"Zen Master" Rama and Big Mind process?

So I was browsing the web today and somehow ended back at Brad Warner’s site. Specifically I linked to his What the Bleep Part II post where he talks about Genpo Roshi’s Big Mind process. Well at the bottom Brad had added an addendum, which states:

THIS JUST IN: I've noticed that Big Mind™ is sponsored by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation. For more about ol' Fred cheeck out this page.

The name Frederick Lenz didn’t ring a bell, but once I went to the site the name ‘Zen Master Rama’ did. In fact I remember a few months ago that while listening to one of Steve Hagen’s dharma talks at the Dharma Field Zen Center web site, he mentioned the many controversies surrounding this self-anointed “Zen Master” (A term that conventional Buddhists say is applied only rarely, only after many years of dedicated study, and generally only posthumously). Hagen also emphasized that a lot of what passes as Buddhism and Zen in America is basically crap to put it mildly (Warner has a good post regarding this as well).

So anyway I checked out the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation web site and found this:

2003-2005 Grant-Making Activity

The Foundation is pleased to report that it has implemented the following grants as part of its grant-making programs
2. Kanzeon Zen Center
1274 E. South Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84102
Telephone: (801) 539?1771
Website: www.zencenterutah.org
Attn: Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi, Director, "Big Mind Process"
The Foundation has funded a grant to support Kanzeon's "Big Mind" program in the sum of $165,000. The grant has been used to jump start an expansion of that program over a two-year period. The "Big Mind Process" is an innovative technique developed by Genpo Merzel Roshi, who heads the Salt Lake City Zen Center. The process is designed to fast track participants towards achieving self-realization. The innovative and accessible approach taught through this process allows participants to awaken to a universal mind consciousness, creating a major shift in perspective, from a self-centered view of the world to one where all beings are seen as connected with one another. The Foundation's grant has permitted Kanzeon to train teachers in this new process and to offer the program in ever-expanding parts of the United States. Kanzeon has been promoting and teaching the practice of Zen Buddhism, meditation and related disciplines since 1987. The meditative process fostered by "Big Mind" represents a unique Western contribution to the traditional Zen foundations upon which this new practice is based. Genpo Roshi has been using Dr. Lenz' writings to inspire his Dharma talks and teachings in the "Big Mind" workshops, and has integrated the Foundation's musical offerings into this program. The "Big Mind" process was developed by Zen Master Dennis Genpo Merzel after 30 years of formal Zen training and 25 years of Zen teaching and counseling. The technique comes out of both the Western psychotherapy tradition and the Eastern Zen tradition, a 2600-year-old teaching of self-realization and actualization. The Big Mind technique is a very simple yet powerful and rapid way to help a person shift perspective and realize the wisdom that may take a meditator more than 15 or 20 years to accomplish. After experiencing this shift in perspective, each person needs the practice of meditation, or zazen, in order to sustain and deepen the realization.

I’m pretty surprised and a little concerned by the fact that this foundation that was founded by Mr. Lenz aka Rama is contributing major grant money to support the Big Mind process and Kanzeon Zen Center. I mean this Rama dude had a major list of improprieties and student-teacher no-no’s many of which can be found at these sites:

http://www.rickross.com/groups/lenz.html
http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/r/rama/
http://www.ex-cult.org/Groups/Rama/

Lenz died due to an overdose of valium back in 1998. The circumstances of his death were described in this article:

Searching the grounds, one officer followed a narrow path down to a pier on the water. Thin metal rails guided walkers on the path; one of them was bent and broken. Police called in divers who, 10 hours later, pulled a man's body from the water. He was dressed in a suit and tie. Around his neck was a dog collar with a dangling rabies vaccination tag.

The man was Frederick Lenz III, better known to the world as the New Age guru Zen Master Rama; the woman, Brinn Lacey, one of his devoted followers. Two nights before, in a suicide pact, the pair had drugged the dogs with phenobarbital, downed fistfuls of Valium (at least 150 pills by Lenz alone) and stepped off the pier. By some miracle, Lacey and the dogs survived; Lenz did not. Lacey wrote in a note the police found by her side: "We all tried police go too the other woorld last night, anti only Rama made it..."

Some sites that honor Lenz/Rama can be found here:

http://www.fredericklenz.com/
http://www.ramalila.net/
http://www.zenmasterrama.com/

Anyway, according to this grant summary Genpo Roshi has actually based his talks on Rama’s aka Frederick Lenz’s teachings and incorporated his music into his programs…umm say what? Is this the same musical offerings by Rama that were used with his disciples/students? A web site describes his music as follows:

In the mid 80s he formed an electronic music group, Zazen. Since then Zazen has written and produced a dozen albums for meditation and listening. Rama had discovered that in this crowded and hectic time it was easier to meditate when meditating to certain types of music. Rama was able to transmit empowerments through the music, enabling a meditator to experience meditation at home as if they were in the meditation hall with an Enlightened teacher.

Transmit empowerments through his music huh? Interesting…Rama used his music for student practice as described by a former student:

While the student is meditating he listens to music composed and played by Lenz and three of his students. This music is supposed to be phased with the causal dimensions and imbued with Lenz' enlightened aura, which make it a helpful aid to meditation. The student is advised to move his attention periodically -- from the chakra to the music, to Lenz himself, or to an image light.

Hmm sounds a bit on the weird side to me.

And as for his teachings this is from a 1988 Newsweek article:

Express lane: Lenz claims to be one of the 12 truly enlightened beings on the planet. (Obvious question: who are the other 11? "I'm not at liberty to say.") What he promises is an easy way to Nirvana. Buddhist tradition holds that there are two paths to enlightenment, the fast and the slow -- the slow one takes thousands of lifetimes, while the quick one can lead to enlightenment in just one. Lenz's path, a third, might be called the express lane. He claims techniques so powerful that an hour with him is worth 100 years of traditional meditation.

I've practiced zazen for several years and have read/listened to many Zen teachings and Dharma talks and from my limited understanding Zen Buddhism isn't about an easy way or express way to anything. It seems that from many former students of this guy and others at various cult watch organizations Mr. Rama pretty much had a cult that led to all kinds of problems for many students and their friends and families. Anything from computer fraud, to drugging and draining the assets of his disciples, and sexual relations/abuse with numerous female disciples seems to have occurred with this joker. And even though the Foundation that bears his name promotes American Buddhism, few, if any, in the American Buddhist community had respect for the so-called ‘Zen Master’:

Not surprisingly, Buddhist teachers had little respect for Lenz "I've never seen a serious reference to this man in all of my reading of Buddhist literature and discussion," says Melvin McLeod, editor in chief of the Shambhala Sun, an international Buddhist magazine. "He's not someone American Buddhism in any way recognizes, to my knowledge."

Now I must say that I’ve enjoyed all the interviews with Genpo Roshi and his senior student Diane Hamilton at Integral Naked and feel there is merit to his Big Mind process. Although I was a little surprised to hear this about Hamilton from Brandy George’s blog a while back:

The last time I saw Diane was at 2:00 am in her bedroom where she was conducting a séance with other sangha members around a ouija board--she's a TRIP!

That was at a party for sangha members and yeah I know we’ve all played with Ouija boards but it just seemed weird reading it. I assume they were just having some fun. I certainly do not what to imply with any of this post that Genpo Roshi or Hamilton’s Zen Center or teaching is a cult. I’ve read parts of one of Genpo’s books which is definitely not Rama-like teaching and as I said have found useful what I’ve seen of them online. Genpo Roshi actually does have a lineage in Soto Zen (Taizan Maezumi Roshi/White Plum) along with many other accomplished teachers from that sangha such as Bernie Glassman, Charlotte Joko Beck, John Daido Loori, etc. That is much more than could be said for ‘Zen Master’ Rama.

But given all that, my concern is in the fact that Genpo would accept funds from the Lenz Foundation given its direct connection with Lenz/Rama whose past was very questionable, whose ‘teachings’ and music were used in the Rama cult and ‘Zen Master’ Rama’s less than stellar or nonexistent reputation in the American Buddhist community. Why would anyone legitmate want to associate their teaching or community with that? Now you can argue ‘level and lines’ all you want with this Rama dude - he was very smart and earned a Masters and PhD in English Lit, was Phi Beta Kapa and graduated Magna Cum Laude - but come on, the line has to be drawn somewhere. What gives?

Comments

[Vince]

"Why would anyone legitimate want to associate their teaching or community with that?"

I am familiar with the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation. They provide funding for programs that I would say doing very cool things... Big Mind is certainly one of them, but there are two I am personally involved with: Naropa University & the Great Mountain Zen Center. The Lenz foundation offers a few scholarships annually to students in the Religious Studies department (the department I happen to be in), and they are quite helpful in a field where there is very little grant money available. Furthermore, a teacher of mine, also a member of the white plum sangha, and all around great guy is developing a process called "Great Heart Zen" which is a combination of traditional zen practice and western psychological methods. Both of these organizations are doing wonderful things.

Granted Lenz was a strange dude, no question about it, he did take a fortune and create this foundation, which in the past two years has given close to half a million dollars towards what I would describe as very helpful endeavors. The foundation seems to be primarily interested in supporting programs that help "Westerners in a modern, fast-paced America achieve spiritual enlightenment, without religious ceremony." Sounds pretty solid to me, and regardless of whether or not Lenz was weird, I don't see taking advantage of the resources he offers as any sort of permission to be unethical. Indeed, if I were a teacher myself who needed funding I would weigh the potential benefit of what I was trying to accomplish, and put that up against the weirdness of dude who is dead (and who very well could have been brilliantly enlightened) and any uneasiness I would have associating with the foundation, which 17 years after his death, is offering money to help my vision become a reality. Seems like a pretty obvious win to me.

[Shawn]

Hey Vince,

Thanks for the comment and all the info! It is good to know that the grant money from this Foundation is going to good causes. I would like to know more about the "Great Heart Zen" - as you know I have a great interest in Zen practice and Western psych so would love to check it out.

As for taking funds from the Foundation, I guess I see it as a double-edged sword in a way. I mean if I knew nothing of Genpo Roshi, Big Mind or these other centers using the grant money and did some research on Lenz I'd probably stear way clear of them even though they could be legit. So like you said it would be cost/benefit - do you take the funds which could help your center help others or do you pass and not risk alienating those that are truly interested but hesitant to become involved with a Center associated with whole 'Zen Master' Rama fiasco.

The thing is many teachers have gotten caught up in the 'money and sex' problems as Ken has pointed out before even though they seem to have some form of realization/awakening based on their teachings. For some reason from what I've read so far of this Lenz dude I don't see much that rings true in terms of Dharma and a lot that rings of 'money and sex' problems even though obviously he was a very intelligent (cognitive line) man. But who knows...

[ebuddha]

Shawn,

I don't think there is any doubt that the Rama, as he was called, was pretty a pretty messed up guy.
However, I also think not it is better not to be too condemning with the whole "7 degrees of separation" thing, especially when it comes to grant money. Think of all the art stuff and foundations set up by Alcoa, IBM, etc. If you start digging into most corporations, you find some pretty messed up stuff.

All the use of sweat labor, the defilement of the environment, the wielding of IBM's battery of lawyers like a cudgel, as a tool to buy up startups at cheap prices, etc.

Even on the personal level, think of who has come out of the Da Free John scene, or the OSHO scene (both pretty messed up dudes as well.) There's a whole stable of teachers there, some of which are absolutely genuine, some of which - well, not so much.

Basically who you are associated with in the past (when you were a little less naive and foolish than you are now) should never condemn what a person is doing now, right?

[Tuff Ghost]

Notice that Brad Warner hasn't actually claimed to have tried the Big Mind process, or holosync for that matter. His ideas on what meditation/Buddhism must be are frustratingly stubborn. "That's not Zen! THIS is Zen! And I'm the rootin' tootin' toughest Zen cowboy in town!"

He also wrongly characterized Wilber's 11 day constant consciousness as Zen sickness, which from my (admittedly limited) understanding, is the propensity for always hanging out in the causal, thus shunning the world, not constant consciousness per se.

That's not to say that Warner doesn't make lots of good points, or that the Big Mind process is (like holosync) suspiciously upbeat about its claims. However, they provide a system, and it will live and die on peer review (the problem with the price of some of the systems is another story).

So to an extent it doesn't matter that Genpo Roshi recieves funding from the Lenz Foundation. If Big Mind works, if it really can give you a little satori within hours (I'm also doubtful, but I have no right to claim anything until I've tried it) then it doesnt matter if Genpo Roshi is a 30ft drug taking meerkat.

[david]

I studied with Rama/Dr. Lenz from 1992-1998. I'm not going to try to whitewash all the criticisms about Dr. Lenz' personal life or his controversial behaviors. However, I do want to observe that I had genuine experiences of satori around him, experiences that I had not had with anyone else and have not been able to repeat elsewhere. I still meditate regularly using the techniques Dr. Lenz taught, simply because those techniques--regardless of how fucked up Dr. Lenz might have been on a personal level--work. They work very well indeed, at least for me.

When teachers such as Dr. Lenz are criticized, there is always (to me) a hidden assumption that there should be some type of correlation between a teacher's ethics and their ability to go into samadhi. I see no reason why such a correlation should exist and it always surprises me that people are surprised when people who can go into samadhi behave in less than ethical ways. To me there is no correlation at all and no reason why there should be.

I mean, we see sports stars who are great role models and others whose personal lives leave something to be desired. But this doesn't cause us to question their sports abilities. The same is true of business leaders, rock stars, and politicians.

If it is revealed that Magic Johnson slept with a lot of women, or that Pete Rose was a big gambler, we do not suddenly question their basketball or baseball abilities. But if it is revealed that Dr. Lenz charged his students thousands of dollars in dubious fees, suddenly his meditation abilities are called into question. There is no correlation.

[david]

Also, he died in 1998, not in 1988. At first I thought that was just a typo but then someone else erroneously referred to him being dead for 17 years--in fact, he has only been dead for 7 years.

The difference is important because after 7 years, some of the social structures still exist from his time alive, although in another 10 years they probably won't. It was a very close knit social structure when he was alive. Although after 7 years people are beginning to drift apart, many people have kept in pretty close touch. Also, large subgroups have gone on to other teachers en masse, most notably Adi Da (Frank Jones) and Siva Baba (Baskaran Pillai). When a group of Rama students migrates en masse to a new teacher, they seem to take a lot of characteristics of Dr. Lenz as a teacher with them them. The new teacher--especially in the case of Adi Da and Siva Baba--ends up getting reinvented in Rama's image even if they had years of pre-1998 teaching experience.

Many of the students have gone out and now teach on their own as well--and they have tended to bring both Dr. Lenz' good habits and his bad habits with them. Within this mini-Lenz communities, there is still much samadhi and much abuse to be found. The more things change, the more they remain the same I guess. If I were totally honest, I would find both many good things and many bad things to say about what the sangha has done in the years since Dr. Lenz' death.

My point is simply that, given perhaps that it has only been 7 years, there is much going on in Dr. Lenz' name beyond the official activities of the Foundation, both for good and for ill. The Foundation is the only group with the official legal right to act in Dr. Lenz' name. But that certainly shouldn't be taken to mean that there aren't many people acting or claiming to act unofficially in his name.

[david]

One other point which may be relevant: the Foundation has only really been active for about 3 years. Although it was officially established upon Dr. Lenz' death, a long legal dispute with the Audobon Society tied up the money until about 3 years ago. So it is quite early in the life of the Foundation and probably too soon to pass judgement, either positive or negative. Yet I agree with others who are favorably impressed with what the Foundation has been able to accomplish thus far. They do seem to be very clean in terms of getting money to the right people--I think they reflect the positive, not the negative, side of Dr. Lenz.

[Mark E. Laxer]

Thoughtful thread, here.

I'd agree, that the grants thus far seem to reflect the positive, not the negative side of Lenz. One hopes that, behind the Foundation's curtain, there's not the same type of behavior characterized by Lenz' deep slide that his inner circle got to know so well.

One hopes, too, that the institutions receiving the Foundation's grants don't contribute to the whitewashing of Lenz' image and to ignoring the lessons gained from his abusive behavior. On reflection, by accepting the money, they already have.