Reddit discussion of structural problems of teacher abuse

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KimUnTeslay?na 9 points 8 days ago*
repress a natural sexual desire and need in people.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is a lay teacher.

As is Sogyal Rinpoche, whose scandals have rocked the Rigpa organization. [www.smh.com.au]

Japanese Zen got it right

Eido Shimano Roshi was called "the Zen predator of the Upper East Side". [www.theatlantic.com]

There have been others:

"In the 1960s, four major Zen teachers came to the United States from Japan: Shunryu Suzuki, Taizan Maezumi, Joshu Sasaki, and Eido Shimano. Andy Afable, one of Shimano’s former head monks, called these four the “major missionaries” of Zen, as they had all received “transmission” from leading Japanese teachers: That is, they had been deemed worthy to be the heirs, to be responsible for the persistence of the teachings.

And three of the four, Afable noted when we spoke, have caused major public sex scandals: first Maezumi, and more recently Shimano and Sasaki. Sasaki, of Rinzai-ji, a Zen center in Los Angeles, is now 106 years old and, as his board members finally admitted in 2013, was groping and fondling unwilling students well into his 11th decade (he also ran a leading Zen center in New Mexico, and his lewdness did not respect state lines).

Maezumi, affiliated with another West Coast zendo, the Zen Center of Los Angeles, was a philanderer and an alcoholic, as the scholar Dale S. Wright has detailed at length.

The only one of the four whose reputation was unblemished, Shunryu Suzuki of the San Francisco Zen Center, gave his sangha over to a man named Richard Baker, who was later embroiled in a sex scandal of his own, resigned from his abbacy, and became the subject of a book with the appropriately suggestive title Shoes Outside the Door.

But there are many lesser-known yet just as randy Zen teachers. For example, Afable might have added that at Chobo-ji, a Zen temple in Seattle, Genki Takabayashi made passes at his female students. And after his death, several students of Dainin Katagiri, the founding abbot of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, in Minneapolis, reported having affairs with their teacher, who had been married. Today, one could reasonably assert that of the 30 or 40 important Zen centers in the country, at least 10 have employed head teachers who have been accused of groping, propositioning, seducing, or otherwise exploiting students.

The question is: How do so many Zen Buddhist teachers get away with it, and for so long? We can begin to approach an answer by thinking about the nature of authority." [newrepublic.com]

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[–]interconnectedmoment 1 point 8 days ago
Sometimes the 'master' creates an unbalanced power dimension. Even though it shouldn't, it does.

All teachers have a duty in their roles, as masters or not, to maintain balance between student and teacher. Side by side. Not above and below. This is the concern I have with gurus, masters and some teachers. When there is a 'level' to be attained it creates a higher lower plane. When in reality we are the same. If you harm me, you are also harming yourself.

kausidya 2 points 8 days ago
If we're the same then what's the problem with sex?

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[–]interconnectedmoment 1 point 8 days ago*

The link between differientiated power and sex creates the distinction, as opposed to the physical act of sex between people balanced in equality of status/power etc. It's whatever your belief system is about sex. There's nothing 'wrong' with consensual sharing of physical acts of love or sex. That's your choice and your partner.

The issue here is level of status being leveraged for sex. Happens with both genders.

Also in these circumstances the teacher, or actor, or boss (percieved power differences) thinks they have special treatment because of their inflated sense of inequality. This specific instance posted I do not know enough about to comment but this "power difference" can lead to people doing things that are inconceivable just because they think they can.

Here's an interesting article about it from a psychological perspective.

[www.psychologytoday.com]

kausidya 0 points 8 days ago
When in reality we are the same.

You're saying teacher and student is the same, so in that case, wouldn't they be able to have sex?

interconnectedmoment 2 points 8 days ago
In reality we are the same. But these are roles that come with skewed power sometimes. Some people in these roles skew sex from students, or people they perceive to be 'lower' in the hierarchy.

When in reality without the roles if the student saw the teacher in a different enviornment just as the individuals there are there would be no sex. Just person to person the sexual exchange wouldn't have happened. It's the skewed perception of levels and certain roles that leads some roled identities to do such things. Imho.


kausidya 2 points 8 days ago
There are some interesting studies on these dynamics, some suggesting that there's a lot of mutual benefit and statistically there might be more healthy teacher/student relationships than unhealthy ones. Here's something I saw recently on r/CriticalTheory called The Erotics of Mentorship.

What an absolutely fascinating article that I will reread when after my brain reboots (ie I need sleep). ;) thanks for sharing. And in coming from a tribe surrounded by teachers in upbringing, would find it very difficult to date a teacher as a student, or date a student as a teacher. Would much rather leave those dynamic roles out of that relationship. But that's just me. The teacher role is prominent enough in the genes as is. Now a teacher with a teacher, that's very different.

[–]Uqbaritibetan 1 point 8 days ago
Authoritarianism has certainly been the major failing of Tibetan Buddhism.

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artfulorpheusacademic|non-sectarian 4 points 8 days ago
This is absolutely antithetical to Buddhism. Beyond dogma, sexual desire is itself a hinderence to the path and to suggest otherwise goes against the core tenets of Buddhism. Even in tantric traditions where sex is seen as part of the path, it is a far cry from what people normally associate with sex with (ideally) entirely different motivations.

Repression is not why we see sex scandals like this. Were that the case, we would see monaatics masturbate or go to a prostitute or the like. No the problem lies with power and those willing to exploit it.

Firstly, Shambala is an almost entirely lay organization, Trungpa renounced his vow before founding and most teachers since have not been monastics, and given the open sexuality of many higher ups, repression is not the case here.

We can also see sex abuse taking place in other non-celibate clergies like Hinduism or Evangelical Christianity, both of which have had major ones recently. So clearly, repression isn't the case here at all.

Instead, the problem lies with power and those who see an opportunity to exploit it.

In all cases we see like this, a person, usually a man, becomes an authority and surrounds himself with the young and vulnerable. Then we see patterns of abuse emerge -isolation, fear, the idea that this is for their benefit.

Spiritual leaders can exploit this even more by asserting some mystical wisdom behind their actions, some plan at work. So the cycle continues with the next victim but the former is too afraid to talk, because to do so would mean his word against theirs.

Layicizing the monastics will do nothing to prevent this and may even further corrupt the Sangha by making temple ownership heriditary or creating a heriditary priesthood like in Nepal.

Instead, we have to remain vigilant and hold our teachers to a higher standard as well as make it safe to challenge them if something feels off or wrong, against Buddhism, be it sex or drugs or abuse. If a teacher violates one of the precepts, that should be an immediate red flag