Mukul Banerjee
Wait, haven’t we heard this story before? Or was that Swami Satchidananda, or a host of other spiritual leaders who were caught with their hands down devotees’ pants? Joshu Saski, a 105-year-old Japanese Zen Buddhist, has been accused of groping and sexually harassing female students for decades. Since he brought his brand of Buddhism from Japan to Los Angeles in 1962, Sasaki has taught thousands of Westerners at his two Zen centers in the region and one in New Mexico, where he allegedly engaged in “repeated non-consensual groping of female students.” The behavior was reportedly rampant at Mount Baldy, his isolated retreat center outside Los Angeles “where boundaries fell away”—i.e., people were deluded into thinking being groped would bring them closer to enlightenment.