Zentatsu Richard Baker | |
|---|---|
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| Title | Zen Master |
| Personal | |
| Born | Richard Baker March 30, 1936 |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Virginia Baker Princess Marie Louise of Baden (1999–present) |
| Children | Elizabeth Kibbey Sally Baker |
| School | Sōtō |
| Lineage | Shunryu Suzuki |
| Education | Harvard University |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Crestone Mountain Zen Center Zen Buddhistisches Zentrum Schwarzwald (Johanneshof) |
| Predecessor | Shunryu Suzuki |
| Successor | Reb Anderson Philip Whalen Koyo Welch Ryuten Paul Rosenblum |
| Website | www.dharma-sangha.de www.dharmasangha.org |
Richard Dudley Baker (born March 30, 1936) is an American Soto Zen master (or roshi), the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha—which consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum[1] (Johanneshof) in Germany's Black Forest.[2] As the American Dharma heir to Shunryu Suzuki, Baker assumed abbotship of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) shortly before Suzuki's death in 1971. He remained abbot there until 1984, the year he resigned his position after it was disclosed in the previous year that he and the wife of one of SFZC's benefactors had been having an affair.[3] Despite the controversy connected with his resignation, Baker was instrumental in helping the San Francisco Zen Center to become one of the most successful Zen institutions in the United States.