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

Rating:
Summary: Irritating writing ruins good story
Review: I can't get past the cheap, easy, cutesy writing style. The lack of cohesion in telling the story detracts from what is essentially a compelling epic tale.

Great true story. Really really bad telling.

Rating:
Summary: a gift to all interested in spiritual practice
Review: I loved this book, but then, I was at SF Zen Center attending a meditation intensive when Suzuki-roshi died in 1970, and spent 8 months at Tassajara in 1972. The winter training period was conducted by my own teacher, Katagiri-roshi. I spent the summer working there for the guest season, then left in the fall when I learned that the training period would be run by Dick Baker. I already knew Reb Anderson too well, and thought that the two of them were arrogant fools, an amazingly irritating combination of faults. I couldn't imagine trying to study and practice Zen Buddhism with these two self-important guys.
At the time, although I knew some other students had left with Dick's installation as abbot and grand potentate, I thought I was one of very few who thought Dick and Reb were travesties of Zen teachers.
Now, 30 years later, I read this wonderfully well-written, well-researched, funny, germane, anecdotal book, with a cast of characters so many of whom I knew, and I feel both amused and delightfully vindicated in my young man's judgement. I was amazed to read how many otherwise fine and intelligent women and men with whom I practiced zazen so many years ago were so thoroughly taken in by the Dick and the Reb. It's laughable and pitiable when they finally realize they've been had by the Dick.
And of course it ain't over till it's over, to quote my favorite Zen Master, Yogi Berra: they took power away from Dick Baker only to give it to Reb Anderson, another Dick Baker but without the intelligence, humor, or style.
It was also good to read the fine insights of Ed Brown (Tassajara Bread Book) and Yvonne Rand, two of the people I most admired both in 1972 and now.
What I particularly like about the book is the way it shows how very quickly, in religion, reform and a fresh start (Suzuki-roshi coming to the US) turn into the sour-tasting mix of empty ritual, self-aggrandizing antics, and mind-numbing bureaucracy within a few years of the original master's death.
A sweet and much needed exposé of SF Zen Center, written with care and humor and insight. The mixing up of the time-line, at first disconcerting, becomes a beautiful way into the wholeness of real Zen Buddhist practice.
Although the book is obviously of interest to those with curiosity or connection to Buddhism or Eastern religion in America, its resonance as a cautionary tale of sincere simplicity turning into arrogant complexity will attract a wider audience.

Rating:
Summary: Strange American Zen
Review: I'm in a different position from some of the other reviewers because I was there. Speaking from that perspective, the book is dead on accurate. It is not (only) the salacious story which compells, it is the unanswered questions, questions which, I believe, most people who went through the whole thing have to continue to ask themselves. There is a deep human need to give up our hearts completely to something/someone, and in this case, this need was manipulated and abused. This is a simultaneously old and fresh story. How was it that a man convinced highly intelligent well-educated Americans to treat him like a god come to earth? Presidents and movie stars don't get the heroically self-abasing treatment Dick Baker got from his students. Baker is a remarkable person, a genuine Zen master without a moral mirror of any kind. He still can't figure out what he did wrong.
It was enormously educational to be at Zen Center just before the Debacle. In all my varied life, I have never been in a more confusing place. Nothing seemed to add up, and I put it down to my lack of spiritual attainment. It's true I didn't have much of the latter, but that wasn't the confusion. It was that the whole place was a nest of lies and delusions. That came out later.
The amazing and hopeful part of the story is not really stressed in the book. And that is, Zen Center is alive and well. They took a situation which has destroyed many spiritual practice centers, and they survived and learned. That is a tribute to the deep moral and spiritual treasure of the committed students which are still there. If it wasn't for them, no one would bother to tell that old story.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone interested in ZEN "masters" should read this book.
Review: The best compliment I can pay this book is that I read it twice, starting again immediately after I finished it the first time. Of course, given the way this book is written, you really have to read it twice to understand it. The purpose of my review is to tell people why they might want to read this book (at least once) despite its manifest and rather peculiar defects.

One criticism of this book which I believe is just plain unfair is that the book is gossipy in a prurient, trashy, sensationalistic way. The author actually shows very little interest in sexual behavior, or in the details of specific sexual of financial scandals. The author appears to be driven by a genuine passion to answer much deeper and more interesting, if ultimately unresolved, questions: What drew people to Zen Center? How did Zen Center achieve its meteoric worldly success? What about Zen Center was right? What about Zen Center went wrong? Did or can the Japanese culture of Zen Buddhism translate to American culture? Etc. The author interviewed something like 80 people over a period of several years in a diligent, sincere effort to explore these interesting questions.

One major strength of this book is the author's ability to present a fresh, unbiased, and often provocative or irreverent perspective. The author's position as an outsider with no vested interests or emotional baggage is a crucially important asset. Given the emotionally charged explosion which almost sank Zen Center in 1983, it is hard to imagine anyone who is now or ever was associated with Zen Center having the objectivity necessary to write this book.

As for provocative perspectives, here's just one example. I was initially offended by the author's scathing dismissal of the value of that beloved and revered collection of edited dharma lectures, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. The author writes: "It really wasn't better than nothing, but it certainly was bigger. *** After the book's publication, students of Zen who had never met Suzuki-roshi could memorize what he hadn't exactly said and quote him out of context." Ouch. But the more I thought about it, the more I saw that the author has a valid point.

The author also makes a tremendously diligent effort to present both sides of almost every issue he raises, even issues concerning small factual details. Nobody can be purely objective, but the author strives mightily to achieve that end.

One criticism of this book which is accurate is that the book is poorly organized. In fact, I can discern no organizational scheme of any kind, from one chapter to the next or even within individual chapters. The story is not told chronologically, and it is not told thematically; the picture emerges only gradually from a barrage of randomly applied dots and squiggles. The author appears to believe that this lack of organization mystically reflects the "Zen" character of the subject matter. But, with all due respect, that is a feeble excuse for what is really just a lack of structural discipline on the part of both author and editor.

The most frustrating task which the book's lack of organization gives the reader is trying to keep track of the identities of the many people whose lives are the subject of the story. That is why I read the book twice; so I could understand more clearly who was who. The book would benefit enormously from an appendix with one or two paragraph "mini-biographies" of, say, the 10 or 20 people who are mentioned most often. If you don't want to read the book twice, keep notes.

Yet, at the end of the book, you do know something of the story of Zen Center, and it is a fascinating story. It is a story about what I believe boils down to one crucially important question: How can Americans -- boisterous, individualistic, naive, pleasure loving, hard working, undisciplined Americans -- satisfy their genuinely desperate yearning to integrate into their hectic and fractured modern lives some form of authentic spiritual practice? Is it hopeless to think that we can? Or is it possible? What does the rise and fall and slow re-emergence of Zen Center mean for that possibility?

If you are interested in that kind of question, I believe this book, which is the product of much hard work and a genuinely passionate interest in the subject matter, is worth your time.

Peace and love to all.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling & offers insight into the complexity of humanity
Review: This is a compellng book that is not just about scandal. Instead, it is about the tragedy of a man who was handed the reigns of a religius organization that he had no business or depth of experience in which to lead it.

This book is important for anyone who is involved in religion or plans to become a member of a religious organizations. It helps people to see that religion is run by humanity, and for that reason we need to be careful not about what we have faith in but rather who have faith in.

This book is not intended as a slam against Baker or the Zen Center. If anything, the reader leaves with a deep sense of compassion for all of the players involved, even Baker who is clearly destined for lay life and business administration, not monasticism. It also shows that despite the Zen Center's meltdown in the eighties, its sincere practioners and the true diciples of Suzuki Roshi have made the best of a bad situation and persevered to make SFZC a pure place in which to practice and take refuge in.

Don't think this book is only about gossip and intrigue. It offers much more to the reader who will leave not only with insights about the complexity of running a religions organizations, but also with insights about the true teachings of Zen Buddhism.

Read this book if you are not afraid of the truth and want a better understanding of the "ideal verses the actual."

Rating:
Summary: Obstacles on the Path
Review: This is an invaluable chronicle of what happened when a profound spiritual practice became disconnected from the psychological reality of its practitioners' daily lives. Although the book takes its title from and revolves around the sexual scandal that led to the resignation of Richard Baker-Roshi as Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center in 1983, the real value of this book lies in the extensive interviews Michael Downing has collected from current and former Zen Center members, including Baker-Roshi himself. These interviews chronicle four decades in the evolution of Zen practice in America, from the early years under Suzuki Roshi, through the expansion of the Zen Center to include not only the Tassajara monastery, but also Green Gulch farm, Greens restaurant and other businesses, all under Baker-Roshi's charismatic leadership. We hear how the Zen community struggled with the problems of authority, hierarchy, the authenticity of Dharma Transmission, the meaning of an enlightened life, and how their understanding of Zen practice was transformed not only by the 1983 leadership crisis, but by the subsequent struggle to "democratize" American Zen.
What emerges are important questions about the nature of practice and the role of a teacher. How did meditation itself become a vehicle for denial and for the maintainence of a veil of silence that prevented anyone from confronting the master about his behavior? Just how much authority should a teacher have over students lives and to what extent should the teacher's behavior be a model for his students? At a time when Baker-Roshi was living lavishly with tens of thousands of dollars in discretionary funds at his disposal,his students lived on monthly stipends that averaged $115 - with no health insurance. At what point does "work practice" turn into merely long hours of low paid work? Remarkably, Baker-Roshi repeatedly asserts that for years he had no idea what impact his sexual affairs and extravagent lifestyle might be having on his students. The master of "just sitting" comes across as having had a great deal of difficulty just listening.
This is not a simple story about saints and sinners, but a complex account of how sincere, dedicated and, yes, even "enlightened" people became entangled by their personal conflicts and blindspots regarding authority, sexuality and personal responsibility. This record of how everyone concerned has struggled with these issues, both in their individual practice and together as a sangha will provide valuable lessons to generations of students and teachers to come.

Rating:
Summary: the best minds of my generation . . . .
Review: This is not some truly great book like Robert Fagles' translation of The Iliad, or Thomas Aquinas' Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics, but it sure is a fascinating and exceptionally good read, and a refreshing critique of the narcissism that led to the Sixties counter-culture and its interest in Zen. At the very least it is a cautionary tale, as others have said here, and perhaps something of an unintentional Dharma text in that regard. I liked the style very much, and found the narrative easy to follow. The humor and irony were nicely done, and it was especially poignant to read an outsider's insight into the nonsense we Buddhists engage in.

I have practiced Buddhism for almost twenty years. I have seen this sort of stuff firsthand in EVERY setting with which I have been affiliated, including a short Zen stint periodically sitting at Aitken-roshi's Diamond Sangha, where I was blessed to hear his senior student and heir-apparent rationalize banging the wife, Japanese of course, of a fellow practitioner. This stuff saddens me greatly, to the point where I mostly just practice on my own and stay away from "The Buddhist Scene." We are encouraged as Buddhists to examine our own faults, rather than those of others. Yes. Good advice, but I don't think it translates into wholesale abandonment of discriminating wisdom or good judgement. We are encouraged to transcend ordinary views. Yes, but I don't believe this is license to jettison common decency and common sense.

Whether or not Zen is a religion, a "spiritual path" or even a form of Buddhism is a matter of definition. If it is Buddhism, it is a rather strange sort, especially the way Zen has evolved in the US. For basics, Buddha taught clearly that a student was to train in moral discipline first, that this foundational practice would then allow a settling of the mind in meditation, and once one could meditate well one was to begin meditating on the profound wisdom teachings. Certainly, meditation and wisdom could be introduced from the very beginning, but the progression of emphasis was clearly moral discipline, then meditation, then wisdom. Zen, especially American Zen, turns this on its head, starting with merely a nod to morality of a decidedly counter-cultural variety, focusing instead on meditation technique and a very sloppy and unsystematic, but oh-so clever "Zen-speak" approach to the epistemological wisdom teachings of the Mahayana, with the hope that once one becomes "enlightened" one's moral discipline will then fall into place naturally, or even the sophistry that, once enlightened, whatever one does automatically IS enlightened moral conduct. Ha! This book makes mincemeat of that little conceit, simply by telling this tale in all its glory. Besides, the idea that these characters might be enlightened is simply laughable; that some of their students believed so is both laughable and tragic. How naive to mistake charisma, a bit of knowledge, a good rap and perhaps a few minor psychic powers for the enlightened state of the Buddha. From a moral standpoint, it is particularly telling that the author emphasizes how Suzuki-roshi wanted to "give the precepts" to students. In my tradition, yes, someone gives the vows (not mere precepts) when the student requests them, but the emphasis is not on the "giving," rather it is on the student "requesting," "taking" and "KEEPING!" these vows of moral discipline.

Buddhism is Buddhism. It is not liberalism, socialism, pacifism, environmentalism, utopianism, feminism, social activism, hedonism, nor any other "ism." It is Buddhism. IMHO, Buddhism in America all too often has little to do with Buddhism, and everything to do with "The Buddhist Scene," as it was so accurately (but, I think, unintendedly) described by one of those quoted in the book. American Buddhism seems to be populated to an unfortunate degree by a certain breed of social malcontents with woefully unresolved ambivalence toward some very basic life skills and attitudes such as discipline, autonomy, identity, integrity, sexuality, and other-centeredness. Rather than addressing these areas and maturing, they take the "Spiritual Bypass." That a bunch of spoiled, disaffected and sadly confused youth rejected their own rich cultural and religious heritage to indulge in a search for meaning and salvation in exotic cultures is probably silly enough, but harmless. That they then took only the most superficial, self-serving parts of the precious teachings they found there, and used them to justify behavior and attitudes that would never have been condoned or admired in those other cultures has probably set the "project" of bringing Buddhism to America back many years. Most ordinary people I talk to are decidedly wary of Buddhism and Buddhists, and I think these sorts of shenanigans are the reason. "The Buddhist Scene" has brought dishonor on the Dharma, no small karmic matter. Pitifully, many of these people, in their narcissisim, still don't seem to get it, especially Baker-roshi. Arrogance and self-deception spring eternal. Sometimes I think us practitioners, our society, and Buddhism itself, all would have been better served if we had merely stayed at home and studied the Judeo-Christian scriptures or the discourses of Epictetus, and put the immense wisdom we found THERE into practice.

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness..." Indeed. Read it and weep. But read it.

Rating:
Summary: An Epic Story But Poorly Written
Review: This is one of the most frustrating books I have EVER read. I am very familiar with the story. I am a Buddhist who lived in San Francisco from 1979 to 1988. I have sat zazen at Zen Center and at Green Gulch and have met a few of the people mentioned in the book. The story of Suzuki-Roshi, of Zen Center and of the rise and fall of Richard Baker is epic and extremely significant to American Buddhism. I predict it will become more and more legendary as the decades pass.

However, a concise and systematic telling of this tale has yet to be written. "Shoes Outside The Door" is not that telling. In my mind it is a complete mess, a complete waste of what could have been the signature piece on this bit of history. The author has done a heroic job of compiling and piecing together the intricacies and events of three decades at Zen Center by holding many many interviews and pouring over old diaries, meeting minutes, letters, and personal notes. I complement him on his efforts. My problem (and it is significant) is with the authors organization and writing style.

The major problem I have is with the organization. The author jumps back and forth among the years, sometimes in the same sentence. He also jumps from interviewee to interviewee at random in the same paragraph. The chapters are seemingly divided arbitrarily (maybe into subject matter, but that is not consistent either). One sentence he is discussing 1983 and the next 1997 or 1979. It's as if he took his notes and threw them up into the air, grabbed a handful off the ground at random, and wrote a chapter based on the notes he grabbed. The result is a complete shambles of chronology and, well, of sense. It is extremely difficult to follow and remember what happened when. I understand from the dust jacket and the Introduction that the author did this on purpose and he implies that he did this at the request of some of the interviewees. However, I feel that the story could have been told in a GRAND MANNER had it been presented in chronology order. To me this is a major flaw.

The second problem is his writing style, which borders on the melodramatic. He has a MOST ANNOYING habit of using double negatives at a frequency that is absurd. Here is an example (from page 327): "So, just as it was not not about sex, it was also not not about money." This would be ok if used judiciously but the author uses this technique on almost every other page. (OK, I'm exaggerating for effect...but he uses this technique A LOT!) Here is another example (page xvii from the Introduction): "The spirit of the place [meaning Green Gulch] is not not friendly." Another one (page 142): "....in America, the ceremony would not mean nothing."

Another writing style thing is his frequent use of one-word or one-sentence paragraph. Everyone knows from high school creative writing classes that this is an easy and cheap way of emphasizing a dramatic point to make it more profound. But again, there is overuse here.

On the plus side I did learn A LOT about people and places that I was familiar with, but did not know the background. For example, the wonderful vegetarian restaurant Greens, the Dharma transmission to Bill Kwong, the final days of Nancy Wilson Ross, and etc.

I wish the Editor had been stronger. If you want a different (but just as significant) true Buddhist story, read "Bones Of The Master" by George Crane. It is WONDERFULLY written without overusing writing cliches. And the organization and chronology are easy to follow.

Rating:
Summary: great story, told unflinchingly (funny too)
Review: this really is an amazing story. if you're interested in zen, compelling non-fiction, scandal, the 60's, or the san francisco scene of that time, then this is a great, great book. if you are interested in a couple of those things, then it's a really good book. if you're interested in just one of those things, maybe it's not for you. as a zen student and lover of juicy true stories concerning anything religious, this book satisfied a craving like no other book i've come across. i've been familiar with the stories of zen center for a long time, and it's so sweet to see this writer expose those who deserved it, and to also let the world get to know those who got screwed in the process. this book symbolizes what the written word can do - it can use the truth to clean out old wounds and to lay out a little justice. on a personal note, i went away thinking that suzuki roshi deserved much better from his 'top' disciple, and that his true teaching lives on in bill kwong-roshi, mel weitzman-roshi, and other less known practitioners who may not be official 'teachers', but who are true teachers nonetheless.