Self-Realization and Other Awakenings

During the 1970s, Zen was most popular. There
were at least a dozen famous Zen masters in the US,
and most of them became embroiled in scandals about
them having sex with their students. I never saw the
point of these scandals and never had the viewpoint
that the poor female or male students were vulnerable
and confused; for really, who is not vulnerable to love
which can come from any direction unexpectedly? Why
should love or sex be controlled? I just did not see it.
But the big argument back then was that a spiritual
teacher had the same sort of moral and ethical
obligations of a psychotherapist or a lawyer with all
sorts of exclusions, preclusions, and confidentiality. I
really never bought that idea back then even when I
was a newby, figuring what did sex have to do with
awakening? It was like eating, a natural function of
the body, and of love.
We don’t think of restrictions on love and sex in
everyday life except for whether you are in an
exclusive relationship or not, but if not, why all the
concepts that sex between teacher and student was
wrong? I saw students and teachers as equals, as
consenting adults, not as God and mortal, or therapist
and analysand.
Yes, Maezumi got into trouble regarding sex with
his students, and I think was divorced twice in very
public circumstances.