Kyozan Joshu Sasaki
Kyozan Joshu Sasaki | |
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Title | Rinzai |
Senior posting | |
Teacher | Joten Soko Miura|Joten Soko Miura Roshi |
Based in | Mount Baldy Zen Center Bodhi Manda Zen Center Rinzai-Ji Zen Center |
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Kyozan Joshu Sasaki (佐々木承周, Sasaki Jōshū),
Biography
Joshu Sasaki became an ordained
In 1962, at the request of Daiko Furukawa,[3] Joshu decided to travel to the United States to teach students in the West,[2] founding a Zen center in Los Angeles.[3]
Joshu Sasaki regularly offered formal training sessions at both the Mount Baldy Zen Center and the Bodhi Manda Zen Center, occasionally offering
Joshu Sasaki has given full Rinzai priest ordination to approximately 20 students, which grants them the title oshō. But Kyozan Joshu Sasaki did not give dharma transmission,[3] which is in Rinzai the qualification needed to train students in a training hall to become a priest.[4] Nevertheless, several of his students are recognized by their community "as wise guides of various communities".[3] Although he had no official "dharma heirs," followers of Sasaki founded about 30 Zen centers around the world.[5]
One of his best known students was Canadian poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, who served as personal assistant to Joshu Sasaki during his 1990s seclusion to the Mt. Baldy monastery.[2][1] Many of the poems in Cohen's 2006 Book of Longing refer to Mt. Baldy and Joshu Sasaki (mostly referred to as "Roshi").
Writing under the pen name Shozan Jack Haubner, another student of Sasaki Roshi's has published partially fictionalized books and essays which refer to Sasaki Roshi's teachings and describe everyday life in Rinzai-Ji affiliated Zen centers.[6][7]
In a 24 December 2009 interview Eshin Godfrey, Abbot of the Zen Centre of Vancouver and a student of Sasaki-roshi, said of his teacher,
He has become a precious golden Buddha! You can only have great gratitude for your teacher, even though I've found it a bitter-sweet relationship. As the western styles of Zen develop I'm grateful to have started study in the traditional way.[8]
Joshu Sasaki died at
Financial misconduct
Although not widely known outside Japan until recent years, in 1954, Sasaki was convicted in Japan by the Sendai District Court in a criminal proceeding, confirmed upon rehearing by the Sendai High Court, and sentenced to serve 8 months in prison, for misuse and misappropriation of temple funds during Sasaki's time overseeing the finances of Zuiganji Temple. It was reported that the appellate court imposed actual imprisonment upon finding that a portion of the misappropriated funds were used for "a pleasure/spending spree [遊興費]" in a way "inappropriate for a religious figure/man of the cloth (宗教家)," including payments to several women. Soon after his release from prison, Sasaki was dispatched from Japan to the United States.[10]
Sexual misconduct
Sasaki Roshi was among a generation of missionary Buddhist teachers accused of improper relations with his students. He was one of four major Zen teachers who came to the United States in the 1960s and had a major impact on the growth of Zen in America; the others teachers were
In 1997, members of his Mt. Baldy Zen Center wrote a letter alleging that Sasaki Roshi was engaging in sexual misconduct with his female students.
With sadness and confusion we have struggled with your sexual behavior toward women. In the past open discussion was discouraged, and people were left feeling afraid to raise their concerns about this matter. But this fall we have been meeting to air our concerns and to try to come to a better understanding of the problem.[14]
Stephen Wilder, a monk who was ordained in 1977, wrote a resignation letter in 1982, also alleging sexual harassment:
It wasn't until his Inji, who was engaged to be married, came bursting into my room at Bodhi Mandala in New Mexico after lunch one day during an autumn session, sobbing and saying, "He won't leave me alone", that it finally dawned on me that this was real. Until then I truly did not believe any of the rumors because of my own conditioned ignorance.[15]
A student of Joshu Roshi, Giko David Rubin, raised concerns about Roshi's sexual conduct to Joshu Roshi himself as well as his inner circle. Rubin wrote:
Joshu Roshi told me I would never get enlightened if I thought about these things. I was told by one Osho and one senior student I would be blamed for Joshu Roshi's death if I tried to make him change his behavior, and that I would be responsible for ruining his legacy. "You are killing him!" was shouted at me more than once.[16]
In 2012, Eshu Martin, a former monk in the Rinzai-ji community and student of Sasaki, also publicly accused Sasaki, who was then 105 years old, of sexual misconduct with students.[17]
According to the New York Times, some students posted in message boards that, the Sasaki would tell them that sexual contact with a Zen master, or roshi, like him would help them attain new levels of “non-attachment,” one of Zen’s main objectives. If they resisted, he used intimidation and threats of expulsion.[1]
A February 2013 article in the Albuquerque Journal wrote:
In early January, the senior teachers of Sasaki's community admitted in an on-line statement that the community "has struggled with our teacher Joshu Sasaki Roshi's sexual misconduct for a significant portion of his career in the United States."[18]
See also
- Rinzai school
- Myoshin-ji
- Mount Baldy Zen Center
- List of Rinzai Buddhists
- Buddhism in the United States
- Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
- Leonard Cohen
References
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ a b c d Cayuga Press of Ithaca (2007). The 100th Year of Joshu Sasaki Roshi. Publisher: paperMoon Design.
- ^ a b c d e f Ford 2006, p. 111.
- ^ Borup 2008, p. 13.
- ^ a b "Joshu Sasaki Roshi, Rinzai Zen Master, Dies at 107". TricycleMagazine.com. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
- )
- )
- ^ Tebbe, Adam. "Eshin Godfrey interview". Sweeping Zen. Retrieved 24 December 2009.
- ^ "Joshu Sasaki Dies". Patheos.com. July 28, 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-28.
- ^ "Zuiganji Affair Translations".
- ^ "Buddhist Teachers and the Abuse of Power". PsychoDynamic Zen. 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
- ISBN 978-0-691-05997-6.
- ^ Varvaloucas, Emma. "What Went Wrong". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
- ^ Lesage, Brian. "Sexual Allegations about JoshuRoshi" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-23. Retrieved 2012-12-19.
- ^ Wilder, Stephen. "sasaki.archive" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-17. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
- ^ Rubin, Giko David. "Some Reflections On Rinzai-Ji By Giko David Rubin".
- ^ Oppenheimer, Mark; Lovett, Ian (2013-02-11). "Zen Groups Distressed by Accusations Against Teacher". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- ^ Gallagher, Mike (2013-02-03). "Zen 'Master' Molested Students in N.M." Albuquerque Journal.
Sources
- Blumenthal, Ralph (December 9, 2007). "A Very Old Zen Master and His Art of Tough Love". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
- Borup, Jørn (2008), Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhism: Myōshinji, a Living Religion, Brill
- Ford, James Ishmael (2006), Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People And Stories of Zen, Wisdom Publications
- Vitello, Paul (August 4, 2014). "Obituary: Joshu Sasaki, 107, Tainted Zen Master". New York Times. Retrieved 2014-09-28.
External links
- Report on Joshu Sasaki Allegations
- Bodhi Manda Zen Centre
- Rinzai-Ji Zen Centre
- Haku-un-ji Zen Center
- Zen Centre of Vancouver
- Maha Bodhi Zen Center
- Sasaki’s Mt. Baldy at wearesentience.com
- Talks by Joshu Sasaki Roshi at sasakiroshizen.net