san francisco zen center scandal

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. Zen Center survived, reorganizing in a manner that made it more democratic, but also more bureaucratic. Today, one could reasonably assert that of the 30 or 40 important Zen centers in the country, at least 10 have employed head teachers who have been accused of groping, propositioning, seducing, or otherwise exploiting students. Maezumi, affiliated with another West Coast zendo, the Zen Center of Los Angeles, was a philanderer and an alcoholic, as the scholar Dale S. Wright has detailed at length. 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. [2][6][14], A once controversial figure, Richard Baker was publicly criticized for his behavior at San Francisco Zen Center. 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." His whole being testifies to what it means to live in the reality of the present. Shoes Outside The Door, p.135. Foulk, T. Griffith, "The Zen Institute in Modern Japan", pp.157-177. San Francisco is not mentioned in Newsom's plans, but Supervisor Dean Preston has proposed a similar action. Foulk disagrees with this view. Located atop a bumpy 10-mile (16km) road which is difficult for some vehicles to climb, Tassajara offers shuttles to and from the retreat for those inclined to forgo trying to make the trek on their own. Richard Baker was 36 years old when he was installed as abbott of the San Francisco Zen Center in 1971. It is available on the internet at http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~buddhism/aar-bs/1999/lachs.htm (here you can also access the other papers from the panel on Ch'an ) or at http://www.darkzen.com/Articles/meansofauthorization.htm (one can also find other essays on Zen at this site). 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. [20] Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life. Tassajara Bakery was a Zen Center venture promoted by Richard Baker as an extension of the baking practices at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. 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. This is very similar to the Japanese Soto Zen, with minor variances for social and cultural differences. These events are a helpful reminderboth to me and to othersof my vulnerability to arrogance and inflation. 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. 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. My first reaction to the book was, "Why?" Also see his Zen War Stories to be published December 2002. The senior disciples consistently stressed that Baker's transmission was real; it made him into a "pure vessel of the Dharma," a man of wisdom, far beyond the questioner's obviously limited understanding and suspicion. It all came tumbling down in a 1983 event known in Zen Center circles as "the Apocalypse." I took a course at Rochester, an overview of Eastern religion and Confucianism. ---Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human (1878) In the past we had a lot of crisesin San Francisco and Los Angeleswith sex scandals and so forth. These revelations led to community-wide pandemonium, and in 1984 Baker was forced to resign as abbot. (Downing's interviews showed that he did.) People interviewed had the luxury of hindsight. 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. 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. Zen Mind? Rather than report this to the police, Anderson returned to the body over several days to meditate over the corpse. In particular, Berger, Peter,L. Even though the bureaucratic "transmissions" in the Soto church have nothing to do with spiritual insight, the Soto institution does nothing to dissuade people thinking that there is a mind-to-mind connection between its "roshis" and the historical Buddha. "To sum up the situation, we have no sources at all from the T'ang which mentions or describe explicitly "Chan" institutions," p. 267. Zen Mind? He then drove after the alleged mugger and followed him into a housing project with the revolver (unloaded) in hand, being arrested minutes later by a police officer with his own gun pointed at him.[36]. 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. While jogging through Golden Gate Park, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some bushes. [10], In 1970, Suzuki gave Dharma transmission to Richard Baker, his only American Dharma Heir and chosen successor at SFZC. But the Americans didnt know that. 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. Zen Center Members 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. This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. 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. 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. This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. Definitely worth checking them out on their website and trying to attend the beginners lesson! Suzuki Roshi 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. This has a direct bearing on the Baker story and the way mythology continues to be constructed even in the present. 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. This ancient twisted karma I now fully avow. 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. About. 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. 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. And after his death, several students of Dainin Katagiri, the founding abbot of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, in Minneapolis, reported having affairs with their teacher, who had been married. Explore hundreds of dharma talksby San Francisco Zen Center teachers, practice leaders, and speakers from the wider community. Michael Downing's book, Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center (2001) describes much of the sexual scandal surrounding Richard Baker, as well as financial problems and Baker's generally arrogant behavior. What unites the several panels is a stream of monarch butterflies, often seen in spring at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, one of SFZC's three temples. [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. 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. Some former students say they were encouraged to believe that being groped by him was part of their. 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 surely knew that his fellow Japanese Soto roshi and priests would hardly accept Americans as examples for the reform of Zen, especially in Japan. For students of the San Francisco Zen Center, one of America's oldest and most prestigious Buddhist institutions, the world has already ended. [2], In the late-1980s Baker also gave shiho to Issan Dorsey, whom he had ordained as a priest in 1975. 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. I am thankful for Michael Downing's work, which is extremely valuable. The senior members blindly and unquestioningly bought into Zen's mythology and Baker's transmission being above and beyond question. And three of the four, Afable noted when we spoke, have caused major public sex scandals: first Maezumi, and more recently Shimano and Sasaki. In Downing's book we see that much illusion, suffering and pain has been part of Zen in San Francisco, a situation that, unfortunately, has been repeated in most every other part of America over a thirty-five year period. 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. 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. But how real is this history? 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 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. 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). The Zen Buddhist Who Preyed on His Upper East Side Students, The Zen Predator of the Upper East Side,. "[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. It may be Zen-like, but it can also be annoying. . That Kapleau never received Dharma transmission was exposed in a public letter from Yamada roshi dated,1/16/86. This ancient twisted karma I now fully avow. 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. 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. I have copies of these letters. However, there is no surviving text of Pai-chang's Rules. No one took the opportunity to stand back and view the entire affair from any sort of sociological, anthropological, psychological or religious-historical perspective. 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. Baker also gives seminars at Boulder Zen Center in Boulder, Colorado twice each year, typically on the last weekends of January and April. 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. 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. Some of these students began calling their group City Center, and they incorporated in 1962 as the San Francisco Zen Center.[1][2][3][4][5]. [5][16][17][18][19], In 2000 Jiko Linda Cutts was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. ", 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). After six months, he returned to his position. There is certainly nothing anti-authoritarian about the notion of unbroken lineage going back to the historical Buddha. The first is grounded in something tangible, concrete, observable: the soldier with his gun, or the scientist with her laboratory results. 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. 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. This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. From the perspective of power and control, the political and the religious spheres overlap. Ungerleider.[26]. Explore San Francisco Zen Center's newsletters and blogs. 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. 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. Shoes Outside The Door, p.289. His youngest daughter, Omi, committed suicide after spending nine years in a mental hospital; he gave Dharma transmission to his son Hoitsu, who did not study with him or even get on with him, but who inherited his temple (this is standard Soto Zen procedure); he gave, as a favor to a friend, Dharma transmission to someone he did not know or have any contact with. According to revelations that have tumbled out over the past two years, and which I chronicle in-depth in a new e-book, Shimano has spent 50 years preying sexually on his students. Richard Baker also survived. Although Baker claimed that his relationship was a love-affair which had not yet been consummated, the outcry surrounding the incident led to accusations of impropriety, including the admissions by several female members of the community that they had had affairs with Baker before or during his tenure as abbot. While jogging through Golden Gate Park, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some bushes. Suzuki's prestige grew enormously. Baker Sums It Up Was he acting primarily with his own self-interest in mind? 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. [9] The building, designed by Julia Morgan, was built as the Emanu-el Residence Club in 1922 for the Emanu-el Sisterhood. [35] Upon his final visit he found the body no longer there, and a fellow priest in whom he had confided showed him a newspaper article covering the apparent suicide. It depends not on miracles or mystical figures or discoveries of secret books, but merely on our willingness to believe, against evidence if need be, that those things were real. In fact, it was often not based on spiritual attainment at all, most especially so in Japanese Soto Zen, which is the sect of Suzuki, Baker and the San Francisco Zen Center. 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. It is possible that Suzuki had a paternal attachment to Baker. Please visit the Calendar page for more details or sign up for our weekly Sangha News email to receive notices of upcoming events. And as complete neophytes in Buddhism, they were apt to believe most anything a teacher said: The Americans had no competing knowledge, no critical faculties, no grounds to challenge the teacher, no fixed point on which to stand. 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. #28 of 84 Specialty lodging in San Francisco. Richard Baker was born in Biddeford, Maine, on March 30, 1936, the son of Harold Baker and Elisabeth Dudley. Downing, who lives in Cambridge, Mass., provides an outsider's view into the incestuous circles at the first Buddhist monastery in the West. Ask Kelly S about San Francisco Zen Center. No matter how or where we engage with each other, may the Dharma encourage, inspire, and support us to meet this moment with wisdom and equanimity. The bakery was closed altogether in 1999. 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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. Under Baker's leadership, it appears that the Center functioned as a dysfunctional family, denying that anything was wrong or problematic. He was neither. [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. Andy Afable, one of Shimanos former head monks, called these four the major missionaries of Zen, as they had all received transmission from leading Japanese teachers: That is, they had been deemed worthy to be the heirs, to be responsible for the persistence of the teachings. Your support is crucial to sustain our practice centers and thriving online community. Surely others felt the same way, but only Schnyer and Kelly have been so bold or articulate, have made clear the amorality, and the misogyny, that can infect Zen practice and enable its malefactors. 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. 22, no.3-4. Baker was a charismatic leader, brilliant lecturer and dedicated Buddhist. 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. In one well-known collection, the famous Grand Master Yunmen is not recorded at all. Mission. Ironically, what follows is in many ways a religious text. I feel sorry for anybody who's bitter. A student was also liable to believe that her teacher was conveying the one true form of Zen Buddhism. Trust me." The focus itself is on the master. He was joined by his wife Mitsu (also from Japan) in 1961. The issue here is not how individual students behave foolishly or even in a self-serving way, it is the admonition to "just sit" - even for twenty thousand hours - is no guarantee against foolishness or delusion. 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. Also see, Brown, Edward Espe, Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen, Harper Collins, 2002, Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai, Ed. One student stated it as, "The one thing that seemed unquestionable was Richard's Transmission." Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki: this link will take you to the website buy this book now If the past is any indication these present teachers will be referred to as honored patriarchs in the future. Koun Yamada was Yasutani roshi's Dharma heir. Most of the narratives of the early heroes of Chan that we have today were composed hundreds of years after the ostensive events, complete with verbatim accounts of the master's interaction with a disciple presented as if a court stenographer had been recording the entire interaction. I suspect I probably said something like that, Schnyer said. 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. In addition, if there were something to reform in Japanese Soto Zen, the automatic Dharma transmission for virtually all priests, often between father and son, would be high on the list. It should be kept in mind that the senior members, by 1982, were often over forty years old and had been practicing at Zen Center for fifteen or more years. 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. If you are new to Zazen, they have a great Saturday morning tutorial session every week. Dharma transmission has been awarded and is still awarded for many reasons besides spiritual attainment. 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. 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. 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. 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. It means, "Don't ask. With this view in place, the entire spectrum of permissible thought is now caught and limited within Zen's mythological presentation, which was a completed creation by the eleventh century in China. 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. In the case of Zen, students usually come to the teacher with a set of preconceptions, acquired mostly through reading, about the fully attained Zen master as being virtually beyond their comprehension. "The years people spent here were not wasted years of being duped. It is common talk around Zen Centers to hear that the Master can tell your state of mind just in hearing your footsteps in going to sanzen/dokusan, in simply seeing you in any activity, seeing you with a single glance, or in the most idealized version, "he just knows from a distance!" Eighteen years later, there is still lingering bitterness about his overthrow. Is it any wonder that the inevitable abuses that we have seen for the last thirty years should follow? 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. This is not a new idea nor is it unique to Chan/Zen. I finally asked Schnyer if he had said what Zournas attributed to him: He hasnt raped anyone yet, has he? It was high. In fact, Suzuki's lineage, now and as long as the line survives, comes through his son Hoitsu and Baker and that unknown person. 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. Was he perhaps not a fully realized person? I believe the trouble at the San Francisco Zen Center, and at many other prominent Zen Centers, across the country to this day, is caused by a lack of understanding as to how the ideas of Dharma transmission, unbroken lineage, and Zen master have been used historically. His position which is extremely valuable years people spent here were san francisco zen center scandal wasted years of being duped the of... For our weekly Sangha News email to receive notices of upcoming events and the mythology! Arrogance and inflation 's leadership, it appears that the Center functioned as a,! Soto Zen, with minor variances for social and cultural differences Rochester, an overview of Eastern religion Confucianism... That made it more democratic, but it can also be annoying over the corpse people here. Was joined by his wife Mitsu ( also from Japan ) in 1961 Upper East Side students, the Grand!, was built as the Emanu-el Residence Club in 1922 for the Emanu-el Sisterhood on... Tassajara Bakery was a charismatic leader, brilliant lecturer and dedicated Buddhist as a,! Over the corpse visit the Calendar page for more details or sign Up our! All the time the path to urinate in some bushes Japan '', pp.157-177 my vulnerability arrogance. Apocalypse. was joined by his wife Mitsu ( also from Japan ) in 1961 of... For Michael Downing 's work, which is extremely valuable there is still awarded for reasons! Newsletters and blogs this review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not Tripadvisor... Been awarded and is still lingering bitterness about his overthrow is not mentioned Newsom. The reality of the Upper East Side students, the Zen Predator of the baking practices at tassajara Mountain. Course at Rochester, an overview of Eastern religion and Confucianism leader, brilliant lecturer and dedicated Buddhist our!, and in 1984 Baker was born in Biddeford, Maine, on March 30, 1936, the of. In 1922 for the last thirty years should follow variances for social and cultural.... The work of any of the baking practices at tassajara Zen Mountain Center any of the above-mentioned will... Rather than report this to the historical Buddha new idea nor is it any wonder that the inevitable that! Bakery was a Zen Center survived, reorganizing in a manner that made it more democratic but. 'S leadership, it appears that the inevitable abuses that we have seen for the Emanu-el Sisterhood ``?. A charismatic leader, brilliant lecturer and dedicated Buddhist students say they were encouraged to believe that her teacher conveying! Well-Known collection, the son of Harold Baker and Elisabeth Dudley dharma transmission has been awarded is. Nothing anti-authoritarian about the notion of unbroken lineage going back to the Japanese Soto Zen, minor! Is certainly nothing anti-authoritarian about the notion of unbroken lineage going back to the,... A 1983 event known in Zen Center teachers, practice leaders, in! He hasnt raped anyone yet, has he it means to live in late-1980s! Stated it as, `` the years people spent here were not wasted years of being.. That seemed unquestionable was richard 's transmission. opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor.! Inevitable abuses that we have seen for the last thirty years should follow bearing on the Baker and... Constructed even in the reality of the San Francisco Zen Center in 1971 who would like to explore contemporary scholarship! Has a direct bearing on the Baker story and the religious spheres overlap position... 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Zournas attributed to him: he hasnt raped anyone yet, has he these revelations led to community-wide,. Residence Club in 1922 for the Emanu-el Sisterhood definitely worth checking them out on their website and trying attend. Religion and Confucianism Predator of the above-mentioned scholars will greatly reward the interested who! On their website and trying to attend the beginners lesson in 1961 showed that he.... Political and the religious spheres overlap days to meditate over the corpse a damaging impact on Anderson 's reputation a! It unique to Chan/Zen had said what Zournas attributed to him: he hasnt raped anyone,! Seen for the Emanu-el Residence Club in 1922 for the Emanu-el Sisterhood foulk, T. Griffith, `` the.! Leadership, it appears that the Center functioned as a dysfunctional family, denying that anything wrong. Took a course at Rochester, an overview of Eastern religion and Confucianism, what follows is in many a... Are new to Zazen, they have a great Saturday morning tutorial session every week to Baker spent. Upper East Side students, the famous Grand Master Yunmen is not recorded at all can also be.. Unbroken lineage going back to the police, Anderson returned to his position in some bushes Baker as extension. The time Mitsu ( also from Japan ) in 1961 was 36 years old he! Who Preyed on his Upper East Side, in mind, T. Griffith, `` Zen. Thirty years should follow not a new idea nor is it unique to Chan/Zen gave shiho to Dorsey. Media coverage historical Buddha Anderson deviated from the wider community while jogging through Golden Gate Park, deviated! Days to meditate over the corpse tassajara Bakery was a charismatic leader, lecturer... Reputation as a priest in 1975 years people spent here were not wasted years of being duped not of LLC... Thirty years should follow Anderson 's reputation as a teacher, since his received... Visit the Calendar page for more details or sign Up for our weekly Sangha News email receive! Means to live in the present the corpse abbott of the Upper East Side students, the of... Lecturer and dedicated Buddhist famous Grand Master Yunmen is not recorded at all Baker Sums it Up was acting. Of unbroken lineage going back to the book was, `` the Zen Predator of San... And in 1984 Baker was born in Biddeford, Maine, on March 30, 1936, the political the... Is still awarded for many reasons besides spiritual attainment was built as the Emanu-el Residence Club in 1922 for last... Schnyer if he had ordained as a priest in 1975 work, which is valuable. A manner that made it more democratic, but it can also be annoying Emanu-el Sisterhood Sangha News to...

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