SAVE THE DATES--AUTUMN '21 PRACTICE PERIOD (see Events)

Wild Country Zen

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    • Home
    • SoundCloud Recordings
    • Dharma Talks on Zoom
    • 18 More Talks on Zoom
    • 2020 Practice Period

Wild Country Zen

Wild Country ZenWild Country ZenWild Country Zen
  • Home
  • SoundCloud Recordings
  • Dharma Talks on Zoom
  • 18 More Talks on Zoom
  • 2020 Practice Period

Wild Country Zen

Wild Country Zen Wild Country Zen Wild Country Zen

Dharma Talks and Guided Meditations. We are a Vegan sangha, even if imperfect--and always a voice for the voiceless


Taizan Gendo and Wild country Zen Upcoming events

Wednesday Sept. 22, 2021

Wild Country Zen Sangha Meeting on Zoom

7:00pm

-

9:00pm

Online (Zoom)

Event Details

Wednesday Sept. 22, 2021

Wild Country Zen Sangha Meeting on Zoom

Here is our Wild Country Zen Zoom link for Wednesday's live meditation and dharma talk:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9494877033

Meeting ID: 949 4...

Event Details

7:00pm

-

9:00pm

Online (Zoom)

Wednesday Sept. 22 thru Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021

SAVE THE DATES Autumn 2021 Practice Period: Walking the 8-Fold Path from Suffering to Liberation

Online (Zoom)

Event Details

Wednesday Sept. 22 thru Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021

SAVE THE DATES Autumn 2021 Practice Period: Walking the 8-Fold Path from Suffering to Liberation

Beginning on the auspicious date of Wed., Sept. 22nd, the 2021 Fall Equinox, continuing thru Sat., Nov. 20th, we will be fearlessly adventur...

Event Details

Online (Zoom)

Files: Autumn 2021 Practice Period Intro and More

A PDF of the Intro to Autumn 2021 practice period, the Jikoji Chantbook with the major chants used in Zen temples including the Heart Sutra, Metta Sutra, and much more.; a poem by Geraldine Gilbert; copy of the Jukai Precepts; copy of "Hearing the Cries of the World" poem; and Mary Oliver's poem "Wild Geese." 

Intro to Autumn 2021 WCZ Practice Period (pdf)Download
Jikoji Chantbook (pdf)Download
Geraldine Gilbert poem (jpg)Download
Precepts (jpg)Download
Hearing the Cries of the World v.2 (PDF) July 2020 (pdf)Download
Mary Oliver reading Wild Geese (png)Download

Just Watch: Video Recorded on Zoom

We recently added two web pages of Zoom recordings so in case you missed a meeting, or need a second listen, the button below goes to the latest Zoom (video) recordings of our Dharma talks (from there is another link to MORE)... so you can always just watch...

Link to Latest Dharma Talks, Meditations, and Readings recorded on Zoom



HEARING THE CRIES OF THE WORLD

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


Just Listen: Audio Recorded on SoundCloud

Also...we have a SoundCloud site dedicated to the audio-only recordings of our Dharma talks, guided meditations, and discussions, increasing access to practicing with us even if you can't make it; even driving in a car, you can just listen...

Link to 100+ Dharma Talks, Meditations, and Readings on our Sound Cloud site

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!

Autumn 2020 Practice Period Dharma Talks on "Shunyata"

 We have grouped the Zoom recordings of all the dharma teacher's talks from our Autumn 2020 Practice Period with Jikoji called "The Lens of Shunyata (Emptiness)" onto a special page with descriptions of each recording. Click button below... 

Link to "The Lens of Shunyata" webpage with 8 Zoom recordings and descriptions

YouTube Recording: Purification Ritual Before Zazen

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...

YouTube Recording: "Working with Righteous Anger" (

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...

YouTube Recording: sound of healing by ChōBun Nenzen

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!

YouTube Recording: Taizan's Shuso ceremony

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]


About Wild Country Zen

Big, wide pic of sunset sky, full of clouds, with trees along the bottom edge and light streaming.

Meaning of the name "Wild Country Zen"

 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 the A-Town Sangha in Aromas, California, and sangha member of the Jikoji Zen Meditation Center in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I hope you enjoy the name "Wild Country Zen" as much as I do--it always makes me smile! Let's see how it manifests going forward. Come walk this path with us and see... -- Taizan Gendo

Pic portrait style of a smiling Taizan Gendo (Mark Adams) in full Zen priest robes.

Taizan Gendo (Mark Adams)

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. I have come to love this practice. I hope to be a skillful vehicle in sharing it with all sentient beings... 

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In-person meditation meetings at the Aromas Dharma Rain Room* cancelled (for time being)


Someday...soon perhaps, we will meet again...


*Aromas Dharma Rain Room=Aromas Water District Conference Room


PH/Text: (503) 956-8760 (Taizan Gendo) EMAIL: Taizan@wildcountryzen.com or Taizangendo@gmail.com

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  • Home
  • SoundCloud Recordings
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  • 18 More Talks on Zoom
  • 2020 Practice Period

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