I've written recently about misbehaving dharma teachers (see "When Teachers Aren't Perfect"). At his blog Monkey Mind, Zen teacher James Ford brings up the issue of sexual misconduct among teachers and considers what might be done about it.
Apparently there have been new revelations of sexual misconduct about a particular Rinzai teacher who has been "haunted by relentless allegations of sexual misconduct with students over many years," says James Ford. I don't want to replay that tape now (sorry). What's more interesting to me were the Rev. Ford's observations on western Zen going forward.
The Rev. Ford (who is also a Unitarian minister) says that it isn't easy for students to hold teachers accountable, and without some institutional support it may be impossible. And this is a particular problem for western Zen, because western Zen has little in the way of institutional organization.
In many other religious organizations, if a priest is behaving badly, the sangha/parishioners can go over the priest's head and appeal to someone in higher authority, such as a bishop. But there is no institutional chain of authority over western Zen priests and teachers other than whatever hierarchy might exist within lineages. With few exceptions, it's left to whatever governing board exists within a Zen center or monastery to sanction a wayward teacher.
The Rev. Ford tells us that the American Zen Teachers Association (AZTA) -- which is "basically a listserv" -- is discussing the creation of a code of conduct. However, the AZTA has no authority to enforce such a code. What's needed, the Rev. Ford says, is "a pan-lineage organization with some teeth."
His other observation -- and this is not the first time I've heard this -- is that western Zen will more likely contract than expand in the years to come.
As one teacher friend pointed out the average age of the American Zen teacher is somewhere in her or his early sixties.
What I think we're looking at is a dying off of Zen in the West within the next twenty years.
I don't think Zen will go away. But it will be a much smaller thing than it currently is.
I'm not seeing this happening from where I'm sitting, but what do you think?
For another view on self-policing Zen, see Soto teacher Brad Warner at Hardcore Zen. While agreeing with the Rev. Ford on many points, Warner Sensei points out that the Roman Catholic Church's authoritarian hierarchy doesn't seem to stop sexual misbehavior. He is also concerned that some big honking Authoritarian Establishment would stifle western Zen. "I don't believe Zen can really be practiced at all unless its teachers are totally autonomous and not beholden to institutions," he says.
Further, "Sexual relationships between consenting adults are complex matters." As Warner Sensei says, when we hear about a teacher and a student in a sexual relationship, we nearly always assume some kind of abuse of authority and the exploitation of the student's vulnerabilities. That assumption came up in the comment thread to the "When Teachers Aren't Perfect" post. But in my observation it's not always like that.
For my part, I think that if senior students of a Zen center or monastery can't bring themselves to sanction a teacher who is a sexual predator, I think we need to spend some time reflecting on why. Most Zen centers I know of are managed by some kind of board of directors, made up of senior students, who have the authority to relieve a teacher of his responsibilities at that center if something really awful is going on.
So, before coming up with a code or hiring the Zen police, I'd like to look at why it took such a long time for the teacher in question to be sanctioned. I read that just this month he resigned from the board of directors of his Zen community. Maybe one of the rules should be that teachers should not sit on the board of directors, so that the directors can be more independent of the teacher's influence.
Here is some more information related to Buddhism in social media… kinda current event stuff Buddhism
The hpister/punkrockers are seemingly embracing Zen so there is an influx of 40/30 year olds — the new Hardcore Dharma movement — http://wanderingdhamma.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/the-hardcore-dharma-movement/
… when we hear about a teacher and a student in a sexual relationship, we nearly always assume some kind of abuse of authority and the exploitation of the student’s vulnerabilities … But in my observation it’s not always like that.
I agree with you, Barbara. Unless the context is a monastic one which explicitly includes vows of celibacy; and the situation is basically one of two consenting adults — then I see nothing wrong with sexual relationships between teachers and students.
In terms of the “power differential” thing — yes, in relation to the specific teaching community, there will be a power differential. But let’s be honest here: all relationships involve power differentials, across various axes — and almost never is it the case that one person is most powerful is all ways. Differences in power are what create the dynamic of the relationship — its “dance” so to speak — and such differences, when related to skillfully, can just as easily be empowering for both people involved, as they can be disempowering.
Perhaps when both people are sitting together in the highest state of samadhi, all such differences dissolve — but the moment they are moving again within the relative world, all such notions of “equality” are merely conceptual. And this doesn’t have to be a problem.
I think that it is the ‘vow of celibacy’ and adoption of a ‘monastic way of life’ which is causing all this probem of ’sexual misconduct’. Apparently, nature intended us to have a free ’sexual life’, but civilization put curbs on the ‘freedom of sexual expression’ and regulated it through ‘marriage’. However, to negate a ’sexual life’ altogether in the belief of ’spiritual purity’ was an unwarranted development and we winess its effects.
The hole in that theory is that Japanese orders are not celibate, and in fact the roshi whose behavior kicked off the discussion is married.
Mayuram, you might as well say that “nature intended us” to be omnivores, considering the way our teeth, jaws, etc., evolved, but that doesn’t stop many people from being vegetarians for ethical reasons, etc. It is perfectly possible to be celibate and not be a sexual predator; many people manage it.
Quote; ‘ I read that just this month he resigned from the board of directors of his Zen community. Maybe one of the rules should be that teachers should not sit on the board of directors, so that the directors can be more independent of the teacher’s influence.’
Who resigned from the board of directors, you mention many people in the article and I am not sure who you were referring to with this comment. Thanks
Paul
Paul — it’s in the articles I linked to, but the roshi who resigned was Eido Shimano of the Zen Studies Society in New York.
To quote a female Zen teacher:
“We live in a time when there should be zero tolerance of the violation of professional boundaries, and most particularly sexual abuse on the part of leaders, whether they be a president of a country, a prime minister, or a minister, whether psychologist or social worker, whether monk or manager.”
It is simply not okay for a teacher to abuse the trust, confidence & position of power s/he holds as a Zen teacher. The idea that it’s not always a manipulation because all relationships have power differentials is naive. It’s like McKenzie Phillips saying her sex with her father was consensual.
I mean, hey, all relationships have power differences, so why not get freaked out when pastors or professors or teachers or therapists sleep with the people who come to them for guidance?
You’re assuming the student is a great deal younger than the teacher. And keep in mind that in the Japanese traditions, monks and priests are not celibate but may marry and have romantic relationships. I have known a teacher and student in a relationship in which the younger partner was a senior priest well into her 40s. The relationship was public knowledge and not an “affair.” I’ve also known monastics in a relationship who were the same age (30-something) but in which one was very “senior” to the other in dharma hierarchy. The couple were very devoted to each other.
I’d be the first to say that most of the time a student-teacher relationship is a very bad idea, but if you live long enough you find exceptions to everything. If you’re talking about people well into adulthood in a publicly acknowledged relationship — MYOB, dear.
Perhaps the community might look to the laws governing sexual harassment in the workplace. The “power differential” between the teacher and the student is not the only consideration. There is, of course, also the impact on the other students. No ethical or caring teacher would ever seek to gratify himself or herself at the expense of the nonlover-students’ feeling unwelcome in the community or less valued than the lover-student. Such relationships can have a toxic impact on the rest of the community in innumerable ways.