Talk:Cheri Huber
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The first paragraph and this article seems to be rewritten from time to time by partisans of Ms. Huber. To state her refusal to name her teachers is of little consequence is to misstate the facts. Whether she is a good spiritual guide or not, Ms. Huber's refusal to name her teacher or teachers puts her at the edge of the Zen world. James Ford's "Zen Master Who?" discusses the matter of self-declared teachers within western Zen and why they should be approached with caution.
I also deleted the assertion she studied briefly with the late Jay DuPont. If there is some way to corroborate this it should be reinserted.
I've heard from others that Cheri Huber studied for a year or two with Jay DuPont. From the same sources I understand he did not give her permission to teach. But this never raises above Zen student gossip. I've not read this anywhere. I've done standard web searches and there's barely anything about Jay DuPont and nothing that actually connects him to Huber. DuPont himself appears to be one of several people who have claimed to receive their authorization as teachers from Nyogen Senzaki. I have read most everything by Senzaki in print, and nowhere does he mention a Dharma successor. At best this all seems to be very fringe stuff for Zen which desipte, as the previous editor notes, the repeated assertions to the contrary by some contributors to this article, does indeed make a big deal about who gave whom permission to teach. The question of authority in Zen is explored in the Wikipedia article on Zen Buddhism.
The question of who studied with whom etc is not an appropriate question to be discussed here. The above comments about "partisans" "gossip", "corroboration" and "authority" are not particularly helpful and are taking things in an unsavory direction. I hope we can please end any further discussion along these lines. Please be conscious that one cannot draw conclusions from an absence of found information. Others may know more. Not to say however that it should ever appear here.
I have removed all such materials from the article itself.
L -- edited on 11/3/06.
Ignoring the question of authority for someone who claims to be a Zen teacher is not a solution to controversy. Please note the section on "teachers" in the Zen section of the Wikipedia article, John McRae's "Seeing Through Zen" and James Ford's "Zen Master Who?" As long as Cheri Huber asserts she is a Zen teacher but refuses to name the teacher who authorized her as one there is an important question as to whether she's simply a "self-declared Zen teacher." When references to this question are deleted from the article, it creates a defacto POV. And that is what the previous editor has done.
I've removed the "neutrality" tag. It's not "neutral" to kick off an article with a negative about its subject. The way that this can be approached is to have a (short) section about this issue, appropriately sourced. If there are no reputable sources on this score, we must remain silent about it. We should not allow Wikipedia to be a battleground for doctrinal squabbles, however important they seem to us. Reverse Gear 09:42, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
