City Center A vibrant community in an urban temple in the heart of San Francisco. Was he perhaps not a fully realized person? To legitimize the various family lines within Zen, Zen's self-definition necessitates establishing a continuing unbroken lineage of transmitted masters connected to the historical Buddha. He was joined by his wife Mitsu (also from Japan) in 1961. 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. Baker then quotes Trudy Dixon, the editor of the book, thus endorsing her words: Guests stay at the Lindisfarne Guest House, a traditional Japanese building with a wood-burning stove as the heating source. Is it any wonder that the inevitable abuses that we have seen for the last thirty years should follow? Having wisdom, in the Zen view, is based on Dharma transmission, which implies that the person is an enlightened being. Suzuki or any other Zen master only looks this way if we avoid looking at their real life. Anderson became entangled in an incident in 1987 that reached back to 1983 just after Zentatsu Richard Baker had resigned as abbot. It means, "Don't ask. 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. critical insights into Zen/Buddhism have strongly influenced my views: Robert Buswell, Alan Cole, Bernard Faure, T. Griffith Foulk, Robert M. Gimello, Peter N. Gregory, John Kieschnick, John R. McRae, A. Charles Muller, Mario Poceski, Robert H. Sharf, Morten Schlutter, Gregory Schopen, Brian Victoria, Albert Welter and Dale Wright. San Francisco is not mentioned in Newsom's plans, but Supervisor Dean Preston has proposed a similar action. Asia is filled with monks and priests who know how to sit, chant, eat, bow, walk, dress, and live as a Buddhist. This is a mythology of Zen, a pure fiction. 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. 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. 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. 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. Some Zen followers believe that Zen is only concerned with enlightenment and is not concerned with personal behavior or with ordinary morality. In time Suzuki, Baker, Hoitsu, and Unknown will blend into that "history" of immaculate patriarchs. For example, Afable might have added that at Chobo-ji, a Zen temple in Seattle, Genki Takabayashi made passes at his female students. One of the greatest reasons that Shimano could sleep with so many women is that it bothered the men so little. [10] The Residence combined residential rooms that could house 70 women on the upper floors, with public spaces for spiritual, recreational, and educational uses on the ground floor and basement. "To sum up the situation, we have no sources at all from the T'ang which mentions or describe explicitly "Chan" institutions," p. 267. Nevertheless, following extensive investigation, even Chadwick was forced to admit: "Anything Shunryu had done that could be considered remotely antiwar he had done before the Pacific war started" (p. 97). It also spun off its business and stopped pretending that work without compensation was "spiritual practice.". San Francisco Zen Center practitioners did make a serious commitment to their practice. 3-101 applies the social construction of reality theory to religion. 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. Zen's highly ritualized activities added a visceral instantiation to the cognitive edifice. And three of the four, Afable noted when we spoke, have caused major public sex scandals: first Maezumi, and more recently Shimano and Sasaki. Soon these Westerners participated in regular services, and new non-Asian students came to outnumber the Japanese-American congregation. is the head teacher at the Dharma Field Meditation and Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is no longer ruled by an almighty abbott-for- life, but abbotts with term limits. I dont know, he said. Baker himself was quick to remind his flock that he was the only American to receive Dharma transmission from Suzuki Roshi. Elizabeth is married to Jason Kibbey. In reality it means, "don't question, don't look!" His whole being testifies to what it means to live in the reality of the present. Sokojifounded by Hosen Isobe in 1934had been housed in a former Jewish synagogue that is now Kokoro Assisted Living. There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. (I don't mean to say that Kapleau is any more or less qualified to teach for receiving transmission or not, and in fact he is one of the few major teachers not involved with sexual or other scandal though one of his disciples did have a major scandal.) Practitioners are given the ultimate encouragement of knowing that real people "attained enlightenment" and therefore so can we. Katagiri would go on to establish his own practice centerthe Minnesota Zen Centerin 1972 in Minneapolis. 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. This is not surprising if we remember that in Soto Zen "spiritual attainment" is rarely a criterion for Dharma transmission. In 1971, he became resident priest at Haiku Zen Center, a practice center in Los Altos where Suzuki-roshi had been giving lectures, and soon after the sangha there grew and changed its name to Bodhi. This is also extremely disempowering which can lead to all sorts of problems, as the SFZC case clearly shows. Trouble At the San Francisco Zen Center Downing adds, "Suzuki reminded Richard [Baker] that Hoitsu had a family and two children. [34], Following Baker's resignation, Dainin Katagiri led the community until 1985. 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. One of Shimanos greatest advantages has been that he is Japanese. Suzuki Roshi 1962 - SFZC is founded by Shunryu Suzuki and his Western students. 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. This is not ancient history. In 1966, Suzuki and Baker scouted Tassajara Hot Springs, located in Los Padres National Forest behind Big Sur, as a possible location for the envisioned monastic center. There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. See Alan Cole, "It's All in the Framing." 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. While jogging through Golden Gate Park, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some bushes. The Zen Studies Society was marked by frequent turnover. Another error is seen in the statement that Yasutani roshi rescinded the Dharma transmission he gave to Philip Kapleau. Baker also claimed that he was trying "to protect Suzuki Roshi's legacy and lineage." The teacher knew all; the American knew nothing. He writes a religion column forThe New York Timesand is on Twitter@markopp1. This is a very interesting piece of "history" which is no doubt destined to be repeated. It is clear that the senior members of Zen Center surrounding Baker were well-indoctrinated vessels of Zen ideology. 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. A theme repeated in Downing's interviews is Suzuki's seemingly quirky idea of reforming Soto Zen in Japan by having his American students go there as living examples of reform. Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. These revelations led to community-wide pandemonium, and in 1984 Baker was forced to resign as abbot. Institutional and personal motives played an important part in the composing of Buddhist biographical collections; this was especially so in earl Chan lineage texts. For a peek into a period only shortly before our own, we can use Brian Victoria's book Zen At War. No matter how or where we engage with each other, may the Dharma encourage, inspire, and support us to meet this moment with wisdom and equanimity. They believed their way of living and of practicing Zen was the best alternative available in America. 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. However Zen texts may define the role, Zen masters have not been fully enlightened beings beyond question. 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. 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. If you counted the blow-ups, youd say just a few [women,] but we think he ran his life like a Japanese businessmanlots of affairs, but most of them discreet. He attended Harvard University, where he studied architecture and history. Ironically, what follows is in many ways a religious text. Hence, questioning and dissent became a shortcoming of the person expressing such a view. Political authority can function in this second way. It all came tumbling down in a 1983 event known in Zen Center circles as "the Apocalypse." I hope this is the case with this paper. And that very presentation is the freight of the Zen machine. "On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. At that time, Baker also became the official leader of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC). 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. Zen Center Members 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. You have to ask whether Suzuki was aware of the claims made by Baker and, if so, why he permitted them to stand without correction. Trust me." Yet we all know that no human is like this. The first is grounded in something tangible, concrete, observable: the soldier with his gun, or the scientist with her laboratory results. Without anything said or done, just the impact of meeting a personality so developed can be enough to change another's whole way of life. 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. 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. For some thirty years a significant group of scholars have been investigating the development of the Chan sect in Chinese Buddhism. 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. 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This happened almost 20 years ago and has been written about over the years by numerous insiders, outsiders and apologists of varying kinds. There is a wealth of contemporary exciting Zen scholarship available in English. [32], These revelations led Baker to resign as abbot in 1984. "Hollow" transmissions such as those between father and son are incorporated into the unbroken lineage to the Buddha. [2] However, San Francisco Zen Center's website 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. In the end, both teacher and student fall prey to these fantasies. Neither business is operative today. Or was it that Baker, in addition to his commitment to Zen, was more committed to institutional growth than the others, and importantly, was the only disciple who possessed the necessary skills and qualities to achieve the growth; the growth that Suzuki desired? Great Experience with Western Zen Practice. 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. ", Lachs, Stuart: [20] Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life. I think that really helped to put everybody on their best behavior. The Zen Institution Thanks to Mr. Oppenheimer's efforts, women have come forward, some even using their names; we think this kind of courage can only embolden other survivors of abuse to speak out. And then I went back and basically never left. And perhaps most importantly, his authority will be understood with a taken-for-granted quality of being natural. Explore hundreds of dharma talksby San Francisco Zen Center teachers, practice leaders, and speakers from the wider community. This recommended class series offers listeners an overview of the fundamentals of Buddhism and Zen. You can see how much more potent it is to have a teacher presented as a living Buddha or at least Buddha-like, who, instead of simply interpreting and explaining the words of the Buddha, actually speaks with the same voice as the Buddha. However, crediting a teacher, by definition of their role or title, with exalted qualities he does not really possess, is begging for trouble. For an analysis of the inherent power relations in the one-dimensional description of a roshi and how it is taken for being natural, see "Symbolic Violence and Social Reproduction" and "Uses of Language" in, Jenkins, Richard, Pierre Bourdieu, Routledge, 1992, pp.103-110 and pp.152-162 respectively. In 1989, some six years after Baker was forced to leave, he threatened to take back Zen Center by going to court. 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. 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. Before long, Sokoji had non-Japanese Americans mostly beatniks coming to the temple to sit zazen with him in the morning. San Francisco Zen Center 300 Page Street San Francisco, California 94102 www.sfzc.org. After all, the only two previous Dharma transmissions Suzuki gave, to his son Hoitsu and to Unknown, were not based on attainment at all. Zen Center members accepted and internalized most all of Zen's self definitions, history and social forms. I took a course at Rochester, an overview of Eastern religion and Confucianism. All the pieces don't start coming together until about halfway through the book, and it takes some patience to get there. Zen Center businesses embodied other Bay Area delights. Why did Baker perpetuate such a simplistic view of Suzuki? He was married three times. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews. Richard Baker was 36 years old when he was installed as abbott of the San Francisco Zen Center in 1971. In Downing's book we see that much illusion, suffering and pain has been part of Zen in San Francisco, a situation that, unfortunately, has been repeated in most every other part of America over a thirty-five year period. 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