Eido Shimano & Responsibility

Last week, Eido Shimano, a Zen priest and married man, resigned from from the board of directors of the Zen Studies Society following the disclosure of a sexual relationship with a student. He remains the organization's abbot.

Eido Shimano's serial sexual abuse of his students has been known within the Zen world for decades. Robert Aitken wrote about it extensively, beginning with an essay in Original Dwelling Place (1995) that described the devastating effects of Shimano's alleged sexual abuse dating back to 1964. (The New York Times wrote about Shimano's resignation last week.)

As you know, I rarely use Ox Herding to write about social, political or cultural matters, preferring to focus on topics that arise from my own practice and life. However, as I have read through recent articles, essays, and posts on Eido Shimano, various thoughts appeared which may be of use. I don't seek to inflame the Shimano situation, but perhaps each of us can use this situation to learn something about ourselves.

Trouble
All human beings create trouble. I take this as a fact of life.

This being the case, Buddhist teachers will inevitably create problems. Even the Buddha must have created problems for others.

I'm not talking about the "creative trouble" that helps students - I'm talking about afflictive actions that increase suffering.

The short history of Buddhism in the West reveals many troubled teachers, including Hakuyu Maezumi, Chogyam Trungpa, Richard Baker, and Seung Sahn. Some of these teachers were called to account for their trouble making and some were not. Some of these teachers took responsibility for their actions and some did not.

The Sources of Trouble
Buddhist practice illuminates the sources of trouble-making. The Buddha pointed to attachment, aversion and inattention as the underlying causes of all the trouble we make for ourselves and others. 

Any of us can observe the play of these poisons in our own lives. Here's how I experience it:

Intention
Some trouble arises from intention. A man cannot put his penis in a woman's vagina without intention. A woman cannot drink alcohol without intention. We cannot deceive others without intention.

Now, we may - and frequently do - deny that we intentionally engage in certain actions. But such denials are only misdirection, intended to obfuscate.

If you want to understand someone's intentions, just look at their actions.

Inattention
Some trouble arises from inattention. We fail to pay attention to the stove and leave a burner alight. We fail to see the ant on and step on it. We don't notice the discomfort another feels when we enter the room.

We like to refer to the trouble that arises from inattention as accidental. And perhaps some trouble could be accidental.

But - most likely - we fail to bring adequate attention to our lives out of some deeply hidden intention. We like being asleep. Practice can reveal the intention behind inattention.

Still, I do wish to allow for some possibility of accidental trouble-making.

Inadvertent
Some trouble is inadvertent. That is, it comes with being alive. Whenever we take a step, we crush countless invisible creatures. Whenever we eat a carrot, we destroy microorganisms. With every breath, airborne critters suffer.

No matter what we do, we cannot avoid the inadvertent trouble that arises from life itself. However, we can become attuned to it.

Practicing with Trouble
Every form of Buddhist practice has only one point: to illuminate and transform mind.

Illumination reveals our intentions, inattentions and inadvertent actions. This revelation may occur slowly or in a flash, but it's the point of practice.

We can expect Buddhist teachers to have deeply revealed their own intentions and inattentions. We can and should hold them accountable for this revelation.

Indeed, a person who has not penetrated their intentions and inattentions has little to offer those who seek to understand themselves, no matter how splendid their teaching words.

Thus, we might say that we practice in order to reveal ourselves as trouble-makers. And then one more step is necessary: to take responsibility for our trouble. To knock it off.

Shimano's Trouble
With the above framework, we can evaluate Shimano and his actions. There is no doubt, based on Aitken's writings and on the admissions of the Zen Studies Society, that Shimano's actions have produced extraordinary suffering.

For this reason, we can reasonably determine that Shimano does not understand the intentions that drive his actions. (The alternative, that he understands his intentions and doesn't care, is not impossible, but awful.) Although Shimano has carried the title of "roshi" for many years, it is clear that the man is blind.

Shimano's Responsibility
We can accept that Shimano is blind. All of us are blind.

However, a responsible person - someone who has dedicated their life to minimizing trouble and maximizing happiness - will take responsibility for their blindness.

When Hakuyu Maezumi and Seung Sahn were called to account by their communities, they accepted responsibility and ceased making trouble. They opened their eyes to their blindness. That is the path of practice.

Shimano has never accepted responsibility in this way. Indeed he remains Zen Studies Society's abbot for two more years. What are we to make of this?

Here's what I make of it: Shimano is a spiritual fraud.

He has failed to penetrate his intentions and inattentions, thereby failing the primary responsibility of a spiritual guide.

Since he won't leave, we best stay away from him.

The Zen Study Society's Trouble
The Zen Study Society's board of directors was informed in 1995 of Shimano's alleged sexual abuse of his students in a letter from Robert Aitken. However, the board began grappling with disclosures of Shimano's abuse at least twenty years earlier, in 1975.

The organization's board of directors never took meaningful action to halt Shimano's behavior. 

One board member, speaking to the New York Times, had the nerve to observe that the board believed that Shimano's behavior had been on a "hiatus of 15 years" - thereby neatly confirming the fact that Shimano had indeed abused students, while at the same time confirming the board's unwillingness to look deeply into the fraud at hand.

After tolerating Shimano's behavior for over four decades, the organization published ethical guidelines only last month. [Later note: I have been informed that the board put ethical guidelines in place in 1993 after "a particularly messy scandal." So who oversaw the implementation of those guidelines?]

In short, this board has actively colluded in sexual abuse.

The Zen Study Society's Responsibility
The Zen Study Society's board of directors has revealed itself unwilling and/or unable to take responsibility for this fraud.

Ethical guidelines are an important step toward responsibility and I welcome them.

But what are we to make of an organization that colluded in fraud for 35 years? What are we to make of a board of directors that has consistently refused accountability and responsibility?

Could it be that the dharma transmissions given by a spiritual fraud are themselves fraudulent?

Could it be that the entire organization has been poisoned by Shimano?

Given the board's failures, perhaps the answer is: yes.

It's not my role to advise the Zen Study Society. But I would hope that the organization - its board, teachers, and members - would engage in a profound investigation of the intention of the organization as revealed in its actions.

Such an investigation might lead to further ethical strictures, to further staffing changes, to resignation of the entire board, or even to the disbanding of the organization itself.

I don't know what is best for the Zen Study Society. But I hope that the organization will engage in the hard work of responsibility. It's the path, the only path to liberation.

Conclusion
I am not separate from Eido Shimano. What is within him is also within me. Anyone who studies themselves will recognize this truth.

This means that I am only one breath away from the creation of suffering.

But, when I accept responsibility for my intentions and inattentions, I can choose differently. I can choose the Great Bodhisattva Way of Liberation.

May we together choose this path.

Comments

[puerhan]

Thank you for your clear vision _/\_

[Primejunta.blogspot.com]

Thank you for saying what had to be said.

[CleanURbowl]

Thanks for you continued clarity + pragmatism. We worhip duality. We have become a society were accidents no long occur (someone must be at fault) but when a person is asked to accept responsibility they are unwilling to do so. There are an endless supply of excuses. The "intention" paragraph says it all.

[Genju]

Thank you, Barry. This is the most lucid statement of Dharma and practice I've read.

[bob]

This is why I read you first thing each morning. It is not the certainty I hear from others, but the way you articulate that this path, and life, can be hard, confusing and messy; but we stumble on with no hope of complete understanding. But that's OK.

[Chong Go Sunim]

This really gets me heated up, so I don't want to get too into it, (or I'll stick my foot in my mouth!) but people need to know that they have a responcibility in situations like this. If a person is incapable of controling their behavior, then those around them have to make sure that this person cannot hurt others.

"I wasn't in charge," or "it wasn't my job" doesn't cut it. If you're still confused about what to do (or intimidated), consider it from legal standpoint:

In criminal cases, there's a very hard division between guilt and innocense:
You either:
1. tried to stop what was happening,
2. stood by and watched/did nothing,
3. actively participated

Only number 1 gets a pass, 2 and 3 are in trouble. "Standing by and watching" often gets you charged as an accessory.

Likewise in civil cases, if you knew there was a problem, especially when you were repeatedly warned about it, and yet you did nothing, you are deemed negligent. When the warnings are well documented, and the harm as well, you're really in deep trouble.

In a neglegence case like this, any half-decent lawyer can win a multi-million dollar verdict in his sleep. It's very easy to imagine that the organization will lose their centers to pay for judgements and legal fees.

[nathan]

I found the Zen Study Society's recent comments on the situation and aftermath really soft and still overly deferential to Shimano. Having been a member of a sangha that went through a much smaller version of all of this, it's clear to me that no matter how piercing the teachings are, entire communities can be blind to the impact of a wayward teacher. And the desire to support, please, and deny the possibilities is stronger when it's collective - to the point where dissenting voices are shunned, and even eliminated. I can imagine there have been people in the Zen Study Society's community beyond the actual victims who spoke up, and were promptly shut down because this happened in my sangha repeatedly before someone finally broke through.

It's important not to underestimate the power of group momentum in these situations. My guess is that this is only the beginning for the Zen Studies Society. They a long road of difficult work ahead of them before - I hope they can go forward with a clarity in thought and action that up until now they just haven't displayed.

[Joseph]

Is this what the Tibetans mean by "Ocean Discount"??

[Genjo]

Barry, you have written a good analysis. However, the Zen Studies Society Board is indeed now engaged in the hard work of responsibility. It is true, that with no complaints over the last 15 years against Eido Roshi we became lax. We naively believed that the point was so strongly made 15 years ago, the time of the last known complaint, that Eido Roshi had finally understood and reformed his behavior. When a woman recently reported that she pursued him and he did not decline her overtures, it was a real wake up call. Indeed, we were at fault for being naive, we were at fault for not keeping our Ethical Guidelines up to date with a more workable grievance procedure. However, since this wake up call, here is what we have done so far:

1) Met with and heard from the woman who made the public announcement.
2) Met with Roshi to hear his side (he admitted his error and took responsibility).
3) Began meetings to hear from and listen to our active Sangha.
4) Confirmed that Eido Roshi and his wife Aiho-san would step down from the Board.
5) Confirmed with Roshi that he would not see new students.
6) Confirmed with Roshi the appointment of a new Vice Abbot.
7) Confirmed with Roshi a firm and fixed date to complete transition to new Abbot.
8) Hired professional outside consultants to assist with open ethics investigation (FaithTrust Institute, www.faithtrustinstitute.org)
9) Begin a formal review of organizational and financial structures.
10) Went public with the facts and with the following offer...

If you are reading this and feel your concerns have not been acknowledged or heard, or are aware of ethical matters that need to be addressed, please email your written communication to the ethics committee. With guidance from the FaithTrust Institute, the Ethics Committee will respond and process every communication we receive in a timely and appropriate manner. The Zen Studies Society Ethics Committee can be reached by emailing zssethicscom@gmail.com.

[Mumon]

Thanks for this post; it needs a reply which I will have to make at length.

In short, I think there are a couple of issues that aren't correct.

The issue is not whether Eido Shimano is a spiritual fraud. It is more that there is an inherent conflict of interest when an oversight committee's spiritual development depends directly on the person being overseen.

That's why I think Genjo's solution is a good one.

[Barry Briggs]

One reader was unable to post their comment so they emailed it to me. Here it is for all to read:
==================
I am vastly amused by all the overblown angst being expressed over this affair. :-) The ENTIRE BUDDHIST WORLD is implicated in one old man's sex life? Please.

I seriously doubt that Shimano's seduction alone, or even primarily, was responsible for the "nervous breakdowns" of the women in question. Mental illness is a pre-existing condition with multiple roots.

Actually, I don't see any evidence of Shimona's "seduction," only unsubstantiated (and universally unchallenged) allegations.

Indeed, in the widely circulated "The Aitken-Shimano Letters," it is said, "Aitken speculates that the guilt Miss S. felt about deceiving the Aitkens may have led to her mental breakdown." Oddly, the document doesn't mention how Miss S deceived the Aitkens (or whether she achieved the kensho she sought from Shimano).

Guilt over sexual matters is the critical difference between Western (especially American) and Eastern cultures. It is noteworthy that we have no reports of Asian students having nervous breakdowns after affairs with Zen masters. Was it the affair or guilt over it that tipped these mentally unstable women over the edge?

And what is guilt except conflict between what you feel is right for you and what society says is wrong for everyone?

So perhaps my amusement is unwarranted. It seems THE ENTIRE BUDDHIST WORLD, or at least the sexually repressed American contingent, really is implicated in the negative consequences of one old man's sex life. That part of the world contributes most of the negativity to the consequences: the guilt experienced by these women.

The Barking Unicorn

[Anonymous]

You're still dreaming Genjo....

[Michael]

"perhaps each of us can use this situation to learn something about ourselves."

I have found myself being drawn into this situation motivated mostly by a personal sense of the unfair and biased means used by some of the principals involved in this to promote their positions.

Don't like what is coming out, by my hand and mind, as a result.

This helps put all of this in a more clear perspective and I am most thankful for your help in making this so.

[pete]

thankyou for that barry

[Anonymous]

@Genjo

Just exactly WHO "Met with" the young woman and the roshi?

[Al Billings]

I invite the Barking Unicorn to read the following article, originally meant for publication almost 30 years ago: http://www.shimanoarchive.com/PDF%27s/19820400R_Zen_Seduction.html.

It gives a first person account of a woman being molested (the author of the article) by Eido Shimano.

[mama p]

wow. my heart just broke. i had no idea about this...

and, Genjo? i think the response many of us are looking for is less a 10-point process (with sub-processes, sub-committees, and sub-missions of forms), and more a simple, direct 3-step solution:
1. you CANNOT do that,
2. you WILL NOT do that,
3. you can GO now.

...VICE abbot?? are you freaking KIDDING me??!

(sorry to rant, Barry. your response was beautifully worded and i am grateful for it.)

[golden wind]

What needs to happen is for Eido roshi to humbly and publicly apologize for the harm he has caused and to resign as abbot and from all teaching immediately. If he won't do it, the board needs to do it for him.

The ZSS board also needs to apologize for years of lack of diligence in their duty to the students who came to ZSS for dharma teaching and for trivializing and dismissing the complaints and their impacts.

Humility requires this. There isn't any way around it that will meet the need that presents itself now.

[REDdirt]

I first posted this response on Barry's next offering, entitled Eido Shimano and the Myth of Compartmentalization. It serves better to be placed here. I also proof read (and corrected) a poorly worded sentence at the end.

Barry's offering on this subject leads to a conclusion of Eido Shimano as being a spiritual fraud.

Nothing, nothing exists in isolation. To think this is not so is to be lost in the fog of duality.

If, as alleged, there is present in Eido Shimano, a spiritually fraudulent voice; ie one that is spiritually deceitful and spiritually spurious, there is also present a spiritually truthful and spiritually authentic voice.

IT cannot be any other way! :)

To draw a conclusion, as Barry has done, by focusing only on one aspect of this man, is a fine example of constructing a Buddha then forgetting to kill him.

The conclusion does not stand up. (It is a) fraudulent conclusion.

[Seizan]

Barking Unicorn should also read the letters from the licensed caretakers to Aitken that emphatically state Shimano was responsible for the exacerbation of their condition by preying on them in a clinical setting! Also Pauling clearly held that opinion as well. The five precepts are the first five for a reason. any Bikkhu seriously violating them would be permanently disrobed and expelled for causing so much harm to the Sangha. ZSS hasn't seemed to want to do that after nearly five decades of giving Tai San a pass, arguably starting with Aitken and Soen Roshi. The glowing press release was unskillful in my view.
Some love to pawn "insight" as some elevated grand possession. If Tai San had true insight how could he not see the karma of his continued and unchecked predation?

[Seizan]

*I should say that this wasn't in a clinical setting where he was treating the women but nevertheless was in a power relationship.

[Anonymous]

"If Tai San had true insight how could he not see the karma of his continued and unchecked predation?"

A person addicted to the feelings engendered in taking risks can quite often clearly see how it is destroying their life.

This does not mean they are capable of stopping the taking of risks.

[Seizan]

I understand this dynamic. However, one could clearly see then that eliminating karmic vexations comes from more than preaching the greatness of koans.

[Anonymous]

" ... one could clearly see then that eliminating karmic vexations comes from more than preaching ..."

Yup.