Eido Shimano and Social Responsibilty for the Wider Sangha

A couple of days ago, Al over during Open Buddha posted the set of letters concerning Zen teacher Eido Shimano Roshi, who has been embroiled in debate for nearly three decades now. Memebers of the American Buddhist blogosphere, together with the late Robert Aitken Roshi, have been pushing tough upon the assorted crack of ethics issues concerned in this box for awhile now. Sex as well as energy abuse scandals have been not during all singular to Zen Buddhism, so this can be noticed as yet another the single of those cases. But it's additionally the single which has, for assorted reasons, left public, together with in the NY Times article cited in the minute from Eido Roshi which appears upon Al's blog.

This morning, Zen teacher James Ford, who has had some new involvement with the box by general warn of care during the NY Zen Studies Society, released an open minute upon his blog which includes the following:

I was between those who counseled Shinge Roshi as well as Genjo Sensei to seek outside involvement this past year. you was heartened which you chose to go with the FaithTrust Institute as well as privately the Reverend Dr Marie Fortune. you was less sanguinary to learn you, the Board, were not peaceful to follow their warn precisely. At the same time you wasnt there as well as again you felt my charge was to support Roko & Genjo as they sought the approach by which could bring healing to Eidos most victims while permitting your sangha as well as the important mission to go forward.

With Eido Roshis minute it is no longer possible to seek the compromise.

I warn you as strongly as you can to dismiss the Reverend Eido Shimano from any in front of of management in the Zen Studies Society or the affiliates.

For the consequence of his victims, for the consequence of your sangha, for the consequence of the Zen Dharma, you hope you! will ta ke this action.

Thank you Rev. Ford. May some-more follow you publicly, in support of those who have left before.(The two bloggers cited here have been amongst most others.)

I have created the small bit about this incident in the past, though have often stayed away from it, given which you am not the member of this sangha, nor intimate with the details of the case. But I've seen what happens to the sangha when care goes astray as well as energy abuses have been committed, as well as hold which whatever happens in the single village can happen in all of them, if you don't take the event to learn from it. In addition, as you referred to in this post, it's imperative which Buddhist sanghas - generally in places of some-more new transplant like the U.S. - take the low look during the energy dynamics of their group as well as the teachings around power, as well as put in place specific, concrete skeleton which residence energy as well as use of energy inside of the community.

As you said in April, taking someone like Eido Roshi out of his teacher's in front of is the necessary, though not sufficient step. Each of us is, in the sure way, responsible for support the firmness of the sangha. And you can take which in terms of the specific sangha the single is concerned in, though additionally the sangha of the universe as the whole. May you all wake up togther, the single step during the time.