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Greetings Friends,
I am writing to let you know that Taizan Gendo (Mark Adams) left this body, life and realm peacefully on Wednesday, July 1...
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9494877033
野生 の国 禅.
Yasei no Kuni Zen
Wild Country Zen
Wednesday, July 12, 2023 is my "continuation day," meaning, I plan to depart from this world, wit...
The button below goes to the latest recordings of our Dharma talks--an amazing resource for people with real desire to learn about Zen, anywhere, anytime.
We also have a SoundCloud site dedicated to the audio-only recordings of our Dharma talks, guided meditations, and discussions.
By Taizan Gendo (Mark Adams)
In this time of uncertainty and suffering we may be called to more than listening to the cries of the world. We may be called to action, to follow in the footsteps and example of a most favored saint in all of Zen—Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva.
This is heartfelt work, in a confusing, frightening, and painful time, when spiritual practice can be a powerful shared medicine, much more than simply a welcome, soothing balm of comforting habit. The reason it is such powerful medicine is that the bodhisattva ideal cuts to the heart of this mystery of being alive. And that mystery, that essence, is shunyata, the emptiness detailed so exquisitely in the Heart Sutra.
But accepting the emptiness of shunyata, how do we embrace the role of shedding blood and tears, searching desperately (and often futilely) for a skillful response? To suffer ourselves as a bodhisattva while recognizing the emptiness at the heart of all things?
The upaya (skillful means) required for this path seems celestial in quality—not earthly for us mortals. Perhaps this is why in our Mahayana practice of Zen, there are two types of bodhisattvas—earthly and transcendental. The first type (earthly) we may undertake to follow as intentions, as a vow in Jukai, with precepts and paramitas as the guiding lights. The second (celestial), serves as an inspiration for courage, for energy, for resilience, like a morning star. And like the sun, we can all feel it’s effects, but we can never look at it directly with our naked eyes without losing our vision. Yet we know (feel) it is there.
Hearing the cries of the world is gut wrenching, despair-making, but essential to remind us of our intentions. Shunyata, “uncovered” and revealed through the meditative power of prajna paramita, holds the mysterious power of enlightenment that allows us to be effective and not “submerged by the things of the world” as the refrain in the Metta Sutra advises.
Instead of denying reality, or becoming numb to those cries, instead of generating elaborate myths of future rewards, ultimate answers, or a comforting meaning in suffering, recognizing Shunyata encourages us to be with things exactly-as-they-are, just “thusness” and “suchness,” with an open-to-all, loving heart for all sentient beings, and with action—not just ideas, ideals, or meditation.
For each of us, the “how” will be specific to our circumstance, context, timing, and skills. The bodhisattva path is not general—it is specific, derived from the actions we take in response to hearing those cries.
With a deep bow,
—Taizan
Download the Jikoji Chant book with the major chants including the Heart Sutra, Metta Sutra, and more; the Jukai (Lay Ordination) Precepts; Thich Nhat Hanh's 5 "Mindfulness Trainings"; and "Hearing the Cries of the World" by Taizan Gendo, Shantideva's Prayer, and the Twelve Links of Interdependent Arising.
I ask that our sangha give generously each month, in the name of Wild Country Zen, to Vegan Outreach and to Dharma Voices for Animals, in equal amounts, instead of to me (Taizan Gendo). Vegan Outreach is an amazingly effective nonprofit organization working to end violence towards animals--giving to them is a blessing! Check out their Special Video Messages here and then join VO: https://veganoutreach.org
Dharma Voices for Animals (DVA) is a nonprofit Vipassina organization committed both to practicing the teachings of the Buddha (the Dharma) and to speaking out when the actions of those in Dharma communities and Dharma centers lead to animal suffering. Please give monthly dana to them and Vegan Outreach, in equal amounts, instead of to me (Taizan). And please watch their excellent video documentary. The DVA Website: https://www.dharmavoicesforanimals.org
When my friend Rick Gilbert went back to Nebraska last year, to spend the last days with his dying mother, Geraldine Gilbert, he found this poem she had printed out for him to find. "Because of this poem, I held my moms hand as often as I could in her last days."
A wonderful reminder of our impermanence--don't waste time. Practice and generosity can help heal your heart--a gift to the whole world...
We have grouped the Zoom recordings of all the dharma teacher's talks from our Autumn 2020 Practice Period with Jikoji Zen Center called "The Lens of Shunyata (Emptiness)" onto a special page with descriptions of each recording. Click button below...
Purifying hands in the Tsukubai, lighting incense, ringing bells at my home temple—a combination of beautiful Shinto and Buddhist rituals before sitting for the whole world...
Here is a "walk and talk" on a levee in the beautiful Pajaro Valley... And don't forget our advanced meditation practice: a welcoming smile...
In this minute and a half walk, the faint sound of the shakuhachi is followed on a path leading to the zendo at Jikoji Zen Center in the smoke and fire filled Santa Cruz Mountains of California. At last a forest monk (Chōbun Nenzen) is spotted, playing her beautiful, haunting tune at the memorial site of Kobun Chino Otagawa-Roshi...a million blessings upon Jikoji, may it be spared from the fires!
Recording of my Shuso ceremony at Jikoji Zen Center on Dec. 6, 2020. Wild Country Zen and Jikoji Zen Center sangha members test the "chief seat" at the conclusion of the Autumn 2020 practice period called "Explorations of Shunyata." Thank you to all! [Low Zoom quality, some glitches, best we could do with social distancing and pandemic rules]
How did the name "Wild Country Zen" come about? I think of "Wild" as the true, boundless, wordless state of nature; "Country" is meant to signify an open, healing spaciousness, a joyful "allowing" of our true buddha-nature to emerge; "Zen" of course is my Buddhist lineage. I am a guiding teacher of meditation and dharma with Wild Country Zen in Aromas, a sangha with members around the country, and listeners/watchers of our recordings around the world. --Taizan Gendo
My own path in Zen began in earnest in 1989 with the winter residential practice (Ango) period at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center and my first teacher, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, who set me on a 30 year path. In 2009, I received the Jukai precepts and lay ordination, and was given the name "Taizan Gendo" (meaning "peaceful mountain, subtle way") from Eiko Carolyn Atkinson, a dharma heir of Kobun Chino Otagowa Roshi. In 2018 I was ordained a Zen priest in Kobun's Phoenix Cloud lineage by Jikoji Zen Meditation Center's guiding teacher, Shoho Michael Newhall.
The precept of "No killing sentient beings" is not a "personal preference" issue with our sangha. We take council from fellow vegan Thich Nhat Hanh's views of Zen practice and his Heart of Buddha's Teachings...I have come to love this practice, and hope to be a skillful vehicle in sharing it, helping to foster a new Zen awakening. We must become examples of compassion--not just with words, but in our actions--as our beautiful practice clearly requires:
...A Moment We Can Truly See...
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*Aromas Dharma Rain Room=Aromas Water District Conference Room
Contact after my departure: Rev. Jeffrey Sanryu Compton myokoji@protonmail.com http://www.myokojitemple.org PH/Text: (503) 680-2503 (SanDee Adams)
all photos and Paintings by Taizan Gendo except where noted Copyright © 2021 Wild Country Zen - All Rights Reserved.
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