Edgar, So what do YOU think about this? That's what I'm interested in.
...Bill! --- In [email protected], Edgar Owen <edgarowen@...> wrote: > > Zen Groups Distressed by Accusations Against Teacher > > Rick Scibelli, Jr. for The New York Times > Joshu Sasaki in New Mexico in 2007. Some former students say they were > encouraged to believe that being groped by him was part of their Zen training. > By MARK OPPENHEIMER and IAN LOVETT > Published: February 11, 2013 > FACEBOOK > TWITTER > GOOGLE+ > SAVE > E-MAIL > SHARE > PRINT > REPRINTS > > Since arriving in Los Angeles from Japan in 1962, the Buddhist teacher Joshu > Sasaki, who is 105 years old, has taught thousands of Americans at his two > Zen centers in the area and one in New Mexico. He has influenced thousands > more enlightenment seekers through a chain of some 30 affiliated Zen centers > from the Puget Sound to Princeton to Berlin. And he is known as a Buddhist > teacher of Leonard Cohen, the poet and songwriter. > Multimedia > DOCUMENT: Report on Joshu Sasaki Allegations > > Connect With Us on Twitter > Follow@nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. > Twitter List: Reporters and Editors > Enlarge This Image > > Patrick T. Fallon for The New York Times > Mr. Sasaki's Rinzai-ji center in Los Angeles. His senior priests are > conducting their own inquiry. > Enlarge This Image > > Martin Tessler for The New York Times > Nikki Stubbs, who studied at a Zen center with Joshu Sasaki from 2003 to > 2006, said he would touch her inappropriately. > Mr. Sasaki has also, according to an investigation by an independent council > of Buddhist leaders, released in January, groped and sexually harassed female > students for decades, taking advantage of their loyalty to a famously > charismatic roshi, or master. > > The allegations against Mr. Sasaki have upset and obsessed Zen Buddhists > across the country, who are part of a close-knit world in which many > participants seem to know, or at least know of, the principal teachers. > > Mr. Sasaki did not respond to requests for interviews made through Paul > Karsten, a member of the board of Rinzai-ji, his main center in Los Angeles. > Mr. Karsten said that Mr. Sasaki's senior priests are conducting their own > inquiry. And he cautioned that the independent council took the accounts it > heard from dozens of students at face value and did not investigate any "for > veracity." > > Because Mr. Sasaki has founded or sponsored so many Zen centers, and because > he has the prestige of having trained in Japan, the charges that he behaved > unethically and that his supporters looked the other way have > implications for an entire way of life. > > Such charges have become more frequent in Zen Buddhism. Several other > teachers have been accused of misconduct recently, notably Eido Shimano, who > in 2010 was asked to resign from the Zen Studies Society in Manhattan over > allegations that he had sex with students. Critics and victims have pointed > to a Zen culture of secrecy, patriarchy and sexism, and to the > quasi-religious worship of the Zen master, who can easily abuse his status. > > Disaffected students wrote letters to the board of one of Mr. Sasaki's Zen > centers as early as 1991. Yet it was only last November, when Eshu Martin, a > Zen priest who studied under Mr. Sasaki from 1997 to 2008, posted a letter > toSweepingZen.com, a popular Web site, that the wider Zen world noticed. > > Mr. Martin, now a Zen abbot in Victoria, British Columbia, accused Mr. Sasaki > of a "career of misconduct," from "frequent and repeated non-consensual > groping of female students" to "sexually coercive after-hours `tea' meetings, > to affairs," as well as interfering in his students' marriages. Soon > thereafter, the independent "witnessing council" of noted Zen teachers began > interviewing 25 current or former students of Mr. Sasaki. > > Some former students are now speaking out, including seven interviewed for > this article, and their stories provide insight into the culture of Rinzai-ji > and the other places where Mr. Sasaki taught. Women say they were encouraged > to believe that being touched by Mr. Sasaki was part of their Zen training. > > The Zen group, or sangha, can become one's close family, and that aspect of > Zen may account for why women and men have been reluctant to speak out for so > long. > > Many women whom Mr. Sasaki touched were resident monks at his centers. One > woman who confronted Mr. Sasaki in the 1980s found herself an outcast > afterward. The woman, who asked that her name not be used to protect her > privacy, said that afterward "hardly anyone in the sangha, whom I had grown > up with for 20 years, would have anything to do with us." > > In the council's report on Jan. 11, the three members wrote of "Sasaki asking > women to show him their breasts, as part of `answering' a koan" a Zen > riddle "or to demonstrate `non-attachment.' " > > When the report was posted to SweepingZen, Mr. Sasaki's senior priests wrote > in a post that their group "has struggled with our teacher Joshu Sasaki > Roshi's sexual misconduct for a significant portion of his career in the > United States" their first such admission. > > Among those who spoke to the council and for this article was Nikki Stubbs, > who now lives in Vancouver, and who studied and worked at Mount Baldy, Mr. > Sasaki's Zen center 50 miles east of Los Angeles, from 2003 to 2006. During > that time, she said, Mr. Sasaki would fondle her breasts during sanzen, or > private meeting; he also asked her to massage his penis. She would wonder, > she said, "Was this teaching?" > > One monk, whom Ms. Stubbs said she told about the touching, was > unsympathetic. "He believed in Roshi's style, that sexualizing was teaching > for particular women," Ms. Stubbs said. The monk's theory, common in Mr. > Sasaki's circle, was that such physicality could check a woman's overly > strong ego. > > A former student of Mr. Sasaki's now living in the San Francisco area, who > asked that her name be withheld to protect her privacy, said that at Mount > Baldy in the late 1990s, "the monks confronted Roshi and said, `This behavior > is unacceptable and has to stop.' " However, she said, "nothing changed." > After a time, Mr. Sasaki used Zen teaching to justify touching her, too. > > "He would say something like, `True love is giving yourself to everything,' " > she explained. At Mount Baldy, the isolation could hamper one's judgment. "It > can sound trite, but you're in this extreme state of consciousness," she said > living at a monastery in the mountains, sitting in silence for many hours a > day "where boundaries fall away." > > Joe Marinello is a Zen teacher in Seattle who served on the board of the Zen > Studies Society in New York. He has been openly critical of Mr. Shimano, the > former abbot who was asked to resign from the society. Asked about teachers > who say that sexual touch is an appropriate teaching technique, he was > dismissive. > > "In my opinion," Mr. Marinello said in an e-mail, "it's just their cultural > and personal distortion to justify their predations." > > But in Zen Buddhism, students often overlook their teachers' failings, > participants say. Some Buddhists define their philosophy in contrast to > Western religion: Buddhism, they believe, does not have Christian-style > preoccupations about things like sex. And Zen exalts the relationship between > a student and a teacher, who can come to seem irreplaceable. > > "Outside the sexual things that happened," the woman now in San Francisco > said, "my relationship with him was one of the most important I have had with > anyone." > > Several women said that Zen can foster an atmosphere of overt sexism. Jessica > Kramer, a doula in Los Angeles, was Mr. Sasaki's personal attendant in 2002. > She said that he would reach into her robe and that she always resisted his > advances. Surrounded almost entirely by men, she said she got very little > sympathy. "I'd talk about it with people who'd say, `Why not just let him > touch your breasts if he wants to touch your breasts?' " > > Susanna Stewart began studying with Mr. Sasaki about 40 years ago. Within six > months, she said, Mr. Sasaki began to touch her during sanzen. This > sexualizing of their relationship "led to years of confusion and pain," Ms. > Stewart said, "eventually resulting in my becoming unable to practice Zen." > And when she married one of his priests, Mr. Sasaki tried to break them up, > she said, even encouraging her husband to have an affair. > > In 1992, Ms. Stewart's husband disaffiliated himself and his North Carolina > Zen Centerfrom Mr. Sasaki. Years later, his wife said, he received hate mail > from members of his old Zen group. > > The witnessing council, which wrote the report, has no official authority. > Its members belong to the American Zen Teachers Association but collected > stories on their own initiative, although with a statement of support from 45 > other teachers and priests. One of its authors, Grace Schireson, said that > Zen Buddhists in the United States have misinterpreted a Japanese philosophy. > > "Because of their long history with Zen practice, people in Japan have some > skepticism about priests," Ms. Schireson said. But in the United States many > proponents have a "devotion to the guru or the teacher in a way that could > repress our common sense and emotional intelligence." > > Last Thursday morning, at Rinzai-ji on Cimarron Street in Los Angeles, Bob > Mammoser, a resident monk, said that Mr. Sasaki's "health is quite frail" and > that he has "basically withdrawn from any active teaching." Mr. Mammoser said > there is talk of a meeting at the center to discuss what, if any, action to > take. > > Mr. Mammoser said he first became aware of allegations against Mr. Sasaki in > the 1980s. "There have been efforts in the past to address this with him," > Mr. Mammoser said. "Basically, they haven't been able to go anywhere." > > He added: "What's important and is overlooked is that, besides this aspect, > Roshi was a commanding and inspiring figure using Buddhist practice to help > thousands find more peace, clarity and happiness in their own lives. It seems > to be the kind of thing that, you get the person as a whole, good and bad, > just like you marry somebody and you get their strengths and wonderful > qualities as well as their weaknesses." > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! 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