9/23/2023 0 Comments Oxen ending pictures![]() We like the idea of liberation and awakening or the quirkiness of the koan. We might have a friend who is practicing or we might listen to a talk by a Zen teacher. We hear about meditation and Buddhism or Zen. We discuss philosophy, read about psychology and various states of consciousness. It represents the stage when we decide to do something about the dissatisfaction. In this picture, the oxherder finally sees some footprints. If you want to pierce its nose and tie it up, do not rely on someone else’s strength! Like us, he is anxiously looking for something: inner peace, contentment, clarity.Ī tangle of thorny bushes: the faint murmur of running water.īut here and there are footprints-Is this the right path? There is a refreshing stream, beautiful trees, colorful butterflies, and wonderful birdsong, but still he is not satisfied. All these things give us only a fleeting happiness. A worthwhile or highly-paid job might give us security, but again this covers only a certain period of our lives. Even if we find someone, we discover that one person cannot satisfy all our needs, wishes, and hopes. Perhaps we hoped that a good relationship would give us lasting happiness, but it is very hard to find the right person or be the right person, all-loving, all-accepting. But nothing seems to completely satisfy us, to bring us that elusive long-lasting happiness. We would like to have a house with a nice garden or enough money to buy whatever takes our fancy. We think that if we had enough material things we would be happy. This represents the stage when we have not started on the spiritual path yet, but we feel somewhat uncomfortable and unsatisfied. He is searching for something, but he is not even sure what. In this picture, the young oxherder is looking a little lost. To alleviate this sense of frustration, listen to the chirping of cicadas. However much you try, the way to proceed remains unclear! High mountains, deep waters, and a dense jungle of grass. Master Kusan is the abbot of Songgwangsa Monastery near Kwangju City, Korea, illustrations are by Master Jikihara from the collection of Zen Mountain Monastery. ![]() The short pieces at the beginning of each commentary are poetic verses by Master Kusan, first printed in his book The Way of Korean Zen. The following commentary by Batchelor is adapted from her new book, Principles of Zen (Thorsons/HarperCollins). You can see these pictures adorning the walls of Zen temples in China, Korea, and Japan. Even though these images are presented in a sequence, Martine Batchelor cautions us against thinking that self-development and Zen practice go in a straight line It is more like a spiral, and we go back to different stages but with more understanding. They depict a young oxherder whose quest leads him to tame, train, and transform his heart and mind, a process that is represented by subduing the ox. The ten oxherding pictures describe the Zen training path to enlightenment, Folk images are accompanied by poems and commentaries. ![]()
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