Time and time again when celibacy is required in a religious tradition, abuses surrounding sexuality occur. Buddha taught a 'middle way' where one of the first five precepts is - no sexual misconduct. Excessive and abusive sexuality is one extreme of misconduct. Asceticism & celibacy is the other extreme from my experience.

One of my Zen teachers, Master Seung Sahn had numerous sexual relationships while 'being' celibate. Fortunately, they were consenting relationships and when confronted, he came clean before the school and the public.

Everyone makes mistakes, and I sincerely hope that if these allegations prove to be true, that Joshu Sasaki owns those mistakes, is honest, and does what ever is possible to make right what it may have done wrong.

requirements for celibacy are put into the soup, there is an increasingly high potential for trouble, imo.

Yes, like rape, sexual abuse is not 'sexuality'. That is simply a preferred tool to act out power & control issues upon a perceived 'weaker' entity.

I am in a Neo-Reichian tradition, and I definitely see a correlation (not direct causation) between repression & suppression of human sexuality and inappropriate sexual and physical behaviors.

A little off topic, but have you seen "The Invisible War"? It's a documentary about the massive problems with serious sexual misconduct within the military and is up for an Oscar. They provide some alarming statistics about the numbers of men who join the military who have previous issues with aggressive sexual misconduct.

The correlation with the desire for power and control is undeniable.

Thank you for the recommendation. I will definitely seek it out.

who actually paid to be groped.

I wonder how many women he groped who did find it useful in their pursuit of their zen training. My guess is that their are plenty that didn't even consider it molestation. By the same notion if this crazy old monk actually believed he was helping them on the path to Zen, it isn't like these were kids they were adults.

The moral of the story is stay away from anyone who offers to fix you with magic and wants you to pay them.

These women are complaining about being groped and sexually harassed. When there is a power differential, the issue of "consenting adults" takes on a whole new meaning and the article clearly describes this as non-consensual.

Did you read the article or do you just assume that any woman (or man for that matter) that complains of sexual misconduct "asked for it"?

While they did print the word "non-consensual" the substance of the article doesn't seem to support that claim.

These women sought out his guidance and to quote the article, "The monk’s theory, common in Mr. Sasaki’s circle, was that such physicality could check a woman’s overly strong ego."

If they were children raised into this like Catholics that would be one thing, but when you join a cult with a charismatic leader who explicitly says that women need to be molested in order to overcome their own ego... why yes you are asking for it. And yes these women actually gave this guy money and continued to for years, it was their choice.

who follow them.

Are you making the case that because you dismiss this as Zen magic, the women someone asked for it? Really?

And are you really calling Zen Buddhism a cult?

Unbelievable.

These women had the power to walk away, and the choose to continue you seeing him and paying him for his services for years and decades. They also had the power to refuse his advances like the one women in the article said she did.

Here is the real question, what about the women who swear by him and his methods? Are they also victims if they truly believe that being groped helped free them from the constraints of their ego?

Unfortunately your position of blaming the victim is shared in some circles.

I've been hearing this argument my entire life. Women being harassed or abused should just walk away or refuse. They should dress less provocatively. They shouldn't walk in that neighborhood.

"Groping" is not a consensual sexual act, so the women who truly consent to this are in a different category than those that do not. Being sexually harassed happens in all kinds of male dominated organizations. Unless some stand up and call it out, nothing will change.

You might want to take a look at the documentary I mentioned above. Or not.

See you around the campfire.

The fact that it appears there is a deep and wide problem that has and continues existed in many zen centers is disturbing and disappointing.

What helps is the fact that I have been part of many discussions about this with my sangha, our teachers, teachers from other centers, and the efforts of American Zen teachers Association to address the specific problems at the various centers and also the root of the problem.

Zen in America is still evolving, the newest generation of teachers have more and more brought American ideas of mutual respect, transparency, and divesting of authority to the Zen communities.

The teacher/student relationship in spiritual practice will always be a power/authority dynamic that will have opportunities for abuse.

From what I've seen I'm encouraged that by and large the Zen community is and will successfully manage those relationships and reduce the opportunity for harm and face the harm caused with full honesty and appropriate actions when harm does happen.

On Edit: Here is a (I think) a thoughtful post on this very subject from a Zen Teacher: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2013/02/a-few-words-on-zens-sex-scandals-what-might-follow.html

It's good to know that there is an awareness and that the issue is being openly and actively addressed.

While this potential exists in any hierarchical community, it is sad to hear about it in this context.