Zen panel issues sex abuse apology

Corina Knoll, Los Angeles Times, LATEXTRA Feb. 13, 2013; Wisdom Quarterly

Zen Buddha (Zero86r/flickr.com)

 

At 19, Shari Young was in search of enlightenment. She thought she had found it at the Cimarron Zen Center (now known as Rinzai-ji) in Jefferson Park and in a Buddhist teacher, a man named Joshu Sasaki Roshi.

Joshu Sasaki Roshi (latimes.com)

But she said Roshi, as his followers call him, began using their one-on-one meetings to fondle her breasts and grope her body. She consented in confusion but left after nearly a year.

That was in the early '60s, she said. A recent investigation by an independent council of Buddhist leaders has suggested that Roshi, a leading figure in Zen Buddhism in the Untied States, may have abused hundreds of others for decades. According to the group's report, that abuse included allegations of molestation and rape, and some of the incidents had been reported to the Rinzai-ji board, which had taken no effective action.... More (Sex abuse allegations surround L.A. Buddhist teacher)

COMMENTARY
Amber Dorrian, Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly 
Zen is a (Japanese) Mahayana Buddhist school -- the "greater," largely devotional expression of the Buddha's teaching mixed with Hinduism, Shinto, and tantra mingled with Japan's patriarchal culture. ...Given its patriarchy, secluded monasticism, and rigid traditions, it is quite like Roman Catholicism. Indeed, many Roman Catholics in America and Europe may feel some kinship with the tradition since it mimics their own understanding of religion. But Zen is thought, or imagined, to be free of all rules and trappings of "religion"... More