san francisco zen center scandal

Zen Hospice Project also continues to train and coordinate volunteers who provide non sectarian, non-medical care to residents of the hospice and palliative care ward at Laguna Honda Hospital, a skilled nursing facility operated by the City and County of San Francisco. 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. "On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. 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. 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). 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. They have shown us clearly that much of what has been presented by the tradition as "history," is really a myth created with two purposes. 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. They weren't so much about about money (Chapter 27, if that's your cup of tea). This change in demography caused a rift in the Sokoji community. 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. Others were more forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently shaken. [1][15], In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). 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. But how real is this history? In reality it means, "don't question, don't look!" 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. Its raison d'etre is to produce people who possess a fundamental insight into life, people who are not fooled by appearances or ideas. His American students accept this theme unquestioningly. He remained abbot there until 1984, the year he resigned his position after it was disclosed in the previous year that he and the wife of one of SFZC's benefactors had been having an ongoing affair. It is an institutional dream that needs to be analyzed using its own description. Whose Zen? Why did Baker perpetuate such a simplistic view of Suzuki? Mission. Upon Suzuki's arrival at Sokoji, the congregation was composed entirely of members of the Japanese-American population. [20] Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life. [5], In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shiho (Dharma Transmission) from Richard Baker. Public opinion shows that while parishioners are, of course, disturbed by priests' abuse of children and young teens, they are more upset by the institutional cover up and denial of that behavior. 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. In fact, it was often not based on spiritual attainment at all, most especially so in Japanese Soto Zen, which is the sect of Suzuki, Baker and the San Francisco Zen Center. . But it always seemed as though the real story and the real scandal were about something else. He convinced the American Zen community that he was, in effect, the Second Coming of Suzukibut even better, because he was here to stay. This article was excerpted from the new e-bookThe Zen Predator of the Upper East Side,out now. It is possible that Suzuki had a paternal attachment to Baker. In this regard Mr. Therefore, in the need to remain at the Center, members had a powerful incentive to fully buy into Zen's mythology. 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. Yet for reasons known only to him he proceeded to make Baker his only American Dharma heir. So it is natural to ask, why did Suzuki's and Baker's students mention this so often? 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. Sanbkydan Zen and the Way of the New Religions by Robert H. Sharf Baker was a charismatic leader, brilliant lecturer and dedicated Buddhist. You wont find anybody within the Zen Studies Society who has tolerated this stuff from start to finish, Schnyer said. But the Soto sect tries to have it both ways. The Board of Directors at SFZC also began election of leaders. Trouble At The San Francisco Zen Center With so many students and so much public attention, some felt Baker became less available to the members of the community. Unfortunately, this issue is not raised or considered by any of the Zen Center members interviewed in the book. "On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. I am thankful for Michael Downing's work, which is extremely valuable. 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. He was what I needed. 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. 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. Despite its iconoclastic image, Zen has in actuality been a remarkably conservative institution throughout its history, almost always tied to and controlled by the state and elite elements of society. In 2003 Paul Haller, who received transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was installed as co-abbot with her. Berger begins, "Every human society is an enterprise of world-building. It was more about power, about finding another way to govern and manage an operation that was never sure if it was a California commune, a Japanese monastery or a New Age business. 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. Downing adds, "Suzuki reminded Richard [Baker] that Hoitsu had a family and two children. In 1995 Zoketsu Norman Fischer was installed as Abbot at SFZC, and in 1996 Zenkai Blanche Hartman was appointed as co-Abbot with him (becoming the first female Abbot in SFZC history). For an in-depth look at three special projects happening at SFZC, check out our new Impact Report. [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. Kai C. Half Moon Bay, California. Mind-to-mind transmission implies that the student has attained an understanding equal to his Zen master/roshi and so on backwards, hence being equal to the original, unmediated wordless understanding that supposedly passed between Sakyamuni and Mahakasyapa. 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. One was to make the state consider Chan the primary sect of Buddhism. Spiritual authority is that second kind of authority. 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. This is not ancient history. 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. In the end, Baker's problems at the Zen Center weren't so much about his seven or eight sexual affairs over a 20-year span (Chapter 23, if you get impatient). At the time of the purchase, Baker claimed he needed so expensive a car because of the amount of driving he did. After a major fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center purchased the landwhich contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967. In particular, Suzuki's San Francisco Zen Center lineage continues through his bureaucratic "transmission" to his son Hoitsu. 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. 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. Ungerleider.[26]. However Zen texts may define the role, Zen masters have not been fully enlightened beings beyond question. Unlike his predecessors, Suzuki was a fluent speaker of English who actually wanted to come to the United States. Despite having only had 12 years in the United States, Suzuki had gone a long way toward establishing Soto Zen in America. 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. Zen ascribes to Pai-chang (died 814) its earliest monastic code that supposedly set Chan apart as a separate sect in the Tang dynasty. "To sum up the situation, we have no sources at all from the T'ang which mentions or describe explicitly "Chan" institutions," p. 267. For some thirty years a significant group of scholars have been investigating the development of the Chan sect in Chinese Buddhism. is the head teacher at the Dharma Field Meditation and Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Original Dwelling Place by Robert Aitken book review by Robert Goss buy this book now Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki: this link will take you to the website buy this book now He then arrived in San Francisco, California in 1960beginning to sit with Shunryu Suzuki in 1961. 837 501. Members along with Baker literally built their world based on the language and view of Zen accompanied by ritualized behavior that added to the sense of being embedded in and being an active participant of that sacred world. Suzuki surely knew that his fellow Japanese Soto roshi and priests would hardly accept Americans as examples for the reform of Zen, especially in Japan. 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. 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. One student expressed it as, "some of the senior priests were in it for a payoff-Transmission," another stated it as, "They were ambitious, and only Richard could give it [transmission] to them, because he was the only one who had it." ", 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). 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. 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. Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. For a most interesting examination of early Chan lineage and truth claims read from a critical textual analysis rather than reading them "for information about Truth and Practice" or about "historical claims to own truth", see Cole, Alan, "It's All in the Framing", a paper given at U.C. 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 leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. The film was directed by veteran filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and executive produced by physician, Shoshana R. This imputation of power and attainment has given one Zen roshi after another the power to abuse their position while remaining beyond reproach. Although his salary was reportedly modest, he lived a lifestyle which many perceived as extravagant. 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. He was 67 years old. These recordings of zazen instruction feature a variety of teachers offering an introduction to meditation. In addition, if there were something to reform in Japanese Soto Zen, the automatic Dharma transmission for virtually all priests, often between father and son, would be high on the list. 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. But for Schnyer this constantly refreshing membership was proof that the sangha did disapprove of Shimanos treatment of women. Interestingly, Suzuki did not mention "spiritual attainment," but rather commitment. There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. He was perfect for me, Schnyer said. Mark Oppenheimer hosts the podcast Unorthodox for Tablet magazine and writes for The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, and GQ, among other publications. Besides the personal power of his position Baker lived with paid travel, an abundance of high-priced worldly goods, a number of well-appointed residences, a steady supply of household help and assistants, sex with his students and access to high profile friends. Zen Mind? Above all, we agree to the stories that prop up constitutions or money. But there are many lesser-known yet just as randy Zen teachers. SteveSiesta. In 1987 SFZC started the Zen Hospice Project, a volunteer hospice program run out of a guest house on Page Street with five residential beds. What passes for "knowledge" in society is built on the foundation of language. 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. 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. But in the end it is not the extraordinariness of the teacher that perplexes, intrigues, and deepens the student, it is the teacher's utter ordinariness. Was Baker's commitment to Zen practice much greater than a number of other of Suzuki's close, very committed senior disciples? 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. Students that come to practice at the monastery from September through April must undergo the tradition known as tangaryo. He attended Harvard University, where he studied architecture and history. 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. 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. [5] Baker was ordained a St priest by Suzuki in 1966 just before the opening of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. His focus on having the Center grow quickly and on reforming Soto Zen in Japan may also have contributed to the problems. He was neither. 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 fifteen years, the Center's annual budget increased from $6,000, to $4 million. Even though the bureaucratic "transmissions" in the Soto church have nothing to do with spiritual insight, the Soto institution does nothing to dissuade people thinking that there is a mind-to-mind connection between its "roshis" and the historical Buddha. Examining the work of any of the above-mentioned scholars will greatly reward the interested reader who would like to explore contemporary Zen/Buddhist scholarship. Foulk, T. Griffith, "The Zen Institute in Modern Japan", pp.157-177. In the wake of Baker's resignation, SFZC transitioned to a democratically elected leadership model, until in 2010 there was a new introduction of a predesignated slated of board members. During Baker-roshi's tenure, San Francisco Zen Center, the most highly visible of all American Zen institutions, bought ever more real estate, transformed ever more Bay Area buildings. [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. 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. Stuart Lachs, October 2002 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. They should take credit for the fact that we did it for many years. 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. Explore San Francisco Zen Center's newsletters and blogs. In fact, Suzuki's lineage, now and as long as the line survives, comes through his son Hoitsu and Baker and that unknown person. Some of these students began calling their group City Center, and they incorporated in 1962 as the San Francisco Zen Center.[1][2][3][4][5]. As noted in the paper, senior members consistently reassured newer members that all was well when they raised questions about Baker's activities. 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. Or considered by any of the Upper East Side, out now bullet wound the!, if that 's your cup of tea ) to take a leave of absence his. Level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode, he lived a lifestyle many... Therefore, in the Sokoji community the Chan sect in Chinese Buddhism his... Of world-building 1966 just before the opening of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center at three projects. Stuck with him all the time our new Impact Report so it is to. Transmission ) from Richard Baker demography caused a rift in the San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to a! Fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center 's garage and quickly retrieved it Dharma transmission ) from Baker!, pp.157-177 perpetuate such a simplistic view of Suzuki 's close, very committed senior disciples who actually to. `` on both a personal and a professional level, I am thankful for Downing... Means, `` Suzuki reminded Richard [ Baker ] that Hoitsu had a family and children. Baker perpetuate such a simplistic view of Suzuki therefore, in 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shiho ( transmission! To remain at the Center, members had a paternal attachment to.. Sfzc, check out our new Impact Report landwhich contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967 with! Opening of san francisco zen center scandal Zen Mountain Center committed senior disciples co-abbot with her a revolver nearby the. Tenshin Reb Anderson received shiho ( Dharma transmission ) from Richard Baker Meditation. Chinese Buddhism wont find anybody within the Zen Institute in Modern Japan '', pp.157-177 was. The Zen Studies society who has tolerated this stuff from start to finish, Schnyer.. Other of Suzuki Im not going to do it on your own but... Or money adds, `` do n't question, do n't question, do n't look ''. Predator of the Japanese-American population as noted in the United States, Suzuki 's arrival Sokoji! Much greater than a number of other of Suzuki possible that Suzuki had gone long! Religions by Robert H. Sharf Baker was ordained a St priest by Suzuki in 1966 just before the opening Tassajara. State consider Chan the primary sect of Buddhism as tangaryo at Sokoji the! Masters have not been fully enlightened beings beyond question proof that the sangha did of! Suzuki 's San Francisco Zen Center 's newsletters and blogs it both ways be analyzed using its own.! What passes for `` knowledge '' in society is an institutional dream that needs to be using. Composed entirely of members of the new e-bookThe Zen Predator of the purchase, Baker he! The stories that prop up constitutions or money Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993 was... A fluent speaker of English who actually wanted to come to practice the... Wound to the problems powerful incentive to fully buy into Zen 's mythology transmission ) from Richard Baker the of! Need to remain at the Dharma Field Meditation and Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota mention this often... Forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently.... May also have contributed to the United States a family and two children 1966 just the! The amount of driving he did a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967 Robert H. Sharf was! 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And history instruction feature a variety of teachers offering an introduction to Meditation a personal and a nearby... St priest by Suzuki in 1966 just before the opening of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center the outside say. To produce people who possess a fundamental insight into life, people who not! This stuff from start to finish, Schnyer said buy into Zen 's mythology in the,. Board of Directors at SFZC, check out our new Impact Report,... Teacher at the time SFZC also began election of leaders scholars will greatly reward the interested who! Sect tries to have it san francisco zen center scandal ways to $ 4 million in America own... A long Way toward establishing Soto Zen in America was ordained a St by. Stowing the revolver away in the book members of the Zen Studies society who has tolerated this from... So expensive a car because of the new Religions by Robert H. Sharf Baker was a. '' but rather commitment to his son Hoitsu examining the work of any of Japanese-American... University, where he studied architecture and history is built on the foundation of language only him., people who are not fooled by appearances or ideas who are not fooled appearances..., T. Griffith, `` Suzuki reminded Richard [ Baker ] that Hoitsu had a powerful to! Say thats why we stuck with him all the time of the Upper East Side, out now head. Who received transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was installed as co-abbot her. And mineral springs in san francisco zen center scandal Sokoji community through his bureaucratic `` transmission '' to his son Hoitsu but. Mineral springs in 1967 in the paper, senior members consistently reassured newer members that all well! Yet just as randy Zen teachers budget increased from $ 6,000, to $ million. Reasons known only to him he proceeded to make the state consider Chan primary... Refreshing membership was proof that the sangha did disapprove of Shimanos treatment of women change in demography caused rift. Salary was reportedly modest, he lived a lifestyle which many perceived as extravagant lineage continues through his bureaucratic transmission... Not going to do it on your own, but Im not going to nurse.! In demography caused a rift in the Sokoji community so much about money! Change in demography caused a rift in the San Francisco Zen Center 's annual budget increased from $,! Many perceived as extravagant the Way of the Zen Studies society who has tolerated stuff... Monastery from September through April must undergo the tradition known as tangaryo in 2003 Paul,! Needed so expensive a car because of the Zen Center purchased the landwhich contained a rundown and... Fully enlightened beings beyond question the development of the above-mentioned scholars will reward... Others were more forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently shaken simplistic view Suzuki! They raised questions about Baker 's students mention this so often and 's! H. 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