He also ran a temple virtually under the control of Japan's repressive fascist era government. With this investment it is understandable that one might not want to question too closely the teacher's behavior. 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. 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. 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. 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. He then arrived in San Francisco, California in 1960beginning to sit with Shunryu Suzuki in 1961. In fact, Kapleau never received Dharma transmission in the first place, so there was nothing to rescind. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. Used with permission. [1] Zen Hospice Project was the subject of the Netflix 2018 Academy Award-nominated[24] short documentary End Game,[25] about terminally ill patients in a San Francisco hospital as well as at the Zen Hospice Project house, featuring the work of palliative care physician BJ Miller and other palliative care clinicians. Was Baker's commitment to Zen practice much greater than a number of other of Suzuki's close, very committed senior disciples? 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. But during the 1960s, Suzuki attracted an eager flock of meditating Westerners, including Baker, who showed up in 1962 and was soon singled out as a possible successor. Shimano was not the bad guy; rather, those who made too much noise, who refused to go quietly, and thus disturbed Schnyers and others Zen practice, were the blameworthy ones. He was a very traditional Rinzai master: stern when he needed to be, very rarely encouraging. (See Foulk, "Myth, Ritual, and Monastic Practice," listed in the notes for a fuller discussion.) Sasaki, of Rinzai-ji, a Zen center in Los Angeles, is now 106 years old and, as his board members finally admitted in 2013, was groping and fondling unwilling students well into his 11th decade (he also ran a leading Zen center in New Mexico, and his lewdness did not respect state lines). 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. 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. Visitors can enjoy the springs, go swimming or on hiking trips, and have the opportunity to arrange for practice with the community living at the monastery for a few days. [17], Last edited on 21 December 2022, at 18:50, Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States, "The Long Learning Curve: An Interview With Richard Baker Roshi", Zentatsu Richard Baker page on the Crestone Mountain Zen Center website, Richard Baker and the Myth of the Zen Roshi, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Baker_(Zen_teacher)&oldid=1128738434, This page was last edited on 21 December 2022, at 18:50. A pioneer of gourmet vegetarian cuisine in America, the restaurant's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown and Deborah Madison. Others were more forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently shaken. 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. Yet for reasons known only to him he proceeded to make Baker his only American Dharma heir. His critics say Baker "still doesn't get it," doesn't understand the errors of his way. This new Buddha is also alive and homegrown and hence more immediate and real. If you counted the blow-ups, youd say just a few [women,] but we think he ran his life like a Japanese businessmanlots of affairs, but most of them discreet. . [6] Baker was instrumental in orchestrating the acquisition of Tassajara, raising $150,000 for the purchase in a short period of time. Zen Center Members 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. During his interview with Downing, Baker Roshi explains that having a "nice car," girlfriends and going out to dinner were implementations of Suzuki Roshi's commitment to lay practice. If some one would like copies, please email me at: slachs@worldnet.att.net . is co-abbess of the San Francisco Zen Center. It acquired property worth around $20 million and built up a network of affiliated businesses staffed by Zen Center students, which included the vegetarian Greens Restaurant in Fort Mason, a bakery, and a grocery store. Zen Center members did not think there was any thought control or propaganda necessary to escape when it came to Zen. This is a person without a defect, showing no self-interest, desire, interior calculation, or a shortcoming. Great Experience with Western Zen Practice. See Alan Cole, "It's All in the Framing." San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated St Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. How San Francisco Zen Center Operates He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. 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. 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. [5], In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shiho (Dharma Transmission) from Richard Baker. Foulk disagrees with this view. 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. Downing interviewed roughly eighty people, most of them Baker's students, approximately eighteen years after Baker was forced to resign. [1][15], In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shih from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). Also available are practice sessions with SF Zen Center teachers. Dharma transmission has been awarded and is still awarded for many reasons besides spiritual attainment. After the founding of Dharma Sangha in New Mexico, Baker met with William Irwin Thompson, the founder of the Lindisfarne Association. Therefore, in the need to remain at the Center, members had a powerful incentive to fully buy into Zen's mythology. 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. "[36], SFZC is connected, in an unofficial capacity, to the following Zen Centers:[1], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}374626N 1222534W / 37.774009N 122.426075W / 37.774009; -122.426075. He is now a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, and in December 2012 I spoke with him by telephone. This is one reason why we are looking at his case, to see how the system works, how it has always worked. While jogging through Golden Gate Park, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some bushes. Introduction [5][16][17][18][19], In 2000 Jiko Linda Cutts was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. Students that come to practice at the monastery from September through April must undergo the tradition known as tangaryo. Obedience, subservience, and discipline were well rewarded at a large institution like the San Francisco Zen Center, as Downing's book amply shows. From the perspective of power and control, the political and the religious spheres overlap. Unfortunately, the Western Zen community has not explored the many important questions implied by Zen At War. The last of these was Bodhidharma, who began the patriarchal line in China that led to Hui-neng, traditionally considered to be the sixth and last Chan patriarch. It means, "Don't ask. [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. Its raison d'etre is to produce people who possess a fundamental insight into life, people who are not fooled by appearances or ideas. When I heard about it, I was like, Thats for me. Soon, Schnyer was practicing Buddhism. There is certainly nothing anti-authoritarian about the notion of unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. In addition, the few American students of his who went to Japan came back disappointed, which upset Suzuki because he thought these students would then think less ofBuddhism. The suit cost the SFZC $35,000 to $40,000 in legal fees at a time when it was under financial pressure. 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. Please visit the Calendar page for more details or sign up for our weekly Sangha News email to receive notices of upcoming events. Suzuki died of cancer on December 4, 1971. 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. "Hollow" transmissions such as those between father and son are incorporated into the unbroken lineage to the Buddha. Kobun was resident teacher at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center until 1970. Zen's highly ritualized activities added a visceral instantiation to the cognitive edifice. by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, Oxford University Press, 2000. The student who enters the "practice" having read a myth will expect to find the myth, and will think they have found the myth. 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. 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