Herding the Ox
Buddhism, Chan, Zen, Taoism, Neo-Paganism



Research by
Michael Gushen Garofalo

September 13, 2009

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography, Links, Resources
Riding the Ox
Buddhism, Chan, Zen, Taoism, Neo-Paganism

 

Above the Fog.  Poems by Mike Garofalo.


The Art of Just Sitting.  Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza.  Edited by John Daido Loori.  With an introduction by Taigen Dan Leighton.  Boston, Wisdom Publications, 2002.  Index, 241 pages.  ISBN: 0861713273.  VSCL. 


Become What You Are.  By Alan Watts.  Edited by Mark Watts.  Boston, Shambhala, 2003.  132 pages.  ISBN: 1570629404.   VSCL. 


Buddhism and Yungian Psychology.   By J. Marvin Spiegelman and Miyuki Mokusen.  New Falcon Publications, Reprint Edition 1995.  190 pages.  ISBN: 1561841110.  


Cloud Hands Blog


Cloud Hands: Taijiquan
   Bibliography, links, guides, lessons, research, quotes.  


Dharmapada Sutra   


Druid's Way  


The Famous Ten Ox Herding Pictures   


The Eight Gates of Zen: A Program of Zen Training.   By John Daido Loori.  Edited by Bonnie Myotai Treace and Konrad Ryushin Marchaj.  Boston, Shambhala, 2002. 
270 pages.  ISBN:  1570629528.  VSCL. 


Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path.  By Bhante Henepola Gunaratana.  Boston, Wisdom Publications, 2001.  Index, bibliography, 268 pages.  ISBN: 0861711769.  A clear and insightful commentary on the Eightfold Path of Buddhism.  Refer also to the Eight Precepts.  VSCL. 


The Eight Ox Herding Pictures - A Chan/Zen Allegory


The Famous Ten Ox Herding Pictures.   By Lilly Marie Johnson.   


The Green Man  


Green Paths in the Valley Blog  


The Green Wizard 


Gushen, Valley Spirit


Herding the Ox   Emoyeni Retreat Center. 


Meditation: Links, Bibliography, Resources, Quotes, Notes
    


The Ox Herder: A Zen Parable Illustrated.  By Stephanie Wada.  Translated by Gen P. Sakamoto.  George Braziller, 2002.  80 pages.  ISBN: 0807615110.   10 color and 15 b/w illustrations.  


Pulling Onions.  Short sayings by Mike Garofalo.


Ox Herding Allegory:  Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotes, Notes  


Qigong: Valley Spirit Qigong   Bibliography, links, guides, lessons, research, quotes.  


Riding the Ox Home: A History of Meditation from Shamanism to Science.  By Willard Johnson.  Boston, Beacon Press, 1982.  Index, bibliography, 262 pages.  ISBN: 0807013056.  


Riding the Ox Home:  Stages on the Path to Enlightenment.  By John Daido Loori.  Edited by Konrad Ryushin Marchaj.  Boston, Shambhala, 2002.  Glossary, 82 pages.  ISBN: 157062951X.   VSCL. 


Sacred Circles


Shobogenzo: Zen Essays by Dogen.  Translated by Thomas Cleary.  Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1986.  123 pages.  ISBN: 0824810147.  VSCL. 


The Spirit of Gardening


Subject Search Terms:  Eight Ox Herding Songs, Ox Herding Pictures, Ox Herding Parable,  Riding the Ox, Ten Ox Herding Songs, Zen Ox Parable.  


Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu


The Ten Ox Herding Pictures: Allegories for Our Practice.  By Zen Master Ji Bong. 


The Ten Ox Herding Pictures.  Pictures and commentary by D. T. Suzuki, Manual of Zen Buddhism.  Shubun's illustrations, 1450 CE.   Pictures 1.   Pictures 2.   Pictures 3.


The Ten Ox Herding Pictures   D. T. Suzuki.  


The Ten Ox Herding Pictures.  Verses composed by Kakuan Zenji.  11Kb.  


Ten Ox Herding Pictures of Zen Buddhism   Pictures only.  


Ten Ox Herding Pictures with the Verses Composed by Kakuan Zenji.  A Teisho by Kubota Ji'un. 12Kb.   


Way of the Staff


Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.   A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings.  Compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki.   Boston, Shambhala, 1994.  Tuttle, 1957.  285 pages - Shambhala Pocket Classics.  VSCL.     


Zen Poetry:  Links, Bibliography, Resources, Quotations

 

 

 

Quotations

 

"Since the ninth century, students of Zen Buddhism have drawn a parallel between the individual path to enlightenment and the story of the herder and his missing ox. There are 10 stages in the parable, beginning with the search for the ox, in which a boy is racked with doubt because "Nothing has been lost in the first place,/ So what is the use of searching?" In the final stage, the boy reappears as the Buddha of the Future, enlightened. The scroll reprinted here is the oldest known version of the Japanese Ten Oxherding Songs, dating to 1278, and the only known 
example with illustrations in color along with the calligraphy. An introduction by Stephanie Wada, associate curator of the Mary and Jackson Burke foundation (which holds the manuscript) explains, in scholarly terms, both the story and the origins of this scroll and its ten circular drawings (one for each song) and poems. Nothing she writes, however, can have the impact of the eighth part of the parable: with just a wide, empty circle from which both the boy and the ox have vanished, this stage indicates that the attachment to "self" and earthly things has been relinquished. The delicacy and unstudied precision of the calligraphy's brushwork furthers the feeling. Even a Zen novice can appreciate the message of this parable, lovingly inked more than 700 years ago."
-  Publisher's Weekly.   Review of The Ox Herder.

 

 

Master Po-chang Huai-hai (720-814 CE) was asked by a monk, 
"What is the Buddha Nature?"
Master Po-chang answered,
"It is like seeking for an ox while you are yourself on it."
The monk asked, "What use does knowing the ox serve?"
Master Po-chang answered,
"It is like going home riding on it."

 

 


 

 

 

 

Ox

LaoTzu Rides an Ox

 

 

 

 


 

 

Michael P. Garofalo's E-mail

Green Way Research, Valley Spirit Center, Red Bluff, California, 2009
Green Way Research has been online on the WWW since 1996

This webpage was first posted on the Internet on January 23, 2004. 

 

The Spirit of Gardening

Cloud Hands Taijiquan

Zen Poetry

Valley Spirit Qigong

Green Way Research

Green Paths in the Valley Blog

Cloud Hands Blog

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Meditation

Dharmapada Sutra Homepage