Abstracts of 2000 Award Winners' Papers:

Student Experiences of Betrayal in the Zen-Buddhist Teacher/Student Relationship

By: Caryl Gopfert
Affiliation: Institute of Transpersonal Psychology

This study examines the long-term personal and spiritual effects of betrayal experiences on students and investigates the complexity of teacher/student relationships: issues of power, authority, and idealization influenced by cultural, societal, and familial norms and mores. Using a blend of Organic, Heuristic, and Transpersonal (Sympathetic Resonance, Intuitive Inquiry) methods, eight Zen practitioners were interviewed in-depth and their stories with both American and Japanese teachers presented. Interviewees read and responded to each other's stories. Seven sympathetic resonators read and responded to the stories and held a discussion. The researcher responded to the stories, responses, and discussion. Thus there were three rounds of validity checks applying the non-traditional approaches of intuitive inquiry. Affects similar to those of post-traumatic stress were shown (low self-esteem, self-doubt, trust issues). There was general agreement among all participants that the potential permanent harm in spiritual betrayals lies in the disruption of personal connection to the Divine. The study describes the dependent co-arising nature of betrayals and the distribution of both responsibility and pain among teacher, student, and community. The ultimate responsibility of teachers is discussed. The dance between spiritual insight and understanding, and its corresponding "shadow" is depicted. Contributing structural difficulties in Zen practice are defined and discussed. The study suggests areas for change. It also uncovers and illumines the need for a deep, moral shift in attitude effecting how both teachers and practitioners manifest as they live their lives. The innovative methodology reflects a moral shift in research by anticipating and supporting transformative change in researcher, participants, and in the readers. It offers an encouraging example of how research in all its aspects can be held sacred and become an integrative, lived process for both researcher and participants without sacrificing reason, logic, or integrity. (An interesting creative aspect are the Ikebana arrangements done by the researcher, who uses them to capture and reveal the essence of the interviews/interviewees.) By empowering participants and encouraging reflection, mirroring, empathy, and resonance, this new way of doing research may have clinical value as well. Although some insights and suggestions are Zen-specific, the repercussions of the research for other spiritual paths, including conventional religions, is great. Similar dynamics are found between priests, rabbis, and ministers and their congregants. Guru traditions and other Eastern spiritual paths have similar teacher/student relationships. Therapists can make good use of the presentations of betrayal aftermath and exhibited affects, as well as the suggestions for healing, when working with clients wounded in such circumstances. In addition, therapists may observe parallels to client relationships, thus discovering the content to be meaningful for themselves.