Toni Packer

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Toni Packer

Born	1927 Berlin, Germany
Residence	New York
Known for	Meditative inquiry
Spouse	Kyle Packer
Website Springwater Center website

Toni Packer (b. 1927) is the founder of Springwater Center for Meditative Inquiry and Retreats, a non-Buddhist, non-Zen center offering meditation workshops and retreats located on 200 acres (0.81 km²) of land in Springwater, New York. The center was founded in 1981 as the Genesee Valley Zen Center and has since been renamed. Packer is a former student in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Zen Buddhism, and was previously in line to be the successor of Phillip Kapleau at the Rochester Zen Center. Her eventual departure from Zen practice was due in large part to her growing cynicism toward the use of Japanese ritual in Western Buddhism. Today her vision of meditative inquiry is informed largely by the teachings of J. Krishnamurti.^[1] She eschews any labels of herself as a teacher and authority, and rejects the standardized practice of Dharma transmission integral to Zen. She has, instead, requested that several individuals carry on her work in the event of her death.^[2] Rather than teach the community of Springwater, Packer's role is that of a questioner—encouraging the community to inquire into the nature of their own existence, minus the trappings of concepts and ritualized beliefs.^[3]

1 Biography
2 See also
3 Bibliography
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Biography

Toni Packer was born in Berlin, Germany in 1927. Her family was Lutheran in name only, as they endeavored not to divulge the fact that her mother was of Jewish decent. It was in her childhood, growing up amidst the turmoil of Nazi Germany, that Packer first developed mistrust for authority. The family eventually made a move to Switzerland, where she married her husband Kyle Packer in 1950. The pair moved to New York near the State University of New York at Buffalo, where Kyle came to earn a degree in psychology. She began reading the pioneering works about Zen Buddhism by Alan Watts, D.T. Suzuki and Philip Kapleau. It was the latter which had the greatest impact on her, and she soon joined the nearby Rochester Zen Center with her husband. Throughout the 1970s she accepted minor teaching positions at Rochester, and in 1981 she ran the center for an extended period in Kapleau's absence. During this time she instituted many changes in the practice there and discontinued wearing her rakusu, which distinguished her from students. Not long after Kapleau's return she decided to part ways with Rochester Zen Center and no longer identified herself as Buddhist. She opened the Genesee Valley Zen Center that same year, still somewhat comfortable with using the word Zen. Several former members of the Rochester community made the move with her. In 1986 the center relocated and changed its name (of significance, the word Zen being dropped), becoming known as the Springwater Center for Meditative Inquiry and Retreats. It is located on 200 acres (0.81 km²) in Springwater, New York.^[2]^[4] Below is an explanation about the name change:

At the time we still had a number of traditional Zen practices in our format which we have over the years dropped. Still we have been linked in people's minds not only with Buddhism, but also with Japanese traditions. Our work is without any of these ties...[W]henever the work of the organization should be made clear, the phrase "for meditative inquiry and retreats" will be added.^[5]

Packer still sees a potential usefulness in zazen meditation, and her center steadily hosts silent meditation retreats throughout the year. With that being said, the kind of meditation practiced at her center cannot be labeled Zen, and it is completely stripped of all ceremonious ritual. As author James Ishmael Ford writes, Packer is often described as, "...a Zen teacher minus the 'Zen' and minus the 'teacher,' Toni (as she prefers to be addressed) has abandoned all forms that might incline a person to cling to an outside authority. This includes the use of words like Buddhism and Zen. Indeed, she is the first great Zen 'heretic' in the West—and is generally as respected as she is controversial.^[2] Writer David L. McMahan writes on page 228 in the book Westward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia, "...Packer admits that she is no longer really practicing Buddhism, while still emphasizing the importance of 'meditative inquiry.' In this sense, Packer is 'post-Zen.'"^[6]