Kyozan Joshu Sasaki

, Roshi (April 1, 1907 – July 27, 2014) was a Japanese Rinzai Zen teacher who lived in Los Angeles, United States since 1962. He sought to tailor his teachings to westerners, opening dozens of centres, and founding serving as head abbot of the Mount Baldy Zen Center, near Mount Baldy in California, and of the Rinzai-Ji order of affiliated Zen centers. Sasaki Roshi was one of the most influential but also controversial Zen masters in America, "coercing hundreds of [students] into having sexual contact with him" since at least the early 1970s, including using threats of expulsion.

Biography

Joshu Sasaki became an ordained monk at age thirteen under his teacher, Joten Soko Miura. Soon after, he followed Joten Soko Miura to Myoshin-ji, the head temple of one of the largest branches of Rinzai. Having been awarded the title of roshi in 1947, Kyozan Joshu Sasaki took the position of an abbot at Yotoku-in.

One of his best known students was Canadian poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, who served as personal assistant to Joshu Sasaki during his 1990s seclusion to the Mt. Baldy monastery.

In a 24 December 2009 interview Eshin Godfrey, Abbot of the Zen Centre of Vancouver and a student of Sasaki-roshi, said of his teacher,

Joshu Sasaki died at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles on July 27, 2014, aged 107.

Financial misconduct

Although not widely known outside Japan until recent years, in 1954, Sasaki was convicted in Japan by the Sendai District Court in a criminal proceeding, confirmed upon rehearing by the Sendai High Court, and sentenced to serve 8 months in prison, for misuse and misappropriation of temple funds during Sasaki's time overseeing the finances of Zuiganji Temple. It was reported that the appellate court imposed actual imprisonment upon finding that a portion of the misappropriated funds were used for "a pleasure/spending spree [遊興費]" in a way "inappropriate for a religious figure/man of the cloth (宗教家)," including payments to several women. In an interview with a reporter at the time, Sasaki said, "With regard to the matter of women, this is my distress as a human being." Eight years after his release from prison, Sasaki was dispatched from Japan to the United States.

Sexual misconduct

Sasaki Roshi was among a generation of missionary Buddhist teachers accused of improper relations with his students. He was one of four major Zen teachers who came to the United States in the 1960s and had a major impact on the growth of Zen in America; the others teachers were Shunryu Suzuki, Eido Shimano, Taizan Maezumi. All but Suzuki were involved with widely publicized scandals involving sexual impropriety. of such behavior in Buddhist communities both in Japan and in the United States remain under investigation. In light of these significant abuses of authority, the Buddhists in the United States have developed statements on ethics and various guidelines for prospective students to apply in choosing a teacher.

In 1997, members of his Mt. Baldy Zen Center wrote a letter alleging that Sasaki Roshi was engaging in sexual misconduct with his female students.

Stephen Wilder, a monk who was ordained in 1977, wrote a resignation letter in 1982, also alleging sexual harassment:

A student of Joshu Roshi, Giko David Rubin, raised concerns about Roshi's sexual conduct to Joshu Roshi himself as well as his inner circle. Rubin wrote:

In 2012, Eshu Martin, a former monk in the Rinzai-ji community and student of Sasaki, also publicly accused Sasaki, who was then 105 years old, of sexual misconduct with students.

According to the New York Times, some students posted in message boards that Sasaki would tell them that sexual contact with a Zen master (roshi) like him would help them attain new levels of “non-attachment,” one of Zen’s main objectives. If they resisted, he used intimidation and threats of expulsion.

References

Sources

External links

Report on Joshu Sasaki Allegations
Bodhi Manda Zen Centre
Rinzai-Ji Zen Centre
Haku-un-ji Zen Center
Zen Centre of Vancouver
Sasaki’s Mt. Baldy at wearesentience.com
Talks by Joshu Sasaki Roshi at sasakiroshizen.net