Do Zen students improve until they achieve enlightenment and Teacher-hood? Or is something very different going on?
Zen communities commonly take the form of one or more experienced and trusted Zen Teachers leading a group of less experienced Zen students. The distinction between these two classes of people is usually treated as a Big Deal. But what is the nature of this distinction?
Abuses of power by spiritual teachers continue to happen. Why? How could teaching culture be improved?
In November of 2025 I spoke about building structures to support accountability on the part of spiritual teachers at a webinar. This was sponsored by the Association for Spiritual Integrity (ASI), a group with member teachers from a variety of spiritual traditions. You can find a video recording of the talk and the subsequent group discussion here.
Continue reading “Building Accountability into Spiritual Culture”On discerning healthy Buddhist communities from cultish enterprises
This essay was published by Tricycle on March 8, 2025 and is accessible with a free trial subscription. It is adapted from a chapter in my book Practicing Safe Zen.
Up until now, Zen teachers, but not other Zen practitioners, have had organizations that extend across sanghas. That is changing!
The purpose of the newly formed Zen Learners Association is to create a place where all Zen learners, and especially those without other cross-sangha connections, can share collegiality. All Zen practitioners are welcome to join!
The liberation that Zen offers is real! Yet, as I explain in my book, Zen practice must be engaged with carefully.
“Practicing Safe Zen imparts a lesson we all will have to learn if we want to truly mature in our spiritual practice…” —Barry Magid, author, Ending the Pursuit of Happiness
“…This is a thoroughly engaging exploration based on deep knowledge of the tradition as well as contemporary research.” —Martine Batchelor, author, Principles of Zen
The book was released in June 2025, and is can be purchased from Indiepubs and other booksellers. With the publisher’s permission, I’ve reproduced (most of) the introduction below. I hope you will be inspired to read the rest!
Continue reading “Practicing Safe Zen”Tradition suggests that teachings given by a transmitted Zen teacher carry a special mystical authority. But perhaps we should instead take our inspiration from Manjushri Bodhisattva.
In the Zen tradition in which I started, a senior student could give a “Dharma talk” but only a Sensei or Roshi could give a “teisho.” This latter type of teaching has a certain mystique about it. Should it?
We have met with seemingly endless retaliation for calling attention to abuses of power in Zen. Yet we are surviving and flourishing.
It’s been a crazy time, since my last post. That post, and another attempt of mine to engage in discussion about abuses in Zen, brought forth an unexpected firestorm of angry responses from the three other teachers at Greater Boston Zen Center.
Continue reading “The State of the Sangha”A Commentary on N. M. Baker’s Opening to Oneness
There is much to recommend Nancy Mujo Baker’s new book on the Zen Precepts. And there are some passages I am concerned about. In this, the second of two posts, I want to explain why I find a few passages that touch on abuse of students by teachers to be alarming.
A Commentary on Nancy Mujo Baker’s Opening to Oneness
There is much to recommend Nancy Mujo Baker’s new book on the Zen Precepts, Opening to Oneness. And there are some things to be concerned about. In this, the first of two posts, I’ll share my concern that students may be misled about what Zen teaches about “oneness” and “suchness.”
If Zen teaching transmission is not synonymous with enlightenment, and not centrally about mystical power, authority, leadership, or the content or style of teaching…what, then, is the key feature?
In the final analysis, it seems to me that Zen teaching transmission is primarily of teaching responsibility.
The teacher giving transmission believes that the person named as a successor can be trusted to continue the manifestation of the Dharma, and to open the path for others to the best of their ability. They can be trusted to put the teaching of the Dharma and the well-being and development of students above their personal interests. They can be trusted to serve the Buddha by serving the sangha in a teaching role. The successor merits such trust when they truly take on and fulfill these responsibilities.
Continue reading “What is Transmitted: (6) Responsibility”