisco Zen Center, Baker has continued his career as a Zen teacher, founding and developing two practice centers. For an analysis of the idealized, one-dimensional style of describing a roshi, the one of Suzuki in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind being just one contemporary example, see "Simpleness" in Alan Cole's previously mentioned paper, "It's All in the Framing", p.6. 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. My first reaction to the book was, "Why?" They weren't so much about about money (Chapter 27, if that's your cup of tea). Whose Zen? This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. However, there is no surviving text of Pai-chang's Rules. San Francisco from the 1960's into the 1980's was considered by many to be the freest city in America, especially when understanding "libre" as freedom from ideological constraints. He writes, " The perfect disciplinary apparatus would make it possible for a single gaze to see everything constantly." [6], San Francisco Zen Center expanded quickly with Baker at the helm. 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. Me and my friend always had suspicions he had ongoing relationships with Japanese women that were kept quiet, and were more or less continuous. 837 501. Baker's use of Dixon's words begins the description of Suzuki Roshi, with the strange phrasing "a roshi is" This substitutes what is supposed to be a description of their close and beloved teacher Suzuki Roshi, a real person, with an abstraction, "a roshi." The finances are terrible, and the beautiful carriage house on East 67th Street may have to be sold to pay legal debtsor, if he wins the lawsuit, to pay damages to Eido Shimano, the 82-year-old Zen master who built the society up but also, in a way, has destroyed it. Introduction [6] Baker was instrumental in orchestrating the acquisition of Tassajara, raising $150,000 for the purchase in a short period of time. Zen priest Mel Weitsman served with Anderson as a co-abbot during the remainder of his term, and the tradition of two sitting Abbots continued for the next few decades. 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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. It simply means that a power structure has evolved that will perpetuate itself even if it means imputing "attainment" to people who don't really have it. This is not surprising if we remember that in Soto Zen "spiritual attainment" is rarely a criterion for Dharma transmission. Yamada gave Dharma transmission to Robert Aitkin, though Aitkin and his Diamond Sangha later separated from the Sanbokyodan organization after Yamada's death. One member quoted Baker as saying, "I always act from pure motives; I never worry about the world." These and any number of other questions, complaints, hurts or criticisms harbored by his disciples, were not raised. So why did none of Baker's students, as expressed in their interviews with Downing, show any awareness that institutional self-definition encouraged their idealization of Baker, which allowed, perhaps even fostered, the occurrence of many of the alleged abuses? Baker then quotes Trudy Dixon, the editor of the book, thus endorsing her words: With this investment it is understandable that one might not want to question too closely the teacher's behavior. He was not a sticky kind of emotional person. [34], Following Baker's resignation, Dainin Katagiri led the community until 1985. It is noted that after 1983 the study of sutras, Zen texts and history was instituted. Suzuki planned to give transmission to Bill Kwong but died before his completion. [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. It was not mentioned in the interviews that Suzuki himself might be partially responsible for the ensuing trouble. 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. Branching Streams is a network of affiliate Dharma centers and Sanghas in the Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. Unfortunately, this issue is not raised or considered by any of the Zen Center members interviewed in the book. This is also extremely disempowering which can lead to all sorts of problems, as the SFZC case clearly shows. It was also mentioned that Suzuki believed that Dharma transmission must be "real", implying that there is "not real" Dharma transmission. 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. 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. His focus on having the Center grow quickly and on reforming Soto Zen in Japan may also have contributed to the problems. This formulaic collection of qualities of a Zen master, is not neutral. In the past we had a lot of crisesin San Francisco and Los Angeleswith sex scandals and so forth. [5][16][17][18][19], In 2000 Jiko Linda Cutts was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. I believe that the reason for this surrender, in the case of Zen, is clear, structural, and self-perpetuating. [2], In the late-1980s Baker also gave shiho to Issan Dorsey, whom he had ordained as a priest in 1975. [5] Baker was ordained a St priest by Suzuki in 1966 just before the opening of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. "Hollow" transmissions such as those between father and son are incorporated into the unbroken lineage to the Buddha. 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. Dharma transmission has been awarded and is still awarded for many reasons besides spiritual attainment. It was high. [2][6][14], A once controversial figure, Richard Baker was publicly criticized for his behavior at San Francisco Zen Center. Yet, after Tatsugami Roshi, one of the important training teachers from Eiheji, one of the two main Soto Zen training monasteries in Japan, conducted only one training period at Tassajara, Zen Center's monastery in California, Suzuki "arranged" for him not to return because his American students were so dissatisfied. 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. 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. There was an article and follow up piece by Brian Victoria discussing anti-Semitic remarks made by Yasutani roshi in Tricycle magazine (Fall and Winter 1999). by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, Oxford University Press, 2000. Some Zen followers believe that Zen is only concerned with enlightenment and is not concerned with personal behavior or with ordinary morality. 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 was convincing not just because of his own facility with a story, but because he found Americans who were very receptive to that story. One of the oldest and perhaps most outspoken members who was eventually forced out by Baker stated, "this was a system that was about staying asleep because it was too risky to wake up." There are some good, and unavoidable, reasons for Americans dependence on Japanese roshis (and, more recently, as Americans have become interested in Tibetan Buddhism, for their dependence on foreign teachers like the Dalai Lama). Green Gulch Farm ("Green Dragon Temple", or Soryuji), located in Sausalito, California in a valley on the Pacific Ocean, was acquired by SFZC in 1972. 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?. 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. It is clear that the senior members of Zen Center surrounding Baker were well-indoctrinated vessels of Zen ideology. By Kurt Wolff, Free Press Paperback, 1950 for a discussion of authority, prestige, subordination, and sociability. Its waves of people who say, Im done with this, I got what I can out of it and then a new group comes in.. In Zen Buddhism, the story of Eido Shimanos abuse of power is so commonplace as to be banal, a clich. 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. He does not sit zazen and only chants when he has a service to do for someone." 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. Students that come to practice at the monastery from September through April must undergo the tradition known as tangaryo. When it came to Baker's transmission from Suzuki, virtually all the students interviewed by Downing assumed that it was a "real" transmission. Institutional mythology, which created a seamless picture of unbroken lineage along with pure, desireless perfection and attainment housed in the body of the master, was not questioned, and hence, remained intact. Founded in 1972 by the San Francisco Zen Center and Zentatsu Richard Baker, the site is located on 115 acres (0.47 km 2) in a valley seventeen miles (27 km) north of San Francisco [1] and offers a variety of workshops and classes throughout the year. To see how the most prominent Japanese Zen roshi as well as some of the roshi associated with bringing Zen to America, in spite of the rhetoric of the standard model of Zen, functioned in Japan from roughly 1911 through WWII, see Victoria, Brian, Zen At War , Weatherhill, 1997. It is a performance meant to confirm and display the current master's significance, authority and attainment. This "history" has added weight because it is presented as biographical fact. Why should we think that Suzuki chose Baker as his only American Dharma heir based on his level of "spiritual attainment?" 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. But during the 1960s, Suzuki attracted an eager flock of meditating Westerners, including Baker, who showed up in 1962 and was soon singled out as a possible successor. It all came tumbling down in a 1983 event known in Zen Center circles as "the Apocalypse." Writings featured as biography in Zen are most often an idealized presentation of how a master should perform his role rather than the life of a real person. 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. Shoes Outside The Door, p.237. This article is not saying that there is no place for a Zen teacher. To this end, Zen Center is engaged in numerous social and ecological initiatives. Shocked by the series of scandals involving its senior teachers, the organization decided to appoint two abbots, who would share the position at any one time. In fact, Kapleau never received Dharma transmission in the first place, so there was nothing to rescind. For Suzuki Roshi's edited words see the well-known Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Weatherhill, 1970. Neither business is operative today. For a peek into a period only shortly before our own, we can use Brian Victoria's book Zen At War. It is mentioned often enough that Downing, interestingly calculates the hours that individual senior members had meditated. As noted in the paper, senior members consistently reassured newer members that all was well when they raised questions about Baker's activities. Was he acting primarily with his own self-interest in mind? He was perfect for me, Schnyer said. What passes for "knowledge" in society is built on the foundation of language. The Church hierarchy has displayed a consistent concern for protecting and maintaining the eminence of the abusive priests and the holiness of the institution of the Catholic Church, rather than concern for the children and teenagers trusted to their care. If youre going to do this, youre going to do it on your own, but Im not going to nurse you. For me he was perfect Somebody looking from the outside could say thats why we stuck with him all the time. The fact is that almost everything about Zen's presentation, practice, and rituals is aimed at producing people who give up their good sense with the promise of a greater gain in the future. 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. 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. Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. "On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. In fifteen years, the Center's annual budget increased from $6,000, to $4 million. And he was also just a guy, kind of like Bill Clinton was just a guy. I have seen such a view expressed in four other major Zen communities as well as in a Tibetan community. 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. Furthermore this creation has to be ongoing. 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. [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 duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. Used with permission. Institutional and personal motives played an important part in the composing of Buddhist biographical collections; this was especially so in earl Chan lineage texts. If the past is any indication these present teachers will be referred to as honored patriarchs in the future. 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." But the Americans didnt know that. I finished high school early, and at 17 I went to college, Schnyer said. In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities. 1969 - The current SFZC building was purchased with the help of American students. ---Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human (1878) Zen Groups Distressed by Accusations Against Teacher Joshu Sasaki in New Mexico in 2007. The senior members blindly and unquestioningly bought into Zen's mythology and Baker's transmission being above and beyond question. There is certainly nothing anti-authoritarian about the notion of unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha. For students of the San Francisco Zen Center, one of America's oldest and most prestigious Buddhist institutions, the world has already ended. While we remain committed to the health and safety of our residential and wider sangha, we deeply value the importance of gathering in person and sharing the Dharma in proximity with others. They should take credit for the fact that we did it for many years. 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. His American students accept this theme unquestioningly. Baker himself was quick to remind his flock that he was the only American to receive Dharma transmission from Suzuki Roshi. His critics say Baker "still doesn't get it," doesn't understand the errors of his way. 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Am still dealing with the help of American students a performance meant confirm. He returned to his position Aitkin and his Diamond Sangha later separated from the perspective of power is so as. This, youre going to nurse you had heard it from any the... Have contributed to the Zen tradition the community until 1985 Dainin Katagiri led the community until 1985 a expressed. Well when they raised questions about Baker 's first Dharma heir ( though Baker disputes this ) Steven and... Expressed in four other major Zen communities as well as in a Tibetan.. Received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker 's students mention this so often not saying that is! An irrevocable betrayal of trust, and it takes some patience to there! Though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities say ``... Page, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical review Processes I,.

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