Health and Streaming Update

Posted on by Link "Taizen" Valiant

Hello, こんにちは, ようこそ, and welcome!

You may have noticed I’ve been scarce on Twitch and YouTube lately. I should provide an explanation; it is health related.

After a couple of clinic visits and a short hospital stay, I’ve been diagnosed with lymphedema. This condition has caused swelling in my legs and feet (one severely worse than the other). I won’t go into great detail here, but one thing the doctors are insisting I do is to keep my legs up as much as possible. Between that and some of the physical limitations I now have, I haven’t been able to stream as often.

So, until my condition improves, I may need to play things by ear. I may also need to redo my schedule. We shall see.

I appreciate all of your understanding. 🙏 Miss you all and I’ll be back soon.

May all beings be safe, healthy, and joyous. Gassho. 🙏

Addressing Hate Raids on Twitch

Posted on by Link "Taizen" Valiant

Good afternoon, こんにちは, ようこそ, and welcome.

I want to take a moment to address the recent occurrences of what are known as hate raids on Twitch recently. I’m going to discuss what one is, where it’s happened in the Twitch communities of which I’m a part and then some, and what’s being done to address it (along with resources).


What is a Hate Raid?

A hate raid is a phenomenon that occurs when numerous viewers, bots, or both, enter a channel for the purposes of disrupting the stream with hateful, bigoted language. They generally aim to cause distress to the broadcaster, distress to their viewers and communities, and a disturbance to their show.

These recent occurrences of hate raids have been primarily targetting those in the LGTBQIA+ community, women, and BIPOC.

It’s Close To Home

While a number of Twitch streamers were struck, one such example comes from a talented woman going by Epolight (https://twitch.tv/epolight), who I had the pleasure to find through the community of The Thunderfoot Bros. (https://twitch.tv/thunderfootbros).

She was the victim of a hate raid only a couple of nights ago (as of the date of this post). Being a transgender woman, she gets her share of people who attend her streams to make prejudiced remarks. The hate raid she received, however, gave cause for her to defend herself. Sadly, it initially resulted in Twitch suspending her account instead of addressing the problem at hand. It’s my understanding that Twitch reversed their decision.

Unfortunately, Epolight wasn’t the only one whom Twitch met with victim punishment. It’s happened with Toxicidi (https://twitch.tv/toxicidi), as well.

Beyond any community I’m presently in, Epolight retweeted a video of a hate raid in progress as presented by CypherOfTyr (https://twitch.tv/cypheroftyr) in a video she took along with one of the moderators of the channel, HackBolt (https://hackbolt.co, https://twitch.tv/hackbolt), running a mass banishment on those participating in the hate raid. I encourage you to go to Cypher’s tweet, https://twitter.com/cypheroftyr/status/1428895122058530823?s=21, to watch the video.


What’s Being Done About It?

Twitch has released a statement vowing their commitment to work toward mitigating the problem on Twitter.

Some content creators on Twitch are also taking measures to stop or prevent hate raids on their own channels. Some (myself, included) seem to be taking suggestions from this article on The Verge (https://theverge.com/22633874/how-to-stop-a-hate-raid-twitch-safety-tools), which highlights tools and methods streamers can use right now. Some streamers have also organized a broadcast boycott on September 1, 2021, using the #ADayOffTwitch hashtag to spread the word (reported on Screenrant, https://screenrant.com/twitch-streamers-protest-harassment-hate-raids/). This is being done in an effort to bring more attention to the situation with hate raids and demand that Twitch make the best efforts they possibly can to ensure this and all forms of harassment are properly addressed.

What Is Taizen Doing About It?

As you know, I do my best to cultivate a community that’s safe for everyone in which to participate. This includes anyone who is BIPOC, LGTBQIA+, and anyone who falls under a marginalized group. Generally, all are welcome on my streams as well as my community and social spaces. I want people to feel safe being themselves without prejudice, cruelty, and scrutiny.

Hate raids, along with hate speech, harassment, and abuse, would serve to slow, stifle, or prevent me from doing this. More importantly, these things cause tremendous amounts of suffering. I have vowed to help alleviate this not just as a Buddhist, but as a human being. So, I had to think of the most feasible and compassionate way to help prevent this from happening on my channel (https://twitch.tv/taizenorg).

As people who watch my streams and participate in my community are diverse and many are potential targets for hate raids, I have chosen to mass ban any known bot and person accounts tied to them. I’m using a list compiled by HackBolt and Pixelsuchter (https://twitch.tv/pixelsuchter) called Twitch Bots N Bigots on GitHub (https://github.com/hackbolt/twitchbotsnbigots) as a reference (of which there are well over 1.5 million accounts listed), and the Chat Ban Manager tool by the person behind CommanderRoot, a known bot account who lurks on channels to gather leaderboard information, sometimes streaming the data collection live (Thank you to all three of you for making these things possible to help protect ourselves and our communities on Twitch.). I understand that means hiding the welcome mat from a lot of accounts, however, I feel this is necessary to help protect my community both current and future participants and, as many of you know, there is a zero-tolerance policy on this kind of thing anyway. This process has already begun, but it will take some time. Your patience is appreciated.

As for #ADayOffTwitch, September 1st falls on a Wednesday this year, so I will not be streaming anyway.

My hope is that those who participate in hate raids, whether personally or by proxy, find the healing they need to release the suffering they cause to others through the poisons of hate, anger, and ignorance in which they immerse themselves and that they may be ready to do this sooner rather than later.

Closing Words For Those Who Were or May Be Affected

To those of you who are Twitch broadcasters who have had the unfortunate luck of receiving a hate raid, may potentially get one, or fear you may be hate raided, I would like for you to know something.

Please, do not let these people rattle you, shake you, or break you down. Know that your presence online is important, desired, and makes a difference in peoples’ lives. You are so valued and treasured among us. If ever you feel your resolve dwindling, please remember that you are absolutely loved so much by your fans and communities no matter what the haters say.

Also, please be sure to (continue to) do healthy self-care, whether that’s meditation (which I recommend, of course), relaxation, exercise, etc. Talk to someone if you need, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

May all beings be safe, healthy, and joyous. Gassho. 🙏

The 2 & 200 Community Stream and Gift Card Giveaway

Posted on by Link "Taizen" Valiant

Hello, こんにちは, ようこそ, and welcome!

This is to announce that I will be hosting The 2 & 200 Community Stream and Gift Card Giveaway! It’s a stream that celebrates 2 years online and the 200 follower milestone on Twitch! This will include playing games together and a couple of raffles featuring digital gift cards for online gaming stores as prizes!

Here’s how it’ll work.

Community Switch Gaming

For the entire stream, we will be gaming with anyone who attends, playing together featuring the Nintendo Switch using the Nintendo Switch Online service. Among the titles up for play will be:

All are welcome to participate or watch, as well as chat and be among friends and fellow fans.

Gift Card Giveaway

There are prizes to be won! That’s right! There will be two (that’s right, TWO) raffles during stream for two gaming gift cards, both digital! They are…

  • Nintendo eShop valued at $50.00 (U.S.)
  • Valve Steam valued at $50.00 (U.S.)

During the stream, you’ll use the !raffle command to acquire an entry to win! You can have multiple entries for more chances to win, and you can enter for one, the other, or both raffles.

Continue reading on how this this works.

While you’re in the Twitch channel during the broadcast, you will earn Zen Panda Points (a custom loyalty point). Each raffle entry (using !raffle) costs 15 Zen Panda Points. These points accumulate the longer you’re in the channel while the stream is live as well as other ways. Refer to the chart below.

Live ParticipationZen Panda Points EarnedAdditional Information
Present In Channel5Earned every 5 minutes.
Active In Channel5Chatting. Earned in addition to presence.
Donating/Tipping5Per $1.00 (U.S.) donated. Must be done at https://streamlabs.com/taizenorg.
Following45Worth three (3) raffle entries if spent on !raffle.
Hosting60Worth four (4) raffle entries if spent on !raffle.
Raiding75Worth five (5) raffle entries if spent on !raffle.
Subscribing105Worth seven (7) raffle entries if spent on !raffle.
All Zen Panda Points must be earned while the stream is live. Use !zpp to check or !givezpp to give some to someone else.


Once time is up on a raffle, the entries are tallied. The bot will chose the winner base on acquired entries.

When This All Goes Down

This streaming event will take place on… SUNDAY, JULY 11th, 2021 at 6:00 PM CDT (7:00 PM EDT, 4:00 PM PDT) on Twitch (https://twitch.tv/taizenorg)! The first raffle will begin in the middle of the stream with the last raffle ending close to the end of the stream.

But, there’s more good news! You can come to earn Zen Panda Points NOW! Come to the Twitch stream whenever we’re live and accumulate your ZPP for to spend in raffle entries for the big day.

Additional Terms and Conditions

A few more rules and conditions apply for the event.

  • You should be 18 years of age or older to participate in the raffles. Those younger should have parent or guardian permission first.
  • Playing games with the community is not a requirement or condition for raffle entry.
  • If you win a raffle, you must be present and respond in chat when your victory is announced to claim your prize. If not, your victory will be forfeit and a new winner will be drawn.
  • If you win and claim your prize, you will receive your prize via direct message from within Twitch. Be sure you have messages enabled in Twitch.
  • Prizes cannot be exchanged, modified, or replaced. All completed claims are final.
  • Any attempt or endeavor in cheating or hacking will result in disqualification from both raffles and possible banishment from the channel.
  • All chat rules for the channel and Discord servers must be abided.
  • In case of an error, please allow ample and reasonable time for rectification.
  • Participating in either raffle, or both, is an agreement to all rules, terms, and conditions.

Come sit and be in the moment with me, start collecting your ZPP (Zen Panda Points) and good luck!

An Update: Wellness, Website, and Discord

Posted on by Link "Taizen" Valiant

Hello, こんにちは, ようこそ, and welcome!

Just a small update regarding my live presence and well-being, and changes to the website and Discord.

Recent Wellness and Live Streams

For the nearly past fortnight, I’ve been experiencing another flare-up of lingering symptoms resulting from my illness to COVID-19 back in January. For those of you who have read my previous posts, followed my social media and Discord, and watched me on Twitch or YouTube, you know this has been ongoing. I won’t go into details again. Suffice it to say this is why I haven’t been streaming live and running reruns lately.

This will pass and, as I’ve stated before, even though I try and adhere to a schedule, I have to play things by ear because of all this. I appreciate your understanding and I’ll be back to broadcasting as soon as possible. 👍

Website and Discord Updates

First, I made updates to this website, https://taizen.org. They regard the Schedule & Events and the new Community pages.

  • Schedule & Events: I wasn’t able to update the calendar that was implemented, so I changed the calendar used (embedded a Google Calendar). There’s a different aesthetic and it shows the broadcast and even schedules a bit differently. The page has also changed a bit to show a little more detail. Check it out by selecting Schedule & Events in the menu or by going to https://schedule.taizen.org.
  • Community: There’s a new community page! It serves as a guide to the various community participation places people can use. It has links to the Discord server, social media, and the Twitch and YouTube channels. Community rules and standards are also listed there. You can select Community in the menu or go to https://community.taizen.org to have a look.

Land Acknowledgement

In addition, I’ve included a land acknowledgement.

For those of you who don’t know what this is, a land acknowledgement is a formal statement which recognizes the sacred and enduring relationship that exists between indigenous peoples and their traditional territories. We recognize this out of respect, honor, appreciation, and gratitude toward those whose land we dwell upon who have been living and working here since time untold.

You may read the land acknowledgement on the website (the Community page, https://community.taizen.org, and the Land Acknowledgement page, https://land.taizen.org) as well as one on the Discord server (#land-acknowledgement), the Twitch channel page (the Land panel), and as a command for the channel’s chatroom bot (!land).

See you all again soon. May all beings be safe, healthy, and joyous. Gassho. 🙏

An Update: Wellness and Schedule

Posted on by Link "Taizen" Valiant

Hello, こんいちは, ようこそ, and welcome.

You may have noticed that I haven’t published and streamed content in the past few weeks. For this, I apologize. Allow me to explain.

Update on Wellness

Over the past few weeks, the lingering symptoms I’ve been experiencing due to COVID-19 have been acting up more. One of my symptoms made a return for several days. It’s all left me unable to stream. This won’t be permanent; my symptoms are starting to calm down again. I hope to start streaming again very soon.

Streaming Schedule?

My schedule for streaming still stands (https://schedule.taizen.org for more info), but I humbly ask for your patience and understanding. Now that I know I may still have times when my symptoms can flare up, I may have to play it by ear. I will do my best to adhere to scheduled streaming times, but I may not always be able to until these effects from COVID-19 have subsided (enough) to broadcast regularly.

I appreciate your patience, understanding, support, and generosity through this unusual and trying time. Love you all, and you’ll see me again soon.

May all beings be safe, healthy, and joyous. 🙏

Looking For More (People, That Is)

Posted on by Link "Taizen" Valiant

Salutations, こんにちは, ようこそ, and welcome!

As I look to build on the channel and its mission further, I’m looking for volunteers to assist in a couple of ways. These roles I’m looking to fill are not only voluntary but are very important. I’m looking for people who would like to…

  • 🙅 Moderators: Moderate the channel (Twitch, YouTube) during live streams. I could use at least one more volunteer.
  • 🙋 Board Members: Initial board members as necessary to apply as a nonprofit. I need at least two more volunteers.

Requirements

These roles are very important. Those who wish to volunteer and be considered for such roles MUST…

  • … be familiar to the channel and its community (trusted).
  • … willing to assist in fundraising efforts.
  • … uphold the standards of the channel (and eventually the Organization).

Requirements specific to each role, respectively…

Moderators:
👉 Must do their best to make and be active in every live stream.
👉 Watch for bot driven moderation (bot mods) for anything action they take, review their actions, and act accordingly.
👉 Handle natural queues for running chat commands (running !raidcheer just before raiding another channel, for example).
👉 Being responsive to my requests (banning a viewer, for example).
👉 Ask me if there’s any uncertainty.

Board Members:
👉 Must do their best to make and participate board meetings.
👉 Give careful assessment on all matters and votes.
👉 Practice their memberships with the best interest of the mission.
👉 Being responsive to concerns.
👉 Ask me if there’s any uncertainty.

Preferred, But Not Required

For both roles, these traits are preferred, but not required for now. They are…

  • Having expert knowledge in nonprofit operations.
  • Having expert knowledge in information technology.
  • Having expert knowledge in Buddhism.
  • Having expert knowledge in video games and gaming
  • Being a nonprofit professional.
  • Being an IT professional.
  • Being a practicing Buddhist.
  • Being a professional gamer.

Interested?

If, after reviewing the requirements, you are interested in volunteering for either or both roles, please do the following…

  1. Read our mission statement, public benefit statement, and operation method. These can be found in the ABOUT page (https://about.taizen.org).
  2. Go to the CONTACT page (https://contact.taizen.org) and fill out the form. For the Inquiry Type, select “Volunteering”. Indicate your interest and share your Twitch handle in your message.

I appreciate your time, consideration, and possible interest in helping the channel in these ways! I look forward to your inquiries.

May all beings be safe, healthy, and joyous. 🙏

UPDATES: New Links & Merch

Posted on by Link "Taizen" Valiant

Salutations, こんにちは, ようこそ, and welcome!

I wanted to make a couple of update announcements. Without further adieu…

New Address Links: taizenorg

First, an update on the address links to Twitch, social media, and such.

As previously stated, I’ve changed my usernames to better fit the mission of my content creation. You will now find that…
• Twitch: https://twitch.tv/taizenorg

My social media accounts have also not only followed suit, but they truly are in suit!
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/taizenorg
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/taizenorg
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taizenorg

Note that if you’re already following me on any of these, you still are! The username change doesn’t affect you. For the rest of you, consider yourselves informed.

Go to SOCIAL MEDIA (https://social.taizen.org), which is under SUPPORT/CONTRIBUTE, for more information.

There are also changes on accessing the tipping and merch store links associated with StreamLabs and StreamElements. For more information on those, head to DONATE (https://donate.taizen.org) and EMPORIUM (https://emporium.taizen.org), which are under SUPPORT/CONTRIBUTE.

New Merch In The Emporium

Second, there’s new merchandise available in the Teespring store of Taizen’s Swag Emporium! Make sure to visit and check out the new iPhone cases for the iPhone 12 series, zip-up hoodies, fanny packs, accessory bags, and more. Head over to the EMPORIUM (https://emporium.taizen.org) straightaway!

Personal Update

While I’ve been doing my best, I still have symptom flare ups from COVID-19 (primarily coughing spells, some of them debilitating, some headache inducing, most of them exhausting). I’m trying to stick to a steady schedule, but these flare ups don’t allow for it sometimes. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Hopefully this will be less and less frequent as my convalescence continues and I’ll soon be broadcasting steadily again.

I greatly appreciate your patience and understanding. 🙏

That’s all for now. See you online!
May all beings be safe, healthy, and joyous. Gassho. 🙏

Happy Holidays! Here’s An Update

Posted on by Link "Taizen" Valiant

Hello, 今日は (こんにちは, konnichi wa), ようこそ (youkoso), and welcome. Taizen here.

I’m putting this special video together to discuss a few important things regarding my recent absence, new considerations for the channel, and the current state of the show.

First, my absence. I want to apologize for disappearing. What I’m about to share with you I do so in hopes that this will help someone. Also, I owe you all an explanation.

See, because of my efforts to help me avoid COVID-19 and having lost all my work when the pandemic hit, it has had a creeping effect on my mental well being. I’ve had an incredibly difficult time finding work and I haven’t been out much at all. After about six months of this, it lead me to some feelings of uselessness and being unwanted, bouts of overeating and undesired weight gain, and I eventually went from being a chronic insomniac to never seemingly getting enough sleep. Things I love doing, like singing, songwriting, voice over auditions, and even streaming (including gaming, teaching, and discussing), I just had no interest in doing. Even meditation, while still helpful, wasn’t nearly as effective for a while. Simply put, by the time October arrived, I took a nosedive into a pit of funk.

I realize that my situation isn’t unique. Many others in this nation face similar struggles. Mental health is very important, just as important as doing everything we can to help stifle the spread of the virus. At least depression can be treated, whether it’s self-help using creative or journaling outlets, talking with people who care for you, meditation, or therapy. Even clinical depression can be treated with the aid of medication. I’ve been fortunate enough to talk a bit about it with friends, family, and local sangha, meditate, and ride it out (and shout out to those in the Crowder Twitch community for checking up on me, I really appreciate it). I’m getting better, though I may still need time. I hope that if any of you out there are feeling depressed during this pandemic, you’ll find a way to treat yourself or seek help. I also hope that my experience has proved helpful to those of you who may need it whether it was for the suggestions or relatability.

On the upside, however, I was just offered a new job which will bring me a lot of relief! It starts soon. This also means scheduling changes for the channel. More on that to follow.

Next, I’ve been juggling an idea or few to expand a little on the content I create. For one, I was thinking of utilizing the YouTube channel more. I was thinking about doing discussion topics on pre-recorded video for YouTube first, then having the actual discussion on Twitch the following Sunday. I’ve also thought about learning more and doing such videos on Japanese culture as we already incorporate some of that a little bit.

I’ve also entertained some thoughts about using one of my nights to stream to YouTube and the Facebook page instead of Twitch to expand on availability. I’m setting up to experiment with this soon.

Lastly, since content has been more than only gaming as I try to incorporate, I may soon change the naming of the channel and social media sites to something more appropriate, like “taizen.tv”, “taizen.streams”, or “taizen.org”. Something to those effects.

One final point on the channel, as I was extended an offer for a new job, this means my streaming schedule will change. This means the stream will start later, specifically 8:00 PM CT. This change is effective immediately.

Lastly, an update on the show. Sadly, because of my status the past couple months, nothing has really moved here. I’m still trying to incorporate as a 501©(3) non-profit organization and I’m looking for funding and a few people to be part of the board. Doing this will allow us to do more with our content, from guest speakers to quality improvements. I’m working toward this and, in time, with enough help, we’ll get there.

Keep an eye out on my Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook page, and the website, taizen.org, for when I will be online. I’ll be back VERY soon. There’s so much I want to do and I’m looking forward to doing it all with you! I missed spending time with all of you and I look forward to coming back! Thank you all for your understanding and we’ll see you soon.

May all beings be safe, healthy, and joyous. Gassho! 🙏

An Important Update About Getting Started

Posted on by Link "Taizen" Valiant

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the official website for Taizen!

This is an important update regarding the direction and mission of the organization.

We’ve decided to go in a new direction.  This new direction will give more focus to content creation while still offering assistance through education.  We feel this will streamline everything the organization can do while minimizing potential costs, yet leave room for expansion.

The mission we’re aiming for?  This…

Taizen (perhaps eventually The Taizen Organization) aims to help in the alleviation of some sufferings by providing benefits to the general public by…

    • Providing freely accessible education and service for Soto Zen Buddhism, including guided meditation and zazen, discussion on the teachings and practices of the Buddha (the Dharma), discussing the teachings of other related figures (Shunryu Suzuki, Dainin Katagiri, Dōgen, among many others), and providing a mindful space for practicing Buddhists and any others interested alike.
    • Providing freely accessible education on information technology, primarily at a consumer level, including new technologies, devices, usage, and basic troubleshooting.
    • Providing freely accessible entertainment and information on video games in presentation.

All of these benefits assist the public by easy access through the Internet by way of content creation. This includes using online platforms such as Twitch and YouTube.

The overall benefits for which we aim are to alleviate suffering through said education, service, and entertainment, providing wisdom, knowledge, and humor.

While we’ve already started broadcasting on Twitch and publishing on YouTube, there’s a lot more to do to really start us off.  With that, we have costs associated with all we need to do to become a fully running non-profit organization.  With that being said, this is where you come in.

We need to raise the money for all the start-up costs. If you’d like to assist us here, you can do so in several ways.  All of these methods are listed between three places…

The caveat, however, is that since we aren’t yet a Section 501(c)(3) non-profit yet, we cannot offer tax exemption for your donations.  We are sorry if this posses and inconvenience to you.  Such registration is part of the start-up costs.
… HOWEVER… We are offering your name to be listed as a Founding Donor when the Special Thanks page is built.  We’ll list you by first and last name, or in a variation of which you’d like, or you can opt-out and be one of the numbered anonymous.  Totally up to you.

We greatly appreciate your support, time, generosity, and compassion.  We look forward to being able to fully serve communities everywhere once this hurdle is lept.

If you have any questions or inquiries, please reach us by filling out the contact form to the right or by going to https://contact.taizen.org.

May all beings be safe, healthy, and joyous.

    Gassho. 🙏