[Buddha-l] Oops--Article is from NY Times

[JKirkpatrick]

"Mr Shimano, please stand down
Editorial, The Buddhist Channel, Jan 3, 2011
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- The Vinaya of the Theravada Buddhist
tradition have a term to describe four repugnant acts. Called the
Parajikas (defeats), these rules entail expulsion from the Sangha
for life. If a monk breaks any one of the rules he is
automatically 'defeated' in the holy life and falls from monkhood
immediately................." 

Problem here is that the Malay author doesn't seem to know that
Japanese Buddhist priests  are not only *not* obliged to follow
any of the vinayas, but that Japanese Zen literature in
translation indicates that monks and priests often took off for
the prostitution quarters of their cities, that they had sex
relations with boy acolytes, on and on. So Shimano comes from a
Japanese tradition of free sex for Buddhist priests, it would
seem. His organisation should have known this, and maybe they
did. Aitken Roshi knew it, yet he didn't make any moves until, so
to speak, after his demise.

I'm with Halifax on the problems of denial and of looking aside,
instead of dealing with injury and manipulation, explotative
domination, and misuses of power in sanghas, by Shimano and
others who behaved the same. One good reason why I never joined
any of them.

Joanna K.
 


-----Original Message-----
From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com
[mailto:buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of Richard
Basham
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 11:45 AM
To: buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Oops--Article is from NY Times

Via The Buddhist Channel, the revelations about an abbot's
lechery is unfortunate, and a damned sight more visible now.
Perhaps 'sunshine'
will become the rule, as Halifax and others (including myself)
imagine as a more wholesome way.


Richard Basham

*

An Open Letter from Founder of Upaya Zen Center by Joan Halifax,
Roshi, The Buddhist Channel, Jan 2, 2010

Dear Daibosatzu Board and Practitioners,

I am Founding Abbot of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico,
a woman, a Zen practitioner since 1965, and someone who was
sexually assaulted by one of her Buddhist teachers years ago. I
have been following the discussion on the AZTA listserv for many
months about the Eido Shimano "case".

...

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,9796,0,0,1,0

*

Why Buddhism?: Violations of Trust in the Sexual Sphere by Roshi
Joan Halifax, Founding Abbot Upaya Zen Center, The Buddhist
Channel, Jan 3, 2011

Santa Fe, New Mexico  (USA) -- We all know that rape as a weapon
of war has been used against women and nations for thousands of
years. Rape, forceable seduction, seduction through trickery,
power and domination, seduction through loneliness or delusion
have also been part of most, if not all, religions.

Yes, if you want to demoralize a nation, rape its women, its
daughters, its sisters, its wives........ And if you want to
deepen the shadow of any religion, turn wisdom and compassion
into hypocrisy, and stand by, conflict averse, as its male clergy
disrespects women, has sex with female congregants, dominates
women, abuses women, degrades or rapes them.

...

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,9803,0,0,1,0

*

Mr Shimano, please stand down
Editorial, The Buddhist Channel, Jan 3, 2011

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- The Vinaya of the Theravada Buddhist
tradition have a term to describe four repugnant acts. Called the
Parajikas (defeats), these rules entail expulsion from the Sangha
for life. If a monk breaks any one of the rules he is
automatically 'defeated' in the holy life and falls from monkhood
immediately.

...

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,9797,0,0,1,0


*

Sex and the Sangha: Letters and Leadership by NellaLou (Blog),
Dec 30, 2010

New York, USA -- Eido Shimano wrote a letter to the New York
Times reporter who did the story about him in that newspaper, Sex
Scandal Has U.S. Buddhists Looking Within. It is pretty much an
accusation of making up the whole situation he's engendered.
Blaming others is one of the hallmarks of those in denial.
Everyone's fault but his own.

...

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,9795,0,0,1,0

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