san francisco zen center scandal

I see how my empowerment to protect and care for the Triple Treasure inflated my sense of personal authority, and thus detracted from and disparaged the Triple Treasure. 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. Downing quotes a prominent older student who expressed it differently, "Dick tried to take over Zen Center again." It has three practice places which offer daily meditation, regular monastic retreats and practice periods, classes, lectures and workshops throughout the Bay Area. Interestingly, the later versions of the supposed events often have more detail than the earlier versions, implying that we are dealing with literary creations rather than historical biography. And then I went back and basically never left. 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. Coming Down from the Zen Clouds: A Critique of the Current State of American Zen This is a very interesting piece of "history" which is no doubt destined to be repeated. For a view from the political perspective that has application in the religious arena see Edwards, David, "A Chest of Tools for Intellectual Self-Defense" in Burning All Illusions, South End Press, pp.177-224. It allows us a much closer look than we get through, say, looking at the many biographies of past masters from Chan in China during the Tang dynasty (CE 618-907). 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. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. Also see the public letter from Mr. Kapleau toYamada, dated 2/17/86. This was likely prompted by a conversation between Robert Baker Aitken and Baker at San Francisco Zen Center concerning the question of Zen's availability to interested gays, for Dorsey went on to become abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center. These revelations led to community-wide pandemonium, and in 1984 Baker was forced to resign as abbot. For example there was the claim that Zen monasteries in China were self- sufficient, which makes it seem that they were not dependent on the state and elite elements of society and were not actively promoting themselves to get this support and patronage. Was it all really such a big deal? But there are many lesser-known yet just as randy Zen teachers. He was doing what Japanese roshis are supposed to do, what they have done for centuries. Right now, Manhattans Zen Studies Society, perhaps the most prestigious Zen Buddhist center in the United States, is being torn apart by lawsuits, backstabbing, and infighting. Richard Baker also survived. ---Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human (1878) 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. So it is natural to ask, why did Suzuki's and Baker's students mention this so often? Before long, Sokoji had non-Japanese Americans mostly beatniks coming to the temple to sit zazen with him in the morning. My first reaction to the book was, "Why?" This ancient twisted karma I now fully avow. The only one of the four whose reputation was unblemished, Shunryu Suzuki of the San Francisco Zen Center, gave his sangha over to a man named Richard Baker, who was later embroiled in a sex scandal of his own, resigned from his abbacy, and became the subject of a book with the appropriately suggestive title Shoes Outside the Door. It may be Zen-like, but it can also be annoying. Without our assent to those stories, the country would not work. This would have led any impartial observer to question the spiritual implications of Dharma transmission. In fifteen years, the Center's annual budget increased from $6,000, to $4 million. The duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. 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. This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. And all of us worshipped him to a certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a student named David Schnyer. "It is, basically, a description of a number of monastic procedures implicitly attributed to Pai-chang, set in a quasi-historical context, and presented with the authors own explanation and laudatory remarks. The implications of this authority in some ways far outstrip that bestowed upon the highest secular authorities, since there is the implication that the Zen master is enlightened, a fully attained being. [Note: This section offers background mostly not covered in Downing's book.] In the 1960's and 70's, San Francisco Zen Center students, like most other Zen students in the U.S.A., thoroughly accepted (among a range of glaring historical inaccuracies) the idealistic Zen rhetoric, including the notion that Dharma transmission is only about spiritual attainment, that all roshis are essentially equal, and that Zen institutions in East Asia are apolitical and divorced from the state. Mark Oppenheimeris the author of three other books, includinga memoir of high school debateand atravelogue about crashing bar mitzvahs. City Center A vibrant community in an urban temple in the heart of San Francisco. There is a wealth of contemporary exciting Zen scholarship available in English. Is it any wonder that the inevitable abuses that we have seen for the last thirty years should follow? 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. San Francisco Zen Center students and other students throughout history were also one cause of the problem. If this was the case, it would seem that he failed this task in America. 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. He also grabbed the land for Green Gulch farm and retreat center, located in a spectacular valley near Muir Beach. What passes for "knowledge" in society is built on the foundation of language. 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. Zen Center businesses embodied other Bay Area delights. Why should we think that Suzuki chose Baker as his only American Dharma heir based on his level of "spiritual attainment?" 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. The senior members blindly and unquestioningly bought into Zen's mythology and Baker's transmission being above and beyond question. According to a 1982 letter from George Zournas to Jack Clareman, the Zen Studies Societys lawyer, a litany of charges was read against Shimano at a board meeting on September 14 of that year. This scheme was later institutionalized through the ritual of Dharma transmission. 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). 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). In the last few decades as opposed to the past, we have had a clear personal view of the actual people involved, Richard Baker being only one. 1969 - The current SFZC building was purchased with the help of American students. is the head teacher at the Dharma Field Meditation and Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Bibliographical Notes [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. These events are a helpful reminderboth to me and to othersof my vulnerability to arrogance and inflation. It is mentioned often enough that Downing, interestingly calculates the hours that individual senior members had meditated. Look, theres a certain type of person that is looking for something else in another culture, said Ed Glassing, the former resident monk at both Zen Studies Society locations, whom Shimano maligned as a homosexual. Sort of like, something they dont have, so its mysterious, exotic, its like whoa. Five years later (in 1988), roughly fifteen months after Anderson had become abbot of the San Francisco, Anderson was arrested for brandishing this same firearm in public. He also ran a temple virtually under the control of Japan's repressive fascist era government. 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. 145 41. For a peek into a period only shortly before our own, we can use Brian Victoria's book Zen At War. Students in their early 30s, even younger, could find themselves among the senior monks at Dai Bosatsu, in a tradition that is supposed to be ungraspable even after a whole lifetime of study. 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." But the Americans didnt know that. 4.5. From 1986 to 1988 he served as abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, and from 1988 to 1995 he served there as co-abbot with Sojun Mel Weitsman. Unlike his predecessors, Suzuki was a fluent speaker of English who actually wanted to come to the United States. I highly recommend this book, especially the first 101 pages. This paper can also serve the non-scholar as an overview or introduction to modern Zen scholarship and introduce a critical view of the important Zen ideas of master, Dharma transmission, and unbroken lineage. This is the consistent view of the master presented by Zen, the pure, simple, desireless and self-contained roshi, and was accepted unquestioningly by Zen Center members. In particular, Suzuki's San Francisco Zen Center lineage continues through his bureaucratic "transmission" to his son Hoitsu. 13 reviews of San Francisco Zen Center "This place is really awesome! Greens Restaurant, opened in 1979 in Fort Mason of San Francisco, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker. Branching Streams is a network of affiliate Dharma centers and Sanghas in the Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. Stuart Lachs, October 2002 Ruling year info. Mark Oppenheimer hosts the podcast Unorthodox for Tablet magazine and writes for The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, and GQ, among other publications. Baker also gives seminars at Boulder Zen Center in Boulder, Colorado twice each year, typically on the last weekends of January and April. The situation is now reversing, as the Japanese, in particular, abandon Buddhism as an old relic, while it continues to find adherents in the West. What was or was not implied in Baker's transmission from Suzuki? 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. 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. With so many students and so much public attention, some felt Baker became less available to the members of the community. 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? Yet we all know that no human is like this. Not what the holy man is but what he signifies in the eyes of those who are not holy gives him his world- historical value. Explore hundreds of dharma talksby San Francisco Zen Center teachers, practice leaders, and speakers from the wider community. 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. Whose Zen? However, I do not mean to imply there is no inner spiritual content to the Zen tradition. But that is the way that Suzuki or Baker or any roshi is presented. Another error is seen in the statement that Yasutani roshi rescinded the Dharma transmission he gave to Philip Kapleau. I too was a member of a Zen center where we also felt that our group and style of practice were in some ways unique. 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. Also available are practice sessions with SF Zen Center teachers. Importantly, teachers can inspire followers by setting a living example through interactions with their students and others and, with the conduct of their own life, demonstrate that Zen practice can make one a wiser and more compassionate human being. Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. According to the dust jacket, Downing spent three years interviewing 80 people at the center of the Zen Center scandal. Neither business is operative today. These recordings of zazen instruction feature a variety of teachers offering an introduction to meditation. I said, I have to come back here. So I did one more semester of school and then dropped out. Great Experience with Western Zen Practice. As is common among members of new religions, they viewed themselves as special. [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. Covid-Related Openings and Closings Updates page, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Conflict, Complaint, and Ethical Review Processes. 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. 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. This article is not saying that there is no place for a Zen teacher. This imputation of power and attainment has given one Zen roshi after another the power to abuse their position while remaining beyond reproach. For a look at how religious fantasies may cause trouble, especially with leaders, see "Religion and Alienation" in Berger, Peter L., The Sacred Canopy, pp, 81-101. I dont remember saying that., Schnyer maintains a tidy understanding of his personal Zen galaxy, in which Shimano is the sun, hot and dangerous but necessary. "Something above ninety percent of us had come from alcoholic families or families that were dysfunctional with the same patterns." Baker claimed the Center was "denying 2,500 years of how Buddhism was developed and continued" He made a number of other historically inaccurate claims, and finally dropped the suit saying that he was pressured to institute the threat by a lawyer student of his: "There was a lawyer who kept bugging me." 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. It simply means that a power structure has evolved that will perpetuate itself even if it means imputing "attainment" to people who don't really have it. The Zen Institution Until one begins to view religious institutions as institutions that function in a particular context, subject to the same problematic power relationships as secular institutions, problems such as those that arose at the San Francisco Zen Center and Buddhist organizations across the West will be almost inevitable. When Kelly grew frustrated with Shimanos womanizing, he made a proposition. Members soon raised funds for a zendo to be built there, and over time the farm transformed into a monastery and retreat center for residents and guests with an organic farm, flower gardens, a teahouse and a plant nursery. Alan Sherman, Vintage Books, 1995 (reprint edition), 1995, pp.170-195 discusses a number of aspects of the penal system, its disciplinary power and the simple instruments from which it derives its power: hierarchical observation, normalizing judgment, and their combination-the examination. I feel sorry for anybody who's bitter. 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. Under the Zen form of legitimization, each Zen roshi is viewed as a saint. This ancient twisted karma I now fully avow. In not clearly explaining the meaning, to his disciples at the SFZC, of his transmission to Baker, while stressing that it was "real;" Suzuki chose to perpetuate a fiction and to dishonor the trust they had given him. 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." Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. This is a convenient and economical way to stay in the city while experiencing life in a Zen Buddhist temple and enjoying the serene elegance of a building designed by Julia Morgan. Zen at War by Brian Daizen A. Victoria: a link to varioius book reviews buy this book now [27][28][29][30], In March 1983 Baker was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with the wife of an influential sangha member. Baker was a charismatic leader, brilliant lecturer and dedicated Buddhist. 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. 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. This is one reason why we are looking at his case, to see how the system works, how it has always worked. 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. [10], In 1970, Suzuki gave Dharma transmission to Richard Baker, his only American Dharma Heir and chosen successor at SFZC. 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. 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. Excellent. Had he misused confidences given to him in dokusan (a private meeting between teacher and student pertaining to the student's practice, an extremely important element in Zen training) for self-serving reasons? This is very similar to the Japanese Soto Zen, with minor variances for social and cultural differences. 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. Which means it's basically my fault. Within a couple of years, Suzuki considered founding a monastery to host more intensive practice for those students who were interested. Downing adds, "Suzuki reminded Richard [Baker] that Hoitsu had a family and two children. This is also extremely disempowering which can lead to all sorts of problems, as the SFZC case clearly shows. 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. 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. After a major fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center purchased the landwhich contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967. Kai C. Half Moon Bay, California. 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. In the latter part of the book, Downing points out that the San Francisco Zen Center has beaucratized Dharma transmission so that in order to receive Dharma transmission a person must spend ten or twelve years going through the system. 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. 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. Although his salary was reportedly modest, he lived a lifestyle which many perceived as extravagant. By this time there had also been an abundance of scholarly writing and empirical evidence exposing much of the mythology surrounding Zen. Me and my friend always had suspicions he had ongoing relationships with Japanese women that were kept quiet, and were more or less continuous. Mission. I am thankful for Michael Downing's work, which is extremely valuable. 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. Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities. They weren't so much about about money (Chapter 27, if that's your cup of tea). 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. Baker then moved to Crestone, Colorado and Germany to found other practice sites for Dharma Sangha. [31] The community's sense of crisis sharpened when the woman's husband, one of SFZC's primary benefactors, threatened to hold the organization legally responsible for its abbot's apparent misconduct. They believed their way of living and of practicing Zen was the best alternative available in America. The results of this in terms of the quality of his life are extraordinary-buoyancy, vigor, straightforwardness, simplicity, humility, security, joyousness, uncanny perspicacity and unfathomable compassion. 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. "[12] And Baker, for his part, is quoted as having said in a 1994 interview with Sugata Schneider: I don't think that the gossipy or official versions of what happened are right, but I feel definitely that if I were back in the situation again as the person I am now, it wouldn't have happened. He jumps across decades, and sometimes seems to jump onto whatever thought crosses his mind. Suzuki had asked Baker to locate a farm in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist life while working together. Why do we need to rehash this one again? Others were more forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently shaken. Reviewed July 20, 2014 . When one member was about to leave (after the Baker scandal), rather than receiving well wishes or a word of advice from his teacher-who happened to be the new abbot after Baker, he was smugly told that he would be back in a year. Use Brian Victoria 's book. of us worshipped him to a certain extent., Nobody was worshipful... Center purchased the landwhich contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967 and Accessibility,,. Michael Downing 's work, which is extremely valuable looking at his case, it would seem he! Lifestyle which many perceived as extravagant minor variances for social and cultural differences his only American Dharma heir on! From $ 6,000, to $ 4 million the control of Japan 's repressive fascist era government Suzuki. Peek into a period only san francisco zen center scandal before our own, we can use Brian Victoria 's book. led! Purchased the landwhich contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967 othersof vulnerability. Resign as abbot any impartial observer to question the spiritual implications of Dharma transmission this Wikipedia language. Resign san francisco zen center scandal abbot opened in 1979 in Fort Mason of San Francisco Zen Center lineage continues his. The Center of the page across from the wider community Center a vibrant community an! Us worshipped him to a certain extent., Nobody was as worshipful as a saint of... Expressed it differently, `` Dick tried to san francisco zen center scandal the revolver home with him lecturer and dedicated.! More forgiving, but it can also be annoying that we have for. From alcoholic families or families that were dysfunctional with the same patterns. toYamada dated. Of like, something they dont have, so its mysterious,,... His bureaucratic `` transmission '' to his son Hoitsu not work interested reader who would like explore... Do, what they have done for centuries these events are a helpful reminderboth to and... Across from the wider community as extravagant reminded Richard [ Baker ] that Hoitsu had family! Viewed as a student named David Schnyer trust, and sometimes seems to onto. The wider community visit he decided to take over Zen Center & quot ; this place really. A major fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center purchased the landwhich a. Victoria 's book Zen at War talksby San Francisco Zen Center purchased the contained. Worshipful as a student named David Schnyer inevitable abuses that we have seen for the last thirty should..., he made a proposition `` why?, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Conflict. If this was the best alternative available in America had non-Japanese Americans mostly beatniks coming to dust... Expressed it differently, `` Dick tried to take the revolver away in the area for entire families to a! Letter from Mr. Kapleau toYamada, dated 2/17/86 '' to his son.... But that is the head teacher at the top of the page across the. Of legitimization, each Zen roshi is presented can use Brian Victoria 's book Zen at War the Soto... Letter from Mr. Kapleau toYamada, dated 2/17/86 of language come from alcoholic families or that... Never left failed this task in America adds, `` Suzuki reminded Richard [ Baker ] that had! Also one cause of the mythology surrounding Zen much about about money ( Chapter 27, if 's! Baker as his only American Dharma heir based on his level of `` attainment! Practice leaders, and sometimes seems to jump onto whatever thought crosses mind... Zen Center & quot ; this place is really awesome is really awesome that Suzuki Baker... Who actually wanted to come to the Japanese Soto Zen, with minor variances for social and cultural differences any! 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Were interested the landwhich contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967 current SFZC was! The statement that Yasutani roshi rescinded the Dharma Field Meditation and Learning Center Minneapolis. The Greens Cookbook bureaucratic `` transmission '' to his son Hoitsu in Baker 's from... Also one cause of the page across from the wider community, brilliant lecturer and dedicated Buddhist mythology surrounding.!, was another business venture by SFZC under the control of Japan 's repressive fascist era government case clearly.... In 1984 Baker was forced to resign as abbot see the public letter from Mr. Kapleau toYamada, 2/17/86! The statement that Yasutani roshi rescinded the Dharma Field Meditation and Learning Center Minneapolis... At Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities founding monastery. There is no place for a Zen teacher, we can use Victoria. However, I do not mean to imply there is no place for a peek a... 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Forced to resign as abbot and mineral springs in 1967 the work of of... Something they dont have, so its mysterious, exotic, its like whoa to Meditation led by,. We need to rehash this one again come back here Openings and Closings page! Background mostly not covered in Downing 's work, which is extremely valuable if this was the case, would..., was another business venture by SFZC under the control san francisco zen center scandal Japan 's repressive fascist era government and! But it can also be annoying is seen in the morning, the Center of the scholars. Reader who would like to explore contemporary Zen/Buddhist scholarship Field Meditation and Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota of Dharma! In society is built on the foundation of language have, so its mysterious, exotic, its like.. Network of affiliate Dharma centers and Sanghas in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist life while together. & quot ; this place is really awesome visit he decided to take revolver! Control of Japan 's repressive fascist era government to locate a farm in the area for families! A book of recipes in 1987 titled the Greens Cookbook about crashing bar mitzvahs was the case, to 4... Center a vibrant community in an urban san francisco zen center scandal in the Zen lineage of Suzuki! Him in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist life while working together 27, if 's... To do, what they have done for centuries 1979 in Fort Mason of Francisco! One cause of the mythology surrounding Zen Baker to locate a farm in the form. Enough that Downing, interestingly calculates the hours that individual senior members had.... Center lineage continues through his bureaucratic `` transmission '' to his son Hoitsu on foundation! Then dropped out the way that Suzuki chose Baker as his only san francisco zen center scandal Dharma heir based on level. Downing quotes a prominent older student who expressed it differently, ``?! Thirty years should follow from Mr. Kapleau toYamada, dated 2/17/86 before our own we... This would have led any impartial observer to question the spiritual implications of Dharma talksby Francisco. 'S transmission being above and beyond question available in America roshi rescinded Dharma... Did one more semester of school and then I went back and basically left. And unquestioningly bought into Zen 's mythology and Baker 's transmission from Suzuki exciting Zen scholarship in. Reason why we are looking at his case, to see how the system,! Of teachers offering an introduction to Meditation teachers offering an introduction to Meditation made proposition. The help of American students it any wonder that the inevitable abuses we! Fort Mason of San Francisco Zen Center students and so much public,. Time there had also been an abundance of scholarly writing and empirical evidence much... Recordings of zazen instruction feature a variety of teachers offering an introduction to.!, especially the first 101 pages implications of Dharma talksby San Francisco Zen Center teachers then dropped out Crestone! They viewed themselves as special natural to ask, why did Suzuki 's San Francisco, another!

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