Practicing Safe Zen

Navigating the Pitfalls on the Road to Liberation

Julie Seido Nelson

Paperback
978-1-958972-78-6
US $24.95 Bookshop Amazon Barnes & Noble
eBook available
June 2025

In a time when abuse at the hands of religious leaders is too common comes this guide to making the most of the Zen tradition while protecting and empowering yourself

“This is a thoroughly engaging exploration based on deep knowledge of the tradition as well as contemporary research.” —Martine Batchelor, author, Principles of Zen

While the liberation that Zen offers is real, it must be engaged with carefully, explains this sensei. Her book is neither a memoir about a single case of abuse nor a bloodless academic study. Nelson reflects on the multiple dangers in Zen, from firsthand experience in Boston—where documented abuse recently took place—integrating her discussion at every step with core Zen teachings.

“Practicing Safe Zen imparts a lesson we all will have to learn if we want to truly mature in our spiritual practice.” —Barry Magid, author, Ending the Pursuit of Happiness

Julie Seido Nelson is a transmitted teacher (Sensei) in the Maezumi Roshi Zen lineage. Her home Zen community is the Greater Boston Zen Center, a sangha which has experienced three major upheavals due to teacher arrogance and abuses of power over the last several years. She is also a teacher at the Great Plains Zen Center in Monroe, Wisconsin. She has written for popular Buddhist audiences in Tricycle magazine and on her blog. Her Zen talks have been published in the Greater Boston Zen Center podcast series.

She is now a professor emeritus after a career in research and teaching. Nelson is the author of Economics for Humans (University of Chicago Press) as well as many academic books, book chapters and articles published by Oxford University Press, Routledge, Springer, Blackwell, and others. Having begun Zen practice in 2004, she has found it to be of immense value. She is deeply saddened when people, either in addition to or instead of realizing the benefits, suffer great harm.

“Julie Nelson has begun exposing the pitfalls of Zen as a Western Community spiritual practice. Through her own personal experiences and her professional expertise, she illuminates the core problem that may steer Zen practitioners into dangerous territory. In order to do the necessary work of Buddhism—lessening the ego’s toxic grip—Zen students need to become vulnerable and allow the Zen teacher to guide them. Yet, in this vulnerable relationship, Zen students may be exploited by their teacher or a community that has succumbed to cult dynamics. In this important work, Julie Nelson points out the underlying problems, how Zen Centers go astray, how practitioners suffer and how to have a healthier practice place.” —Grace Schireson, Zen Abbess, president of Shogaku Zen Institute, and author of Naked in the Zendo and Zen Women

“Practicing Safe Zen fills me with gratitude, because here at last, in clear and compelling language, is precisely the book we need for addressing teachers’ abuses of power, sex, and money, and for building resilient sanghas that exemplify both compassion and accountability. Julie Seido Nelson's vitally important book should be read by every Zen teacher, board member, and student.” —Rev. Steve Kanji Ruhl, MDiv, Zen Buddhist minister, author of Appalacian Zen and The Whole Earth is Medicine

“A must-read manual, born of the author’s long personal experience with misconduct, for how to protect yourself and your sangha from abuse of power, beginning with how to approach and engage safely and wisely with the teachings. Nelson identifies the problem of sexual misconduct in Buddhist communities as rooted in more than one factor, including human psychology, institutional structure and the balance of power. This book belongs on the front shelf of every Zen Center.” —Willa Blythe Baker, author of The Wakeful Body

“Practicing Safe Zen dives deep into what every sangha member and especially every person of authority in a sangha must keep in mind. Watch out! Be aware of the perils of cultishness, the pitfalls of spiritual bypassing, the poison of thinking you have arrived, the hazard of minimization and much more! This is an important read for anyone immersed in Zen community and practice.” —Genjo Marinello, abbot of Chobo-ji and author of Reflections in Awakening and Maturity

“Curious about Zen? Serious about Zen? Either way, read Julie Nelson’s edifying and empowering book. It’s a vital companion for anyone interested in a Zen path.” —Scott Edelstein, author of Sex and the Spiritual Teacher and The User’s Guide to Spiritual Teachers

“Practicing Safe Zen imparts a lesson we all will have to learn if we want to truly mature in our spiritual practice. It asks us to face the emotionally difficult reality of our own idealizations and subsequent disillusionment, of our hopes and fantasies surrounding Zen, Zen teachers and enlightenment. Nelson takes us through the history of one Zen community torn apart by scandal and teacher misconduct. Yet she also tells the story of how that community has tried to put itself back together, with shared communal responsibility taking the place of hierarchy, authority and submission. Hers is a Zen that has the potential to outlive—and outgrow—our fantasies of perfectly enlightened, Yoda-like Masters.” —Barry Magid, founding teacher of the Ordinary Mind Zendo and the author of Ordinary Mind, Ending the Pursuit of Happiness, and Nothing Is Hidden: The Psychology of Zen Koans

“In Practicing Safe Zen, Julie Nelson is exploring the beauty of Zen practice and teachings as well as the dangers of the practice and the harm that can be caused by teachers when there is power imbalance and unethical actions. Julie Nelson, herself a Zen teacher, would like to cultivate safe Zen as a teacher in a communal setting. This is a reflective and challenging read, questioning authority, tradition and lineages. Is Zen beyond conditions or must one take into account the conditions in which Zen is practiced? This is a thoroughly engaging exploration based on deep knowledge of the tradition as well as contemporary research.” —Martine Batchelor, author of Women in Korean Zen, Principles of Zen, The Spirit of the Buddha, Walking on Lotus Flowers and other books