Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center

Buddhism is here to stay, and this book will have historical importance. It recounts the crisis that nearly destroyed the first Buddhist monastery ever built outside of Asia, in the 2,300 year history of that religion, after the death of its founder, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. I hope that the author will put his notes and taped interviews in some university library, since historians of religion will want to consult them in the coming centuries. Wouldn't scholars love to have first person accounts of the disputes mentioned in Acts of the Apostles between Peter and Paul about admitting gentiles to the Christian community?When I first began to read about Buddhism in the early 70's, I thought that a Zen master was a type of saint. He or she could make mistakes, but was infinitely compassionate, above fleshy desires, and as enlightened as the Buddha. But facts in the last thirty years show that Zen masters (and teachers in other traditions) can be insensitive to others' needs, have plenty of desire, and have (so far as one can judge) less than perfect understanding. One can pass many koans or receive transmission from a certified Zen master and still be a jerk--or worse. This book documents the rise and fall of one such man, Richard Baker, the handpicked successor to Suzuki Roshi.Baker, although married, had affairs with female students, ignored the monastic community to hobnob with the rich and famous, and started zen related businesses that, instead of providing money for the zen community, turned into money and time sponges only profitable because the monks provided practically free labor. People were working so hard in the businesses that they had little time or energy for meditation. Finally, Baker had one affair too many and people realized that they were slaving to provide him with a nice BMW, three houses, and a great lifestyle. He was asked to resign and the members of the community, after some initial floundering, hired management consultants, sold the businesses, and put limits on the power of future leaders. The men and women of the zen community deserve great credit for preserving Suzuki Roshi's legacy this crisis could have destroyed it.Another lesson of this book and others such as After Zen by Janwillem van de Wetering or Ambivalent Zen by Lawrence Shainberg is that spiritual wisdom and worldly wisdom (or practical common sense) are not the same. The virtues of Mother Teresa and Abraham Lincoln seldom occur in the same person. Even if Baker was a complete opportunist taking a sweet deal for all it was worth, he should have realized that he was living to high on the hog for it to last.This book should be read by any Westerner who has or is thinking of attaching himself to a Buddhist teacher, or for that matter, any type of guru. The book teaches that faith in a teacher must be provisional and that you must not surrender your own judgment. Reason is our greatest gift from God, and we must never fail to use it. The Buddha himself said that we should believe not because he said something but because we find it true in our own lives and practice and to work out our salvation with diligence. Don't forget that.

In the pop-psych of the 60s and 70s who else was around for Richard Baker to RELATE to? Now, the BMW makes sense! In the wake of Clinton/Monica, even Richard Baker makes sense. He had his groupies and wanna-bes.San Francisco Zen Center survived. All three locations survived. We (almost) all survived. Amazing!This book is MORE than it appears to be on the surface. It is very painful to read until it is no longer painful. It becomes therapeutic after a fashion, dragging the shadow-makers out into the light and revealing them to be just like us - in our most delusional moments. Of course it was unfortunate that Zen Center started out as a Sole Corporation of Richard Baker. Except the Suzuki part managed to remain as Baker departed. There were a lot of errors made - by everyone who was there. The ship went adrift for years. This book allows that sense of shared responsibility, or lack thereof, to finally emerge and presses us with the question: "Why were the voices kept silent?"That is the rub. I disassociated - as a transient participant - in 1982. Therefore I missed 'the perfect storm.'If you are a Zen wanna-be, this is a MUST READ. It's amazing, 30 years on, how many of us keep the practice and stay to the path. Today, I again donate to ZC - it is worthy of that - but rarely attend. If you are in town, drop in for a visit.

For those who are interested in Zen in America, this is a stunning book. It portrays the early history of San Francisco Zen Center and its satellites, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and Green Gulch. Michael Downing had barely tasted Zen when he began this book, but he is a journalist who knows how to interview his sources in depth, and who somehow managed to get nearly all the key players to talk with him, on tape, about the greatest tragedy to strike American Zen in 50 years.To pen the early history of SFZC is to write about Richard Baker, a brilliant, driven, sinister man who became Suzuki Roshi's Dharma Heir and whose deep inner flaws and lack of self-awareness almost destroyed everything he, his teacher and their devoted fellow students had labored so hard to create. Downing is a sly, subtle writer whose skill is such that it is only towards the end of this remarkable book that the reader gleans a glimmer of Downing's real evaluation of Baker Roshi as a human being.All the key players are represented: Robert Aitken, Richard Baker, Jerry Brown, David Chadwick, Darlene Cohen, Linda Cutts, Norman Fischer, Blanche Hartman, Leslie James, Willem Malten, Michael Murphy, Yvonne Rand, Lew Richmond, Gary Snyder, David Steindl-Rast, Betty Warren, Steve Weintraub, Mel Weitsman, Michael Wenger, Philip Whalen and many more: all stars in the firmament of American Zen or the Human Potential Movement. A very multifaceted view of events emerges, woven backwards and forwards through time, wandering in that fourth dimension as comfortably as it changes point of view.There is no doubt that what happened was a tragedy in a deep sense, a terrible Greek tragedy as Zen took root (or failed to take root) in San Francisco. Ultimately, it is the character of Richard Baker that dominates the book, looming larger than life even in the lives of those who forced him from absolute power in 1983. 1983 haunts this book, the one year no one would talk about; the one year no one would stop talking about. Downing brings Baker to life in a vivid and compelling way.As a historian, I especially appreciated the evidence-based approach of the book; the witnesses speak for themselves, for the most part. The view of SFZC and its affiliated properties that emerges during the reign of Richard Baker is so intricate that at times it is hard to keep straight the various narratives and the emotional reactions they had to others and to the events that unfolded. There is no doubt in my mind that this book is the definitive treatment of this crucial period in the development of American Zen. That SFZC survived the events so unflinchingly documented here is a remarkable testament to both Suzuki Roshi's personality and the aching need in America for something like Zen.

This is a fascinating history of the rise and fall of the founder of San Francisco Zen Center and how easily even in the spiritual world things can fall apart over greed, envy and the desire to have power over others. As I long time Zen practitioner, I found it particularly interesting, but perhaps I should qualify my five star rating by saying it might not be so interesting for someone who isnt into Buddhism, meditation, yoga and the like. It was interesting to read about how Roshi Baker got the whole enterprise going, his vision and determination. What happened afterwards was so sad, but the Center is thriving still, so the spirit continues.