Ten Bulls

Vietnamese water puppet depicting a scene in the parable.

Ten Bulls or Ten Ox Herding Pictures (十牛; Japanese: jūgyū, Chinese: shíniú) is a series of short poems and accompanying pictures used in the Zen tradition to illustrate the stages of a practitioner's progression towards the purification of the mind and enlightenment, as well as his or her subsequent return into the world while acting out of wisdom.

History

File:Ten Bulls by Tokuriki Tomikichiro (1902-1999).png

Ten Bulls (by Tokuriki Tomikichiro, 1902–99).

The calf, bull or ox is one of the earliest similes for meditation practice. It comes from the Maha Gopalaka Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 33). It is also used in the commentaries, especially the one on the Maha Satipahna Sutta (Digha Nikaya 22) and the Satipahna Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 10). With the spread of Buddhism throughout South-East Asia, the simile of the bull also spread.

The well-known ten ox-herding pictures emerged in China in the 12th century. D.T. Suzuki mentions four Chinese versions of the Oxherding Pictures, by Ching-chu (Jp. Seikyo)(11th century), Tzu-te Hui (Jp. Jitoku)(1090-1159), an unknown author, and Kuòān Shīyuǎn (Jp. Kaku-an) (12th century). The best-known of these is the version by Kuòān Shīyuǎn.

Probably the first series was made by Ching-chu (清居, Jp. Seikyo) (11th century), who may have been a contemporary of Kuòān Shīyuǎn. In Ching-chu's version only five pictures are being used, and the ox's colour changes from dark to white, representing the gradual development of the practitioner, ending in the disappearance of the practitioner.

Tzu-te Hui (自得慧暉, Zide Huihui, Jp. Jitoku) (1090-1159) made a version with six pictures. The sixth one goes beyond the stage of absolute emptiness, where Ching-chu's version ends. Just like Ching-chu's version, the ox grows whiter along the way.

A third version by an unknown author, with ten pictures, was most popular in China. It belongs to the Ching-chu and Tzu-te Hui series of pictures, and has a somewhat different serie of pictures compared to Kuòān Shīyuǎn's version. The 1585-edition contains a preface by Chu-hung, and it has ten pictures, each of which is preceded by Pu-ming's poem, of whom Chu-hung furtherwise provides no information. In this version too the ox's colour changes from dark to white.

The best known version of the oxherding pictures was drawn by the 12th century Chinese Rinzai Chán (Zen) master Kuòān Shīyuǎn (廓庵師遠, Jp. Kaku-an Shi-en), who also wrote accompanying poems and introductory words attached to the pictures. In Kuòān Shīyuǎn's version there is no whitening process, and his series also doesn't end with mere emptiness, or absolute truth, but shows a return to the world, depicting Putai, the laughing Buddha. According to Chi Kwang Sunim, they may also represent a Zen Buddhist interpretation of the ten Bodhisattva bhumi, the ten stages on the Bodhisattva-path.

In Japan, Kuòān Shīyuǎn's version gained a wide circulation, the earliest one probably belonging to the fifteenth century. They first became widely known in the West after their inclusion in the 1957 book, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings, by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki.

Liaoan Qingyu (了菴清欲, Jp. Ryōan Seiyoku) (1288-1363) made another version with five pictures.

Kuòān Shīyuǎn's Ten Bulls

Verses by Kuòān Shīyuǎn; translation by Senzaki Nyogen (千崎如幻) (1876–1958) and Paul Reps (1895-1990); paintings traditionally attributed to Tenshō Shūbun (天章周文) (1414-1463).

• 

  1. In Search of the Bull
  In the pasture of the world,
  I endlessly push aside the tall
  grasses in search of the Ox.
  Following unnamed rivers,
  lost upon the interpenetrating
  paths of distant mountains,
  My strength failing and my vitality exhausted, I cannot find the Ox.
  

• 

  2. Discovery of the Footprints
  Along the riverbank under the trees,
  I discover footprints.
  Even under the fragrant grass,
  I see his prints.
  Deep in remote mountains they are found.
  These traces can no more be hidden
  than one's nose, looking heavenward.

• 

  3. Perceiving the Bull
  I hear the song of the nightingale.
  The sun is warm, the wind is mild,
  willows are green along the shore -
  Here no Ox can hide!
  What artist can draw that massive head,
  those majestic horns?

• 

  4. Catching the Bull
  I seize him with a terrific struggle.
  His great will and power
  are inexhaustible.
  He charges to the high plateau
  far above the cloud-mists,
  Or in an impenetrable ravine he stands.

• 

  5. Taming the Bull
  The whip and rope are necessary,
  Else he might stray off down
  some dusty road.
  Being well-trained, he becomes
  naturally gentle.
  Then, unfettered, he obeys his master.

• 

  6. Riding the Bull Home
  Mounting the Ox, slowly
  I return homeward.
  The voice of my flute intones
  through the evening.
  Measuring with hand-beats
  the pulsating harmony,
  I direct the endless rhythm.
  Whoever hears this melody
  will join me.

• 

  7. The Bull Transcended
  Astride the Ox, I reach home.
  I am serene. The Ox too can rest.
  The dawn has come. In blissful repose,
  Within my thatched dwelling
  I have abandoned the whip and ropes.

• 

  8. Both Bull and Self Transcended
  Whip, rope, person, and Ox -
  all merge in No Thing.
  This heaven is so vast,
  no message can stain it.
  How may a snowflake exist
  in a raging fire.
  Here are the footprints of
  the Ancestors.

• 

  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 and without -
  The river flows tranquilly on
  and the flowers are red.

• 

  10. Return to Society
  Barefooted and naked of breast,
  I mingle with the people of the world.
  My clothes are ragged and dust-laden,
  and I am ever blissful.
  I use no magic to extend my life;
  Now, before me, the dead trees
  become alive.

Reception

Chan Buddhism

The ox-herding pictures had an immediate and extensive influence on the Chinese practice of Chan Buddhism.

Western reception

In the West, they were eventually to influence the work of John Cage, particularly in his emphasis on rhythmic silence, and on images of nothingness. At the same time, through the last picture especially - 'In the Marketplace' – they have provided a conceptual umbrella for those Buddhists seeking a greater engagement with the post-industrial global marketplace.

Ten Elephants

An equivalent series of stages is depicted in the Nine Stages of Tranquility, used in the Mahamudra tradition, in which the mind is represented by an elephant and a monkey. The Dharma Fellowship', a Kagyu (Mahamudra) organisation, notes that the practice starts with studying and pondering the dharma, where-after the practice of meditation commences.

See also

• Buddhist Paths to liberation
• Bodhi
• Five Ranks
• Monomyth
• Nirvana
• Spiritual bypass

Further reading

Background

Commentaries

External links

General

• Terebess Online, Oxherding Pictures Index, huge collection of resources on the oxherding pictures

Zide Huihui (Jp. Jitoku Keiki) (1090-1159) version (six pictures)

• Terebess Asia Online, The Six Oxherding Pictures by 自得慧暉 Zide Huihui (Jitoku Keiki), 1090-1159

Chinese Pu-Ming (Jp. Fumyō) version (ten pictures)

• Terebess Asia Online, The Ten Oxherding Pictures by 普明 Puming (Fumyō), an unknown author

Kuòān Shīyuǎn (12th century) version (ten pictures)

• Paul Reps (1957), Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
• Reverend Eshin, Ten Oxherding Pictures
• John M. Koller, Ox-herding: stages of Zen-practice

Extended commentaries

• Commentary by D.T. Suzuki
• Commentary by Shodo Harada
• Commentary by Sheng Yen
• Commentary by Ruben Habito
• Commentary by Martine Batchelor
• Commentary by Chögyam Trungpa
• Commentary by Jeff Shore and Bernadette Roberts

Taming the Elephant

• Dharma Fellowship, Deepening Calm-Abiding - The Nine Stages of Abiding
• Skyflower Dharmacenter, Mahamudra Tranquility and Insight
• Comparison of the Elephant and the Ox

Other

• A comparison between the Zen Buddhist Ten Oxherding Pictures and the Theory of Positive Disintegration
• Dward Muzika, Awakening versus Liberation