About | TEN BULLS

" No one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve in quality as it goes along, or that the whole object of playing it is to reach the finale. The point of music is discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the same, I feel, with the greater part of our lives, and if we are unduly absorbed in improving them we may forget altogether to live them."

~Alan Watts

9. Reaching the Source

Too many steps have been taken returning to the root and the source.
Better to have been blind and deaf from the beginning!
Dwelling in one's true abode, unconcerned with that without --
The river flows tranquilly on and the flowers are red.

~Kaku-an Shi-en

My name is Doug Gaylord. I bought the Ten Bulls domain in 1997 as I had picked up web design as a hobby. It was a time in my life when I was exploring philosophy, science and religion extensively. During that time I ran across a book by Paul Reps entitled Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Within that book was a section called, "Ten Bulls", which contained an interesting set of drawings and poetry detailing the story of an oxherd and his efforts at catching a bull. The true meaning of the story to be found by the person reading. I enjoyed it so much I began to research it online and found many references to the "Ten Bulls of Zen", the "Ten Oxherding Pictures" and the "Ten Bulls of Taoism".

In 1998 I was injured at work and was unable to return so I enrolled in a computer course to learn web and print design. In 2000 I began sculpting a set of medallions based on some of the original Ten Bulls artwork by a Sung Dynasty Zen Master by the name of Kaku-an Shi-en. These medallions have been a part of the tenbulls.com site ever since and the images have been stolen for use on other sites dedicated to the story.

In 2004, my little family and I packed up our belongings to leave the film industry behind. I had grown up in an isolated section of Montana and the city was wearing on me, so we moved to Nevada City, CA. This place that has a lot of the beauty of Montana as well as the cultural offerings of the big city. Since moving here I have been doing a lot of home remodeling work, web design, photography and video work. I have found that volunteerism in this community can sometimes tend to cut into a persons work schedule, but there are so many great organizations to get involved with it would be a shame not to participate.

I have worked on the last two SYRCL 'Wild & Scenic' film festivals, become a member of the Nevada City School of the Arts Charter Governance Council and a County Councilman for the Nevada County Green Party.

Since our arrival we have been greeted with open arms by the residents of Grass Valley and Nevada City. The community bonds here are strong even with the divisiveness of our time. Miners still roam the Yuba River in search of gold and the old Nevada Theatre still holds audiences and performers. In the midst of that charm are groups of individuals who work to sort out the problems of the world, from the local issues of development and emergency preparedness to global issues that effect all of us from our food supply to human rights. It is a pleasure to live in such a diverse community.