Sacred TextsBuddhismIndexNext- The Ox-herding pictures would not be complete without picture 10 – Entering the Marketplace with Helping Hands. The reason we explore the chakras, the reason we take the time and effort to develop them at all, is in order to return to the world and be of service.
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From The Manual of Zen Buddhism, D.T. Suzuki
The Ten Oxherding Pictures which relate back to a Ch'an master in the Sung dynasty China (1126-1279 AD), have spiritual roots in the early Buddhist texts. They provide useful imagery of an illusion to be negated before a seeker of truth can experience.
By Shubun (15th Century)
1. Undisciplined
With his horns fiercely projected in the air the beast snorts,
Madly running over the mountain paths, farther and farther he goes astray!
A dark cloud is spread across the entrance of the valley,
And who knows how much of the fine fresh herb is trampled under his wild hoofs!
2. Discipline Begun
I am in possession of a straw rope, and I pass it through his nose,
For once he makes a frantic attempt to run away, but he is severely whipped and whipped;
The beast resists the training with all the power there is in a nature wild and ungoverned,
But the rustic oxherd never relaxes his pulling tether and ever-ready whip.
3. In Harness
Gradually getting into harness the beast is now content to be led by the nose,
Crossing the stream, walking along the mountain path, he follows every step of the leader;
The leader holds the rope tightly in his hand never letting it go,
All day long he is on the alert almost unconscious of what fatigue is.
4. Faced Round
After long days of training the result begins to tell and the beast is faced round,
A nature so wild and ungoverned is finally broken, he has become gentler;
But the tender has not yet given him his full confidence,
He still keeps his straw rope with which the ox is now tied to a tree.
5. Tamed
Under the green willow tree and by the ancient mountain stream,
The ox is set at liberty to pursue his own pleasures;
At the eventide when a grey mist descends on the pasture,
The boy wends his homeward way with the animal quietly following.
6. Unimpeded
On the verdant field the beast contentedly lies idling his time away,
No whip is needed now, nor any kind of restraint;
The boy too sits leisurely under the pine tree,
Playing a tune of peace, overflowing with joy.
7. Laissez Faire
The spring stream in the evening sun flows languidly along the willow-lined bank,
In the hazy atmosphere the meadow grass is seen growing thick;
When hungry he grazes, when thirsty he quaffs, as time sweetly slides,
While the boy on the rock dozes for hours not noticing anything that goes on about him.
8. All Forgotten
The beast all in white now is surrounded by the white clouds,
The man is perfectly at his ease and care-free, so is his companion;
The white clouds penetrated by the moon-light cast their white shadows below,
The white clouds and the bright moon-light-each following its course of movement.
9. The Solitary Moon
Nowhere is the beast, and the oxherd is master of his time,
He is a solitary cloud wafting lightly along the mountain peaks;
Clapping his hands he sings joyfully in the moon-light,
But remember a last wall is still left barring his homeward walk.
10. Both Vanished
Both the man and the animal have disappeared, no traces are left,
The bright moon-light is empty and shadowless with all the ten-thousand objects in it;
If anyone should ask the meaning of this,
Behold the lilies of the field and its fresh sweet-scented verdure.
Next: Introduction The Ten Ox Herding Pictures
The Ten Ox Herding pictures from Taoism and Zen-Buddhism, show the Breath of life or Presence, suspended over ten breaths. In picture one to six a child is searching for a bull and is then struggling to bring it under control. The bull represents the lower self. (see Lower Self: Animal Nature) In our normal state of consciousness we are not aware of the lower self because we are the lower self.
The first three Ox Herding pictures,
illustrated by Tomikichiro Tokuriki
Only when we begin to have self-awareness or presence, and one`s identity is in the steward or the mind of Tao (the part in one, that makes effort to awaken from the state of sleep we spend our lives in), do we begin to become aware of our lower self.
From the lower self at every moment issues an act of deceit. -- Rumi (13th c. Sufi mystic and poet)
The child symbolizes the ruling factor or the mind of Tao, which Gurdjieff called the steward. The steward or mind of Tao is represented as a child because one cannot be artificial and complicated if one wants to experience the state of Divine Presence, one needs to be simple and innocent, like a child.
Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. -- The Bible, Matthew 18:3
Buddhist Ox Herding Pictures
In the first six pictures, action is used to bring the lower self under control. In picture six the lower self is under control.
The secret of the elixir of life consists in using action in order to attain non-action.
-- The Secret of the Golden Flower
The great Tao is natural and spontaneous, without artifice — Why is it necessary to use a method of deliberate action? The reason it is indeed necessary to use the method is to get rid of degeneracy. When all degenerations are effectively done away with, then the method is not needed, just as a raft needed to cross a river is to be left behind once the river is crossed and a net needed to catch fish is to be put away once the fish has been caught. -- Liu Yiming (18th c. Taoist master, Awakening the Tao)
The mind of Tao is the primordial jewel of reality, it is produced from within the temporal; there is a time to use it, and a time not to use it. Before you have crystallized the elixir, you need to use the real awareness of the mind of Tao to govern the conscious awareness of the human mind. After the human mind is quiet, and discriminatory awareness is extinguished, the mind of Tao then has no function. -- Liu Yiming (Commentary on Understanding Reality by Zhang Boduan, 11th c. Taoist master)
The Ten Ox Herding pictures, illustrated by Tomikichiro Tokuriki
Shiva with ten arms on the bull Nandi,
15th-18th century Siam
“Bodhisattva,” said Monkey, “he's the blue-haired lion from under your throne.” The Bodhisattva said a spell and shouted, “Return to the Truth, beast. What are you waiting for?” Only then did the fiend-king return to his original form, Manjusri placed a lotus-blossom over the monster to tame him, and sat on his back.
-- Journey to the West Ch. 29
When the believer has mastered his lower self, so that it serves as a riding mount beneath him, the deeds of his heart will shine forth upon his face. -- Al-Jilani (12th c. Sufi)
When the spirit of heaven rules in man, his animal nature takes its appropriate place. -- I Ching (Chinese text)
Jesus on the lean donkey, this is an emblem of how the rational intellect should control the animal-soul. Let your spirit be strong like Jesus. If that part becomes weak, then the worn-out donkey grows to a dragon.
-- Rumi (13th c. Sufi mystic and poet)
Christ entering Jerusalem on a donkey,
Chartres Cathedral, France
Gaining control over the lower self, through the gradual awakening of the Higher Self, is presented as a process of six stages by all esoteric traditions.
The point where one yang begins to move is when the yang light of real knowing of the mind of Tao stirs but is not yet very active: only then is a glimpse of the root of heaven revealed. At this time you should quickly set about increasing the fire, gathering yang and putting it into the furnace of evolution, gradually gathering, gradually refining, from vagueness to clarity, from one yang to complete purity of six yangs.
-- Liu Yiming (Commentary on Understanding Reality by Zhang Boduan)
On the left, the I-Ching hexagram 'Return' with one yang and five yins, on the right the hexagram 'Heaven' with 6 yangs
Six figures rising up from darkness into the light (The Ascent of the Blessed (1500, Hieronymus Bosch, The Palazzo Ducale, Venice)
One who mounts the truth of Heaven and Earth, rides the changes of the six breaths, and then roams amongst the boundless.
-- Zhuangzi (4th c. BCE Taoist philosopher)
The holy man, who understands the mysteries of creation inherent in end and beginning, becomes superior to the limitations of the transitory. For him, the meaning of time is that in it, the stages of growth can unfold in a clear sequence. He is mindful at every moment and uses the six stages of growth as if they were six dragons (the image attributed to the individual lines of the hexagram Heaven ䷀) on which he mounts to heaven.-- The I Ching p 371, commentary on hexagram #1䷀, the Creative (Wilhelm/Baynes edition)
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy. -- The Bible, Exodus 20:11
Return is developmental. Reversing the path, returning in seven days, it is beneficial to have a place to go. The way to do it involves working in sequence, restoring it gradually; one cannot restore it immediately, or even if one does restore it immediately it cannot be stabilized. It is necessary to first refine oneself and master the mind, waiting for the time to act. Therefore, 'reversing the path, 'reality returns' in 'seven days' （the seventh image of the oxherding pictures above). -- Liu Yiming (The Taoist I Ching) Commentary on hexagram #24 Return
Ten Ox Herding Pictures Of Zen
After having control over the lower self, prolonged presence can occur, symbolized by the following four oxherding pictures. They are four breaths of rest and emptiness. In six breaths or steps of action, one uses short reminders to be present, and then one stays present for four more breaths.
Spiritual alchemy must start with doing, restoring the primordial while in the midst of the temporal, recovering one's original jewel of life. When the jewel of life is in the hand, one preserves unity, traveling the path of nondoing, thereby realizing the original essence of real emptiness. What can be done for all the quietists who only know nondoing and do not know doing? -- Liu Yiming (commentary on Understanding Reality by Zhang Boduan)
This immortal fourfold breath, is hidden in the original cavity of the spirit, behind the spot between the eyes.
-- Chao Pi Chen (20th c. Taoist Master)
Six large and four small Jizo Bodhisattvas
(Meaka-Fudoson Nankokuji Temple, Tokyo)
The first six stages may be considered as preparatory. The decisive stage (the seventh stage) is the stage where the bodhisattva attains complete freedom from all sense of clinging. It is the stage where he obtains the Dharmakaya (the body of truth). -- Nagarjuna (2nd c. Indian Buddhist philosopher)
The six elements produce the four kinds of Dharmakaya. -- Kukai (9th c. Founder of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism)
Oxherding
Guanyin Boddhisattva with four arms raised up and six limbs below.
Amida Buddha is seated on the head.
Ox Herding Pictures Prints
All esoteric traditions speak about ten stages through which a man becomes purified, knows God, or reaches Heaven or Paradise, all referring to the presence of the Higher Self.
Bodhisattvas must unfold the potent knowledge of Prajnaparamita into the ten modes of purifying and healing activity, the four spheres of formlessness and the six forms of super-knowledge. -- The Prajnaparamita sutra (Buddhist text)
Learned Audience, if you constantly perform the ten good deeds, paradise will appear to you at once. -- Huineng (6th Patriarch of Zen Buddhism, 7th c.)
Ox Herding Pictures Buddhism
Ten steps that lead one up to heaven. Ten steps through which a man knows God. The ladder may seem short indeed, but if your heart can inwardly experience it, you will find a wealth the world cannot contain. -- Theophanis the Monk, Philokalia (Greek Orthodox Christian text)
John Cage Zen Ox-herding Pictures
Ox Herding Pictures Pdf