2bitmoment’s take on wikipedia: Richard Baker “sex predator” and American Zen or American Buddhism

1st source: Ewk & Thatkir

https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/wiki/sexpredators

Here in this page three “Zen Masters” are deemed guilty for Richard Baker’s crimes. Suzuki, Thich Hahn and Baker himself. I personally don’t object to Baker being deemed guilty, but I find questionable that Suzuki be deemed a sex predator since he seemed to not do anything sexual himself. As far as I know he could be deemed a fraud, not a real zen master with supernatural knowledge of his disciples. But a sex predator? Seems strange to me. Thich Hahn seems to have a high opinion of Baker, despite this scandal, and I think it might be valid to take a look at some of the evidence, some of the facts.

Anyways, there are a few yes or no questions it seems Ewk and ThatKir seem to like to ask people I post them here in one version:

Are these individuals sexual predators?

Can these sexual predators transmit the Dharma?

Do these sexual predators claim to belong to Bodhidharma’s lineage?

If so, what Zen Master ever used religious authority to coerce parishioners into trading sexual favors for spiritual benefits or taught that sexual predators could be enlightened?

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zentatsu_Richard_Baker:

Baker received Dharma transmission from Suzuki in 1970,[2] and then was installed as abbot of San Francisco Zen Center

Former students have said that he was addicted to power, abusive of his position, extravagant in his personal spending, and inappropriate in his love life.[14]

Here I think I quoted the most condemnatory statements in the biography, and I hope you will agree it is not very condemnatory at all. Especially not as much as calling him a sex predator. Just because some disgruntled former students call you “addicted to power” doesn’t mean you are. And in regards to sex abuse it merely says “inappropriate”, that’s not even condemnatory at all in my opinion. So I’d say this account is a whitewashing. Wikipedia does a terrible job it seems.

from https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Meditating-on-a-20-year-old-scandal-An-2857821.php:

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. He was neither. Baker was a charismatic leader, brilliant lecturer and dedicated Buddhist. And he was also just a guy, kind of like Bill Clinton was just a guy.

Do you guys like Bill Clinton? Was he “just a guy”? Is this kindof attitude just “normal guy stuff”? Very interesting phrasing here in this article linked to by Ewk in his sexpredator wiki. “Brilliant lecturer and dedicated buddhist”, not exactly the sort of person then that is totally disqualified. Despite Ewk linking to this article I doubt they share the opinion of the article’s writer.

The article on Tricyle is much more condemnatory than the wikipedia article https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/katy-butler-metoo/

The depth of the scandal was brought home to me one evening, listening at my kitchen table to one of the women from San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC). She had been our head teacher’s attendant, and he had seduced her into a secret and highly damaging relationship. It made my blood boil.

[...]
the illusion that the Buddhist communities are somehow going to be safe from every other current in our society. That strikes me as naïve now. We’re all human beings. We all suffer, and we all struggle with the same things. We Buddhists are nothing special, although I hate to say it like that.

From the article on killing the buddha https://killingthebuddha.com/mag/exegesis/sex-shoes-and-california-zen/

Suzuki was impressed by Americans’ dedication to zazen, and dreamed that his students would one day reform what he saw as the corrupt Buddhism of Japan.

This question, What form will American Buddhism take? has been present since Buddhism’s arrival in America.

Another article linked to by Ewk’s wiki here. I really like Suzuki being quoted as criticizing Japanese Buddhism as corrupt. And the notion of “American Buddhism” or “American Zen” I also like quite a bit. I think interpreting ancient texts and bringing them into our reality is a bit of a culture clash. We do not live in their world, they do not live in our world. I remember the Instant Zen book having a really american corporate introduction - isn’t this a sort of american zen? A heterodox reading? A styled reading? A bias, but as they say in the ways that the bible has been misread over the ages, also a creation of a tradition, a “purification”? :)

From the Zen Site: http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/Richard_Baker_and_the_Myth.htm

Nor did anyone even think to view the situation through the lens of the Buddhist teachings themselves or even the particular teachings of their beloved founder Suzuki. 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.

The article was too long so I stopped reading, but it seems pretty good (?)

1. Is there or can there be such a thing as American or Western Zen?
2. Can one be a dedicated buddhist or zen teacher and yet commit sexual abuse?
3. What is anything does any of this have to do with Zen?

Submitted June 05, 2020 at 08:26AM by 2bitmoment https://ift.tt/3dvu5C6