If you're looking for some information that's important to you (such as research for work or learning how to manage your money), then the advice here is to first write down the relevant keywords on a piece of paper to figure out exactly what you want, which will be a lot more efficient. [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. The social contract and national constitutions count because we believe them to count, because we will them into reality. I don't know for certain but Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind was published in 1970, only one year before Baker himself received Dharma transmission and the title, Zen master. 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. San Francisco Zen Center's purpose is to make the teachings and practice of Soto Zen Buddhism widely available, to train teachers, and to help cultivate mindfulness and compassion in the world. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. There's too much court intrigue and "monastic" gossip, and not enough effort to put the Zen Center and its scandal in the larger story of American Buddhism and the spiritual supermarket's never-ending list of gurus-gone-bad. Baker then quotes Trudy Dixon, the editor of the book, thus endorsing her words: 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. 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. This necessitates the production of virtual quotas of such highly exalted people, while in the realm of "spiritual attainment" it is rare to produce just one such person. University of Michigan, 1987. For some thirty years a significant group of scholars have been investigating the development of the Chan sect in Chinese Buddhism. Perhaps tellingly, Baker made this claim at the height of the Vietnam War, when virtually 100% of Zen followers were opposed to the war and hence having an anti-war/anti -government roshi in his lineage was good currency. After a major fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center purchased the landwhich contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967. This story appears to be an example of modern day creation of hagiography that will be repeated in the future. One of Shimanos greatest advantages has been that he is Japanese. 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. The senior members blindly and unquestioningly bought into Zen's mythology and Baker's transmission being above and beyond question. In reality it means, "don't question, don't look!" San Francisco is not mentioned in Newsom's plans, but Supervisor Dean Preston has proposed a similar action. One member suggested that the Shimanos instead be given an extended sabbatical. 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." Yet for reasons known only to him he proceeded to make Baker his only American Dharma heir. It has three practice places which offer daily meditation, regular monastic retreats and practice periods, classes, lectures and workshops throughout the Bay Area. 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. The bakery supplied Greens Restaurant and some local grocers.[16]. This was especially true of people wanting to climb Zen Center's ladder to positions of authority, power, and prestige, which was totally dependent on Baker's sanction. This is very similar to the Japanese Soto Zen, with minor variances for social and cultural differences. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. 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. I remember many heated arguments, he told me, and no doubt one of my many arguments was: this is personal behavior, not illegal behavior., Denis Kelly, a former Dai Bosatsu vice abbot, and himself no model of sexual continencehe too has had affairs, he told me, including one that almost broke up his current sanghashared Schnyers understanding of the proper hierarchical relationship between the Zen master and his female students. The center received significant media coverage concerning the 1984 resignation of then abbot Zentatsu Richard Baker, who was ousted after it was alleged that he had been having an affair with the wife of a prominent Zen Center member. Please keep it in mind. Berger begins, "Every human society is an enterprise of world-building. Kobun was resident teacher at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center until 1970. The historical fact is that monasteries actively courted the state and elite elements of society, depended on donations from wealthy patrons and or the state, had tenant farmers work their often vast donated and inherited land holdings, etc. 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. He attended Harvard University, where he studied architecture and history. There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. [3] Because his family moved around frequently, he lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Pittsburgh growing up. When Katagiri left, Tenshin Reb Anderson assumed Abbotship of the Zen Centerserving until 1995. In addition, as there are other practitioners around the teacher, it is helpful to be part of a community of fellow practitioners. Finally, as Suzuki apologized to Baker for what he was going to do to him, i.e., give him and only him Dharma transmission, Suzuki knew that all was not right or ripe or both with Baker. 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). Sokojifounded by Hosen Isobe in 1934had been housed in a former Jewish synagogue that is now Kokoro Assisted Living. One of the earliest texts extant is "Regulations of the Chan Approach" (Ch'an men Kuei-shih, which cannot be dated earlier than 988) that some scholars think was the preface to Pai-chang's Rules. defending Deshimaru's teacher Sawaki roshi's wartime involvement dating from 1905 through WWII is available on the internet at, http://www.zen-azi.org/html/guerre_e.html#replybyb. This formulaic collection of qualities of a Zen master, is not neutral. This is not surprising if we remember that in Soto Zen "spiritual attainment" is rarely a criterion for Dharma transmission. It is fashionable among practitioners in the West to consider critical thought as "un-Zen." Richard Baker was 36 years old when he was installed as abbott of the San Francisco Zen Center in 1971. 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. Unfortunately, this issue is not raised or considered by any of the Zen Center members interviewed in the book. Months later Suzukiwith the help of his American studentspurchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street. It means, "Don't ask. I feel sorry for anybody who's bitter. At first, I had trouble with Downing's refusal to bend to the dictates of chronology and a quirky writing style that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. This ancient twisted karma I now fully avow. Was Baker's commitment to Zen practice much greater than a number of other of Suzuki's close, very committed senior disciples? Richard Dudley Baker (born March 30, 1936) is an American Soto Zen master (or roshi), the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sanghawhich consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum[1] (Johanneshof) in Germany's Black Forest. 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. One has to ask if something is not missing in Suzuki's simple prescription to "just sit?" Learn about the latest news from affiliate sanghas with Tova's newsettes and other timely articles. 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. In fact, David Chadwick, a student of both Suzuki and Baker, lent some credence to this assertion in his 1999 book about Suzuki, Crooked Cucumber. [5][16][17][18][19], In 2000 Jiko Linda Cutts was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. 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"). Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews. Before long, Sokoji had non-Japanese Americans mostly beatniks coming to the temple to sit zazen with him in the morning. Our personal experience is socially constructed in dialogue with society and with ourselves. 22, no.3-4. He is now a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, and in December 2012 I spoke with him by telephone. SteveSiesta. Not only is the book a compelling read; it also, more importantly perhaps, provides raw data for observing Zen mythmaking in action. Also see the public letter from Mr. Kapleau toYamada, dated 2/17/86. The Examiner reports that Preston has wants to use the mostly vacant 555 Fulton as . Below is the information about san francisco zen center scandal . Also see his Zen War Stories to be published December 2002. They should take credit for the fact that we did it for many years. 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. Zen Center survived, reorganizing in a manner that made it more democratic, but also more bureaucratic. We may however, ask, "What commitment was Suzuki referring to?" Ironically, what follows is in many ways a religious text. Mark Oppenheimer hosts the podcast Unorthodox for Tablet magazine and writes for The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, and GQ, among other publications. In this sect, Dharma transmission is commonly a father-son transmission ritual culminating in the son's inheritance of the family temple. 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. The focus itself is on the master. Your support is crucial to sustain our practice centers and thriving online community. Join the San Francisco Zen Center Membership Program. 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. Above all, we agree to the stories that prop up constitutions or money. The Zen Institution Furthermore this creation has to be ongoing. 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. Suzuki's prescription to "just sit" as a kind of medicine to answer all questions and problems apparently did not apply to his Dharma transmitted son Hoitsu. I have found the work of the following social analysts to be especially illuminating: Peter L. Berger, Pierre Bourdieu, Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman, David C. Korten, Thomas Lukach, Howard Zinn and Angela Zito. I have copies of these letters. 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. The Zen understanding of wisdom imputes Foucault's "single gaze to see everything constantly" to the Master. There appeared to be a vast cultural divide between the Zen Center students of Suzuki and Japanese Zen monks that showed itself both in America and in Japan. 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. Despite this, few people interviewed seemed to be aware that by continually repeating the transmission story without reflection and without making the effort to understand what they were part of, they were in fact becoming an integral component in the creation of a new myth-which was then used by people like Richard Baker. 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. For an outstanding article on Sanbokyodan Zen, a Zen sect important in the West see, Sharf, Robert, "Sanbokyodan, Zen and the Way of New Religions", Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Fall 1995, Vol. The San Francisco Zen Center "scandal" was not unique in American Zen history. [6] Baker was instrumental in orchestrating the acquisition of Tassajara, raising $150,000 for the purchase in a short period of time. We see in Downing's book that it is precisely the idealized notion of Dharma transmission that pre-empted anything that Zen Center members saw for themselves when viewing Baker, their Dharma-transmitted leader, at least prior to the rupture in 1983. As noted in the paper, senior members consistently reassured newer members that all was well when they raised questions about Baker's activities. He occupies an authoritative place in East Asian cultures that have already been imbued with a special level of hierarchy since ancient times. is co-abbess of the San Francisco Zen Center. [9], Although Baker claimed that his relationship with the woman was a love-affair which had not yet been consummated, the outcry surrounding the incident led to a series of accusations of impropriety on Baker's part, including the admissions by several female members of the community that they had had affairs with Baker before or during his tenure as abbot. The deeper you go into practice, the deeper you find your teacher's mind is, until you finally realize that your mind and his mind are Buddha's mind. This is the sort of detail, which might be useful to both present and future students, but it is absolutely missing from all of the completely standard biographies of Zen masters through the ages. 145 41. The monastery is closed to outsiders from the months of September through April, then opens to the public by reservation from May through August - offering retreats, seminars, and workshops. 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. 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. It seems that Zen's emphasis on wisdom, while giving compassion only lip service, is really about power. The teacher knew all; the American knew nothing. Nor did anyone even think to view the situation through the lens of the Buddhist teachings themselves or even the particular teachings of their beloved founder Suzuki. Zen Mind? I dont know, he said. [6] One student who followed him to his new community was the priest Philip Whalen (ordained by Baker as a priest in 1973), who became tanto (head monk) of the new center. (It should be noted that Suzuki could read English.) 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. Supporting tools to make this narrative seem real and unconstructed include the particular methods of meditation and interactions between teacher and student as well as an abundance of validating mythologies most often presented as history in the form of biography, along with accommodating literary and ritual devices. I said, I have to come back here. So I did one more semester of school and then dropped out. Excellent. He was married three times. But in the 1960s and 70s, American Buddhists needed the foreigners. ", 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). For a very fine book review of Shoes Outside the Door, see Crews, Frederick, "Zen & the Art of Success," The New York Review of Books, 28 Mar. This has a direct bearing on the Baker story and the way mythology continues to be constructed even in the present. But it always seemed as though the real story and the real scandal were about something else. My first reaction to the book was, "Why?" A monastery and retreat center in a remote mountain valley in the Ventana Wilderness SFZC Online Resources for beginners, zazen (meditation) and chanting, Dharma talks, live online practice sessions with teachers, as well as classes and workshops from our Online Programs. Suzuki's arrival came at the tail end of the Beat movement and just prior to the social movements of the 1960s, both of which had major roots in San Francisco. The suit cost the SFZC $35,000 to $40,000 in legal fees at a time when it was under financial pressure. His death came shortly after the publication of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, a collection of lectures translated into numerous languages and considered a classic of contemporary Zen literature. This is also extremely disempowering which can lead to all sorts of problems, as the SFZC case clearly shows. Explore hundreds of dharma talksby San Francisco Zen Center teachers, practice leaders, and speakers from the wider community. The flow of his consciousness is not the fixed repetitive patterns of our usual self-centered consciousness, but rather arises spontaneously and naturally from the actual circumstances of the present. For students of the San Francisco Zen Center, one of America's oldest and most prestigious Buddhist institutions, the world has already ended. 4.5. 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. 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. 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. Please see the Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page as well as the Calendar. "The Apocalypse," as they came to call it, took place in 1983 at a Peace Conference at Tassajara, a retreat center that was the first Buddhist monastery founded outside Asia. Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki: this link will take you to the website buy this book now San Francisco Zen Center practitioners did make a serious commitment to their practice. Senior members also appeared blind to the voices of others and closed to criticism. However, crediting a teacher, by definition of their role or title, with exalted qualities he does not really possess, is begging for trouble. 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. 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. 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. They weren't so much about about money (Chapter 27, if that's your cup of tea). [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. A full overview of what is open can be found here. by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, Oxford University Press, 2000. 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." Having wisdom, in the Zen view, is based on Dharma transmission, which implies that the person is an enlightened being. Reviewed July 20, 2014 . 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. 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How San Francisco Zen Center Operates Downing reveals that by 1969 Suzuki had made it known to Baker and others at the Center that Baker was to be his Dharma heir. Definitely worth checking them out on their website and trying to attend the beginners lesson! Baker's introduction to Suzuki's edited words in the well known book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind gives a description of Suzuki as the ideal of a fully realized Zen master. 837 501. Ask Kelly S about San Francisco Zen Center. Institutional and personal motives played an important part in the composing of Buddhist biographical collections; this was especially so in earl Chan lineage texts. 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. Also available are practice sessions with SF Zen Center teachers. Zen Center members did not think there was any thought control or propaganda necessary to escape when it came to Zen. I suspect I probably said something like that, Schnyer said. This is one reason why we are looking at his case, to see how the system works, how it has always worked. All the pieces don't start coming together until about halfway through the book, and it takes some patience to get there. Despite having only had 12 years in the United States, Suzuki had gone a long way toward establishing Soto Zen in America. It is a performance meant to confirm and display the current master's significance, authority and attainment. This is a person without a defect, showing no self-interest, desire, interior calculation, or a shortcoming. Downing quotes a prominent older student who expressed it differently, "Dick tried to take over Zen Center again." There are also accounts of people receiving transmission from masters who were dead by the time the supposed transmission took place. 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. There is a whole lineage built on the idea that Kapleau had transmission. 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. Please send to slachs@worldnet.att.net. Downing has offered an excellent example in Richard Baker and the SFZC. As long as it was understood that Baker was the only Dharma heir of Suzuki, it was exceedingly difficult for any one to question Baker's behavior and style. After the founding of Dharma Sangha in New Mexico, Baker met with William Irwin Thompson, the founder of the Lindisfarne Association. [34], Following Baker's resignation, Dainin Katagiri led the community until 1985. Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. [27][28][29][30], In March 1983 Baker was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with the wife of an influential sangha member. Therefore, in the need to remain at the Center, members had a powerful incentive to fully buy into Zen's mythology. To this end, Zen Center is engaged in numerous social and ecological initiatives. 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. And stayed for 10 years.. 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. Within a couple of years, Suzuki considered founding a monastery to host more intensive practice for those students who were interested. And he was also just a guy, kind of like Bill Clinton was just a guy. Katagiri would go on to establish his own practice centerthe Minnesota Zen Centerin 1972 in Minneapolis. Furthermore, Chadwick told Victoria that when he (Chadwick) had once asked Baker himself about the basis for the claim, Baker replied that he could not remember! A large institution like Zen requires hundreds of such living role players. Peter L. Berger, the well- known American sociologist writes, "Unlike puppets, we have the possibility of stopping in our movements, looking up and perceiving the machinery by which we have been moved. 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. [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. Of fellow practitioners in 1971 only had 12 years in the United States, Suzuki had gone a long toward. 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