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MAHAYANA (Great Vehicle) TRADITION The founders of the Mahayna tradition regarded Theravada as too narrow, and they incorporated elements of Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism. In the Mahayana tradition there is greater concern with alleviation of suffering than with ultimate liberation from the cycle of life (death and rebirth). The Mahayana tradition emphasizes the person who aspires to Buddahood, the bodhisattva, who seeks to attain wisdom or supreme enlightenment with compassion. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who are qualified for Nirvana but who continue serve in this world until all beings realize their true nature. MAHAYANA BUDDHISM IN THE U.S. Most immigrants to the U.S. come from Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Malaysia The Mahayana tradition includes both Zen Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism. Examples of the Mahayana tradition in the U.S.: Buddhist Churches of America (Pure Land)
Zen (meditative state) is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism. The history of Zen traces to 7 th century China and Bodhidharma, a South Indian prince who became a monk. Zen Buddhism spread from China to Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. Zen challenges the dominant western worldview, which is dominated by science and has a logo-centric and rational view of life. Zen challenges Western understandings of reality in a variety of ways Zen Buddhism asserts that the rational perspective is a limited view of life, not wrong but not necessarily the most valid. Zen Buddhism de-emphasizes theoretical knowledge and intellectual reasoning in favor of direct, self-realization through Dharma practice (meditation). The emphasis is on direct experience rather than creeds. The Buddha-nature is the essential nature of the mind itself. The objective of Zen Buddhism is enlightenment (Satori), an immediate and clear understanding of reality. Satori is achieved and recognized as a personal and individual knowledge that cannot be shared in an outward logical sense. Zen is passed through a lineage of one-to-one direct transmission of thought from teacher to student. The aim of Zen practice is to discover the Buddha-nature within each person, through meditation and practice of the Buddha's teachings. One of the primary forms of Zen practice is sitting meditation (zazen). Practitioners usually assume a specific position such as the position, such as the lotus position, often using as a seat a square or round cushion placed on a padded mat. They direct their awareness towards counting or watching the breath in order to regulate the mind. Another common practice is a daily liturgy service in which practitioners chant major sutras, such as the Heart Sutra In North America, the Zen lineages derived from the Japanese Soto school are the most numerous. One of the most prominent of these is the San Francisco Zen Center, founded by Shunryu Suzuki.
HISTORY 1902 – Shunryu Suzuki was born. 1934 - Sokoji Temple, a Soto Zen temple, was founded by Hosen Isobe. 1959 - Shunryu Suzuki came from Japan to San Francisco to serve as head priest of Sokoji Temple. The temple had entirely Japanese membership. 1961 – Westerners began meeting separately. 1962 – SFZC is founded by Shunryu Suzuki and his Western students. 1969 - Suzuki was asked to resign as priest at Sokoji by the temple's board of directors because he was spending more time with his Western students than the Japanese-American congregation. 1971 - Suzuki died at age 77 of cancer. Shortly before dying, he instructed Richard Baker to take over as his successor at SFZC. Baker had received the Dharma transmission, became an authentic link to the Buddha, and was the only heir to the Soto Zen tradition in the Western hemisphere. Baker also became the head of SFZC. 1984 - Zentatsu Richard Baker resigned amid a sex scandal. 1984-1985 Dainin Katagiri stepped in to lead the community until 1985. 1985-1995 Tenshin Reb Anderson assumed Abbotship of the Zen Center. 1995 - Zoketsu Norman Fischer was installed as Abbot, and in 1996 Zenkai Blanche Hartman was appointed as co-Abbot with him (becoming the first female Abbot in SFZC history). 2000 Jiko Linda Cutts was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. 2003 Paul Haller, who had received transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was installed as co-abbot with her.
Beginning in 1970, SFZC began growing rapidly. It built a network of affiliated organizations. Tassajara Bakery - was established in San Francisco in 1976 to build upon the baking practices at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, but ultimately sold in 1992. Greens Restaurant - opened in 1979 and serving vegetarian cuisine. Throughout the 1980s Greens was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco, obtaining their breads from Tassajara Bakery and produce from Green Gulch Farm. Tassajara Zen Mountain Center – In 1966 Tassajara became the first Zen Buddhist monastery built in the U.S., and the first in the world to admit women. TZMC offers retreats, seminars, and workshops. Participants must undergo the tradition known as tangaryo, which involves sitting for a period of five days or longer in the zendo before they are formally admitted into the monastery SFZC inaugurated the Zen Hospice Project, a volunteer hospice program run out of a guest house on Page Street with five residential beds, as well as a twenty-five bed ward within Laguna Honda Hospital in 1987. It is the largest Buddhist hospice center in the U.S. CONTROVERSIES Most of the controversy surrounding SFZC involved Richard Baker. A second incident occurred in 1987 involving Abbot Tenshin Reb Anderson in which he was arrested in connection with a murder case. The incident drew extensive media coverage and had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher. The San Francisco Board of Directors placed him on a leave for six months and appointed Mel Weitsman as a co-abbot upon his return.
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