What passes for "knowledge" in society is built on the foundation of language. They will sit for five days or longer in the zendo before they are formally admitted into the monasterya physically daunting challenge. 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. 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. It is important to remember now that the interviews Downing conducted in 1998-2000 were long after the events at the SFZC took place. It was not mentioned in the interviews that Suzuki himself might be partially responsible for the ensuing trouble. Stuart Lachs, October 2002 22, no.3-4. It did not matter that Baker did not appear to offer his students the "living proof that the seemingly impossible goal [of Zen] can be realized in this lifetime" as Baker himself described the function of the teacher. Find classes, retreats, practice periods, and many more offerings in the San Francisco Zen Center calendar of events. He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. Please consider a donation to San Francisco Zen Center. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. 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. Rather than report this to the police, Anderson returned to the body over several days to meditate over the corpse. 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. 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. To this end, Zen Center is engaged in numerous social and ecological initiatives. 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. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. It is a sanitized description wherein any one roshi is replaceable by any other roshi, which is really no person at all. Ask Kelly S about San Francisco Zen Center. One student stated it as, "The one thing that seemed unquestionable was Richard's Transmission." Kwong's transmission was later completed by Suzuki's son, Hoitsu.[1][11][12]. 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. University of Michigan, 1987. The question is: How do so many Zen Buddhist teachers get away with it, and for so long? Others were more forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently shaken. 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. Yamada gave Dharma transmission to Robert Aitkin, though Aitkin and his Diamond Sangha later separated from the Sanbokyodan organization after Yamada's death. is the head teacher at the Dharma Field Meditation and Learning Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 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. These recordings of zazen instruction feature a variety of teachers offering an introduction to meditation. Money, too, is worth something because we believe it iswe give the $20 bill the magical properties of being worth more than the $1 bill, even though the paper and ink are identical. 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. 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. Anybody who traveled to Japan, as many American Buddhists would, quickly learned that every monastery there had its own variations on the traditionas with any other religious practice, there is no one true form. Suzuki's prestige grew enormously. Furthermore this creation has to be ongoing. [2] However, San Francisco Zen Center's website now comments: "Although the circumstances leading to his resignation as abbot in 1984 were difficult and complex, in recent years, there has been increased contact; a renewal of friendship and dharma relations. I think that really helped to put everybody on their best behavior. Therefore, in the need to remain at the Center, members had a powerful incentive to fully buy into Zen's mythology. Zen Center businesses embodied other Bay Area delights. 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. "Zen Dharma transmission between master and disciple could occur whether or not the disciple had realized enlightenment, just so long as the ritual of personal initiation had been performed." What the teacher really offers the student is literally living proof that all this talk and the seemingly impossible goals can be realized in this lifetime. 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). However, I do not mean to imply there is no inner spiritual content to the Zen tradition. 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. 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. 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. 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. [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. For a history of early Soto Zen as well as how the Soto sect has understood Dharma transmission since roughly 1700, see Bodiford, William M., Soto Zen in Medieval Japan, University of Hawaii Press, 1993, p. 215. That made him the successor and dharma heir to Shunryu Suzuki, a Japanese Zen missionary who came to California in 1959 to serve immigrant families living in Japantown. 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. The meeting, which Zournas had hoped would mark the end of Shimanos tenure, turned out to be another show of support. The tension was alleviated when Suzuki's Western students began gathering for separate services, albeit still at Sokoji, in 1961. It could fairly be said that what is effectively transmitted by Dharma transmission is institutional authority, rather than religious wisdom. 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? [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. Throughout the 1980s Greens, which obtained produce from Green Gulch Farm, was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco. This recommended class series offers listeners an overview of the fundamentals of Buddhism and Zen. All of this authority and potency is manifested in the rituals of the Zen master commenting on and judging the words and actions of not only their disciples, but also of anyone in the lineage going all the way back to and including, the historical Buddha. There is certainly nothing anti-authoritarian about the notion of unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha. [5], In 1969, Sokoji's board of directors asked Suzuki to resign his position as the temple's priest, asserting that he was spending more time with his Western students than the Japanese-American congregation. [8] Within a very short period of time Baker broadened the scope of SFZC, starting first with the acquisition of Green Gulch Farm in southern Marin county, in 1972. [15], In the twenty-five years since leaving San Francisco Zen Center, Baker has continued his career as a Zen teacher, founding and developing two practice centers. 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! 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. 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. Neither business is operative today. 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. A pioneer of gourmet vegetarian cuisine in America, the restaurant's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown and Deborah Madison. In this way the teacher was like a deity, a minor god. While we remain committed to the health and safety of our residential and wider sangha, we deeply value the importance of gathering in person and sharing the Dharma in proximity with others. Was his lifestyle less than exemplary? 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. 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. After a major fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center purchased the landwhich contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967. [20] Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life. 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