{"id":3573,"date":"2017-08-22T12:45:33","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T18:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?p=3573"},"modified":"2022-01-25T20:12:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T02:12:11","slug":"enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html","title":{"rendered":"Enlightenment in Dispute: Standards for Zen Teachers Now and Then"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"receiveshippei\"<\/a>How does a Zen student know if a Zen teacher is a reliable guide, a verified representative of the Zen tradition?<\/p>\n

A Zen teacher claims authorization within the tradition and encourages students to give time, heart, and financial resources to the Zen project.\u00a0But because we don\u2019t know what we don\u2019t know, how is a student going to assess their teacher\u2019s authenticity?\u00a0Well, you could trust your gut. However, the gut can go wrong. Buddha cited intuition as one of the several things that could turn out one of two ways \u2013 you can be right or you can be wrong.<\/p>\n

Why is it important to work with an authentic teacher?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d say, primarily, so that practitioners can plumb the depths of this way of awakening\u00a0and live accordingly with the best guidance possible.<\/p>\n

In addition, as James Myoun Ford Roshi<\/a> writes,<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a surprising number of people, and it seems increasing, the mythic qualities of \u2018dharma transmission\u2019 have become a major seducer, with people seeking and obtaining titles without either significant training, nor, even more sadly, insight. Add in those who just make up titles and, well, there is a jumble of thorns for people to navigate if they\u2019re hoping to practice Zen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Background<\/h4>\n

For more than a decade, the Soto Zen Buddhist<\/a> Association (SZBA), of which I\u2019ve been a member since the 90\u2019s, has been working on this issue. The group came together with the promise of becoming something more than a collegial group. Led by the late Kyogen Carlson and others, the vision was to create a professional association, a Soto Zen denomination, that would support ethical practices and provide some verification of a teacher\u2019s training in order to help teachers and students alike.<\/p>\n

Granted, it is dicey territory. Zen teachers, and rightly so, are quite sensitive to any qualification of the teacher\u2019s power to give dharma transmission to whomever they view as appropriate. Fortunately, the SZBA has been careful not suggest that we abridge a teacher\u2019s authority, but that for membership in a professional organization, more is required.\u00a0If we are to move in the direction of creating a profession of Zen teacher, then as with other professions in this culture, there are training standards that involve joining a community of similarly trained people who assess if an applicant is qualified. This is an important move from one person authorizing a new teacher to a group\u2019s recognition of a candidate\u2019s qualifications.<\/p>\n

Presently, the only qualification for joining the SZBA is that a candidate has dharma transmission in a recognized Soto lineage. Therefore, membership in SZBA says only\u00a0that one person with dharma transmission offered it to another. And because there is a wide range of what is required in Zen training, both in terms of the process and the outcome, this really doesn\u2019t say much. And it seems to be saying less and less.<\/p>\n

So, Zen students, you would do well to cut through the mist of the \u201cmythic qualities of dharma transmission,\u201d and pay attention. This, however, as I said above, is tough when you don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Here is what the SZBA board is now proposing:<\/p>\n

(Proposed) Standards Required for Full SZBA Membership<\/u><\/b><\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. Five years of intensive priest formation with a teacher<\/li>\n
  2. At least one twelve-week practice period or, alternately, four three-week intensive practice periods<\/li>\n
  3. At least fifteen full sesshin-days per year during five years of priest training<\/li>\n
  4. Dharma transmission<\/li>\n
  5. Ethics guidelines and procedures for conflicts, applicable to the teacher\/member and to their sangha<\/li>\n
  6. Service in the traditional Soto Zen position of\u00a0shuso\u00a0<\/i>in a manner consistent with one\u2019s lineage tradition<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Before I discuss these standards, let\u2019s take a step back: There are various approaches to assessments of this type that can be divided most simply into two: either focus on what steps<\/span> (process) a person is required to take or what outcome<\/span> the person is expected to have attained. The proposed SZBA standards focus on the first rather than the second. Although the second is really the point, of course, the first is much easier to quantify. The Japanese Soto system has a similar, although more robust, set of requirements, focussed on number of years (and number of ango) one spends in an approved monastery \u2013 again a \u201cwhat steps\u201d rather than \u201cwhat outcome\u201d approach.<\/p>\n

    How has this issue been dealt with in the past?<\/h4>\n

    According to Jiang Wu in Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism<\/a> in Seventeenth-Century China, <\/em>the Chan community 17th century China was dealing with some of the same issues. The standards that they settled on (both Linchi and Caodong lineages) required a verified enlightenment experience and transmission in a person-to-person unbroken lineage. Transmissions that were claimed remotely, either in time or space, where not respected. And the handing off of a transmission by one teacher for another teacher to distribute later, \u201cproxy transmissions,\u201d were also suspect.<\/p>\n

    One prominent branch of the Linchi lineage began to dig into the Caodong lines and question both the \u201cverified\u201d nature of their enlightenments and their transmissions. It resulted in many nasty letters, books, and even a lawsuit that led to book burning and a warrant for the arrest of one of the protagonists. These dudes may have had enlightenment experiences but seriously lacked social skills! Later research by the Caodong folks revealed that the Linchi lines also had some questionable links.<\/p>\n

    There are a couple important points here. First, what is more important in a teacher of the Zen way of awakening than to have had a verified awakening experience? The modern koan curriculum seems to have been developed, in part, for just this purpose and it is very effective. However, not all lineages in Soto Zen, indeed a considerable minority, use a koan curriculum. In the nonkoan lines of Soto Zen, to my knowledge, there is simply no method of verifying an awakening experience. Even if the SZBA standards are accepted, if a teacher is a new member (others will be grandparented in), that just means they\u2019ve checked off the boxes in the list, not that there has been any particular outcome \u2013 like awakening and learning to live with it.<\/p>\n

    Where do I stand?<\/h4>\n

    At first I thought I\u2019d vote against these standards. I was concerned that voting for them would affirm that the practice period and sesshin requirements are \u201cintensive.\u201d In my view<\/span>, they are not. One ninety-day practice period (or four three-week sessions) and seventy-five days of sesshin sets a very low bar \u2013 far too low by a factor of about five for someone to lead others in these practices.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019ve been surprised to see in the listserve discussions that many see the standards as too high.<\/p>\n

    So although I view the proposed SZBA standards as setting a very low bar, I\u2019ve decided to vote for a low bar \u2013 better, I hope, than no bar. For those who train with us here in Nebraska, we will offer what we think fitting \u2013 a much more rigorous process with equally rigorous attention to outcome.<\/p>\n

    \u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

    \"IMG_1047\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    How does a Zen student know if a Zen teacher is a reliable guide, a verified representative of the Zen tradition?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":3579,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEnlightenment in Dispute: Standards for Teachers Now and Then<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How does a Zen student know if a Zen teacher is a reliable guide, a verified representative of the Zen tradition?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Enlightenment in Dispute: Standards for Teachers Now and Then\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How does a Zen student know if a Zen teacher is a reliable guide, a verified representative of the Zen tradition?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wild Fox Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-22T18:45:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-26T02:12:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/88\/2017\/08\/receiveshippei.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"467\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html\",\"name\":\"Enlightenment in Dispute: Standards for Teachers Now and Then\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-22T18:45:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-26T02:12:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\"},\"description\":\"How does a Zen student know if a Zen teacher is a reliable guide, a verified representative of the Zen tradition?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Enlightenment in Dispute: Standards for Zen Teachers Now and Then\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/\",\"name\":\"Wild Fox Zen\",\"description\":\"Living the Dream\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\",\"name\":\"Dosho Port\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dosho Port\"},\"description\":\"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. Dosho received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri Roshi and inka shomei from James Myoun Ford Roshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is the author of \\\"Keep Me In Your Heart Awhile: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri,\\\" \\\"The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,\\\" and \\\"Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions.\\\"\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.vineobstacleszen.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/author\/doshoport\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Enlightenment in Dispute: Standards for Teachers Now and Then","description":"How does a Zen student know if a Zen teacher is a reliable guide, a verified representative of the Zen tradition?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Enlightenment in Dispute: Standards for Teachers Now and Then","og_description":"How does a Zen student know if a Zen teacher is a reliable guide, a verified representative of the Zen tradition?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html","og_site_name":"Wild Fox Zen","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port","article_published_time":"2017-08-22T18:45:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-26T02:12:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":467,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/88\/2017\/08\/receiveshippei.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dosho Port","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dosho Port","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html","name":"Enlightenment in Dispute: Standards for Teachers Now and Then","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-08-22T18:45:33+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-26T02:12:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd"},"description":"How does a Zen student know if a Zen teacher is a reliable guide, a verified representative of the Zen tradition?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/08\/enlightenment-in-dispute-standards-for-teachers-now-and-then.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Enlightenment in Dispute: Standards for Zen Teachers Now and Then"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/","name":"Wild Fox Zen","description":"Living the Dream","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd","name":"Dosho Port","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dosho Port"},"description":"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. Dosho received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri Roshi and inka shomei from James Myoun Ford Roshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is the author of \"Keep Me In Your Heart Awhile: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri,\" \"The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,\" and \"Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions.\"","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.vineobstacleszen.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/author\/doshoport"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}