And what was Suzuki's intention here? Means of Authorization: Establishing Hierarchy in Ch'an/Zen Buddhism in America It is interesting to note that these beliefs persisted strongly even into the year 2000, roughly the time of Downing's interviews when there had been thirty-five years of sexual and financial scandals in the Zen community in America. I had a kind of insecurity and self-importance, which I didn't see for a long time, that was a bad dynamic in the community. He was what I needed. A good part of the goal of Buddhism is to reduce illusion and suffering. The conception of an unbroken lineage based on the idea of mind-to-mind transmission going back to the Buddha superceded a previous idea of authority that was based on texts, i.e., the sutras, which were understood to embody the words of the historical Buddha. In Northern California, Zen chic peaked in the early 1980s, and its rise and fall has much to do with the stories of two lives -- another Japanese man named Suzuki and another Westerner with a brilliant mind and roving eye. 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. The question is: How do so many Zen Buddhist teachers get away with it, and for so long? The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. Upon Suzuki's arrival at Sokoji, the congregation was composed entirely of members of the Japanese-American population. ", Lachs, Stuart: Suzuki Roshi, the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center and its leader until his death in 1971, was an impressive person, sincerely loved by most all the Center's members. People put their hearts into the practice and the Center, sometimes going as far as asserting that the Center represented the cutting edge of Zen in the America. If you are new to Zazen, they have a great Saturday morning tutorial session every week. 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? It is an institutional dream that needs to be analyzed using its own description. Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities. The past generations are presented in a saintly and exalted manner, which adds to the prestige of the tradition as a whole, but most importantly, to the prestige of the last name on the lineage chart, the living teacher. The duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. One member suggested that the Shimanos instead be given an extended sabbatical. He writes, " The perfect disciplinary apparatus would make it possible for a single gaze to see everything constantly." A descendant of Thomas Dudley,[4] Baker was raised in a family of moderate wealth. 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. 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. A good place to begin to examine the scholarly view of early Chan history and development is Foulk, T. Griffith, Myth, Ritual, and Monastic Practice in Sung Ch'an Buddhism in, Religion and Society in T'ang and Sung China, Ed by Patricia Buckley Ebrey and Peter N. Gregory, University of Hawaii Press, 1993, pp147-205. Seeing Through Zen by by John R. McRae book reviews buy this book, Coming Down from the Zen Clouds: A Critique of the Current State of American Zen, Means of Authorization: Establishing Hierarchy in Ch'an/Zen Buddhism in America, 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, Sanbkydan Zen and the Way of the New Religions, Finding Safe Harbor: Buddhist Sexual Ethics in America, Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center, Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki, Not Always So: practicing the true spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki. It seems that Zen's emphasis on wisdom, while giving compassion only lip service, is really about power. This is a very interesting piece of "history" which is no doubt destined to be repeated. 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. 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." Ironically, what follows is in many ways a religious text. 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. 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. Before Victoria's book was published these people, many who were influential in bringing Zen to the west, were routinely presented as flawless examples of Zen attainment. It was considered "real" because it came from the saintly Suzuki and Suzuki made a point of saying it was "real." Therefore, in the need to remain at the Center, members had a powerful incentive to fully buy into Zen's mythology. Michel Foucault in "The Means of Correct Training" in Discipline and Punish, Trans. Because the newcomers' indoctrination into Zen ideology was incomplete, their unfortunate reliance on common sense prevented them from viewing Baker's eccentricities as qualities of an enlightened Zen master. Practitioners are given the ultimate encouragement of knowing that real people "attained enlightenment" and therefore so can we. 2015. It is a sanitized description wherein any one roshi is replaceable by any other roshi, which is really no person at all. Baker also gives seminars at Boulder Zen Center in Boulder, Colorado twice each year, typically on the last weekends of January and April. 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. After six months, he returned to his position. Baker wrote an introduction to Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, an edited collection of Suzuki's talks, in which Baker said (p.17), "During the Second World War he [Suzuki] was the leader of a pacifist group in Japan." Jerry Brown, poet Gary Snyder, Esalen founder Michael Murphy, author Ken Kesey and other leading lights of the Zen intelligentsia on the West Coast. He convinced the American Zen community that he was, in effect, the Second Coming of Suzukibut even better, because he was here to stay. But for the [Zen Studies Society,] my gullibility, spiritual gullibilityI didnt realize that it was a borderline cult. 1962 - SFZC is founded by Shunryu Suzuki and his Western students. Berger begins, "Every human society is an enterprise of world-building. 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. But Shimano is hardly alone; his is not an isolated case. [citation needed], Additional businesses run by SFZC were the Alaya Stitchery storefront, which made zafus, zabutons and clothing, and Green Gulch Grocery, which sold produce from Green Gulch Farm. However, for an in depth review of early Chan monastic codes and how early Chan viewed and supposedly treated errant behavior by monks see Foulk, T. Griffith, "The "Ch'an School" and Its Place In the Buddhist Monastic Tradition," Diss. He also ran a temple virtually under the control of Japan's repressive fascist era government. Shimanos womanizing is of the sleaziest sort: He is married, and he has often picked for his mistresses much younger and disturbed women, the kind particularly susceptible to his twisted charisma. Greens Restaurant, opened in 1979 in Fort Mason of San Francisco, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker. 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. Tenshin Reb Anderson-roshi, former abbot of City Zen Center, is senior Dharma teacher at Green Gulchtraining priests and laypeople, leading sesshins, giving talks and conducting workshops while also living onsite. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. When it came to Baker's transmission from Suzuki, virtually all the students interviewed by Downing assumed that it was a "real" transmission. Foulk disagrees with this view. He writes a religion column forThe New York Timesand is on Twitter@markopp1. ", 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). What I mean by the "Zen" institution, for the simple purpose of this conversation, is the organized set of structures that support the standard model of Zen. He was a very traditional Rinzai master: stern when he needed to be, very rarely encouraging. 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. 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. [5] Baker was ordained a St priest by Suzuki in 1966 just before the opening of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. is the head teacher at the Dharma Field Meditation and Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rather than report this to the police, Anderson returned to the body over several days to meditate over the corpse. Find classes, retreats, practice periods, and many more offerings in the San Francisco Zen Center calendar of events. Koun Yamada was Yasutani roshi's Dharma heir. Baker himself was quick to remind his flock that he was the only American to receive Dharma transmission from Suzuki Roshi. While this is obviously a general statement that demands further qualification, it serves to introduce some of the basic problems to be dealt with here. . The other was to establish Chan's primacy over the indigenous teachings of Confucianism and Taoism in the eyes of the state and the elite of society. By the seventies he calculates 10-15,000 hours and that by 1987 the most senior practitioners had each meditated some 20- 25,000 hours on the cushion. He was leader of the largest Zen center in the United States and founder of Tassajara, the first Zen monastery in America; he sent a number of American disciples to study in Japan and was surrounded, as was Baker, by hundreds of devoted, unquestioning, often young and energetic followers. [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. 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. 3-101 applies the social construction of reality theory to religion. It is fashionable among practitioners in the West to consider critical thought as "un-Zen." 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. by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, Oxford University Press, 2000. Ask Kai C about San Francisco Zen Center. Zen Mind? I have seen such a view expressed in four other major Zen communities as well as in a Tibetan community. Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. [2] As the American Dharma heir to Shunryu Suzuki, Baker assumed abbotship of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) shortly before Suzuki's death in 1971. 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). Established in 1962, the San Francisco Zen Center is one of the largest residential training Soto Zen Buddhist organizations outside of Asia. Ironically, one may ask, is that what Suzuki hoped to reform? Great Experience with Western Zen Practice. 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. Please send to slachs@worldnet.att.net. The teacher knew all; the American knew nothing. Soto temples in Japan often are a family business, handed down from father to son, as Suzuki himself had done with his son Hoitsu. [2][6][14], A once controversial figure, Richard Baker was publicly criticized for his behavior at San Francisco Zen Center. [6], San Francisco Zen Center expanded quickly with Baker at the helm. In the past we had a lot of crisesin San Francisco and Los Angeleswith sex scandals and so forth. The Examiner reports that Preston has wants to use the mostly vacant 555 Fulton as . In this way the teacher was like a deity, a minor god. Coming Down from the Zen Clouds: A Critique of the Current State of American Zen 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. Hence, questioning and dissent became a shortcoming of the person expressing such a view. The idea of electing an abbot is, no doubt, a distinctively American innovation in a centuries-long pattern of religious authority. Mission. Eighteen years later, there is still lingering bitterness about his overthrow. 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. 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. Suzuki's prestige grew enormously. 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. Richard Baker also survived. 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. This change in demography caused a rift in the Sokoji community. San Francisco Zen Center SFZC Online Welcome to SFZC Online Below you'll find information about our online offerings: 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. 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. By saying this, he was emphasizing his guarantee that the essence of the Zen lineage resides in Baker. Anderson became entangled in an incident in 1987 that reached back to 1983 just after Zentatsu Richard Baker had resigned as abbot. Sanbkydan Zen and the Way of the New Religions by Robert H. Sharf In fact, Suzuki's lineage, now and as long as the line survives, comes through his son Hoitsu and Baker and that unknown person. And stayed for 10 years.. Throughout the 1980s Greens, which obtained produce from Green Gulch Farm, was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco. In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). Berkeley, March 17th, 2002. 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 Neither business is operative today. Richard Baker is a man who through the ritual of Dharma transmission has been installed in the Soto Zen sect's "authentic" unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha. ", Meditating on a 20-year-old scandal / An outsider's view of the incestuous circles at the San Francisco Zen Center, 'Zero visibility' conditions: All roads to Tahoe are closed, My meal at this landmark SF spot was too expensive to be so bad, One of the largest movie theaters in SF to close permanently, 'Really cool sight': Rare waterspout forms in Northern California, Report: Matthew McConaughey has a massive Salesforce paycheck, Man shot dead near San Francisco Ferry Building, A different horse': Bay Area will likely continue to see rain, 'Life threatening': Tahoe braces for massive blizzard, 'Lady in the fridge' murder victim ID'd as Bay Area mother of 3, Snow shuts down over 70 miles of I-80 in Northern California, Horoscope for Wednesday, 3/01/23 by Christopher Renstrom, These East Bay gems are a haven for music lovers, Another Bay Area movie theater, CGV San Francisco, closing permanently, WSJ digs into Salesforce CEO and McConaugheys expensive bromance, 'Zero visibility' conditions: Blizzard closes every road to Tahoe, Storm door will likely remain wide open in the Bay Area this March, Horoscope for Tuesday, 2/28/23 by Christopher Renstrom, How to get tickets for Depeche Mode's new tour dates, 14 things you need in your car before you drive to Tahoe, You can still overpack the smaller Monos check-in suitcase, Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). 1967 also saw the arrival of Kobun Chino Otogawa of Eiheiji, who served as assistant to Suzuki. Within a couple of years, Suzuki considered founding a monastery to host more intensive practice for those students who were interested. There is a wealth of contemporary exciting Zen scholarship available in English. In some of these biographies, people later classified as Chan monks were listed in other categories, such as Master Yantou Huo as an ascetic and Master Xingzhi as a benefactor. 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. This ancient twisted karma I now fully avow. 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. When Kelly grew frustrated with Shimanos womanizing, he made a proposition. That little piece of paradise in the Marin County headlands is just a short drive from the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, perfect for a quick retreat. Kwong's transmission was later completed by Suzuki's son, Hoitsu.[1][11][12]. He became the leader of the Sanbokyodan school of Zen started by Yasutani. In one well-known collection, the famous Grand Master Yunmen is not recorded at all. This has a direct bearing on the Baker story and the way mythology continues to be constructed even in the present. 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. I finished high school early, and at 17 I went to college, Schnyer said. Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. It was not mentioned in the interviews that Suzuki himself might be partially responsible for the ensuing trouble. This is one reason why we are looking at his case, to see how the system works, how it has always worked. 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. Yet, I have found that within the Zen community there is little self-examination about Zen as an institution and its self-definitions and what the effects of these are in the world of flesh and blood people. And he found them quite easily, because Westerners practicing Zen have an almost infantile relationship to what they perceive to be the authentic, Oriental father. 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