Zen Ox Pictures
A Unitarian Universalist Perspective
Richard Dodson
1
Introductory Readings
“As I conceive it, Zen is the ultimate fact
of all philosophy and religion. Every
intellectual effort must culminate in it, or rather must start from it, if
it is to bear any practical fruits. Every
religious faith must spring from it if it has to prove at all efficiently
and livingly workable in our active life.
Therefore Zen is not necessarily the fountain of Buddhist thought
and life alone; it is very much alive also in Christianity, Islam, in
Taoism and even in positivistic Confucianism.
What makes all these religions and philosophies vital and
inspiring, keeping up their usefulness and efficiency, is due to the
presence in them of what I may designate as the Zen element.
”
– Dr D.T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism
“I emphatically state
that, so long as you accomplish your deeds for heaven’s sake or God’s
sake or your eternal happiness from the outside, you are not doing things
properly for yourself. You
may be accepted, but this is not the best arrangement… For whoever seeks
God in a definite mode [belief system] accepts the mode and misses God…
Whoever seeks God without a mode, grasps God as God is.”
– Meister Eckhart (13th century Christian mystic)
2
Introduction
2.1
Unitarian Universalism
Good morning!
My name is Richard Dodson.
My wife Sherie and I have been attending Northlake for about a year
now.
One of the things that I love about Unitarian
Universalist services is that we come together, not to listen to dogma,
not to be told how to live, but
to celebrate why we live, and to
spur each other on to greater heights.
The wide variety of traditions that we draw from is a
great joy to me, and I think that it makes Unitarian Universalism the
richest and most far reaching of all the traditions; perhaps the most
complex, but also the simplest – a wonderful paradox – a kind of Zen.
Which brings me to today’s talk.
2.2
Zen
Zen is a mystic Buddhist tradition with its origins
in 6th century China. Its
departure from orthodox Buddhism is summed up by the following lines
(again from Dr Suzuki):
A special transmission
outside the scriptures;
No dependence upon words and
letters;
Direct pointing at a
person’s soul;
Seeing into one’s nature
and the attainment of Buddhahood.
Dr Suzuki was a Japanese Zen practitioner and scholar
who introduced much of the English-speaking world to Zen Buddhism through
the publication of his Essays in
1927. The Zen Ox Pictures
that we’ll be looking at today were created for Dr Suzuki by Abbot Seki
of the Tenryuji monastery in Kyoto Japan.
The Zen Ox Pictures in their current 10-picture form
originated with a 12th century Zen Master named Kakuan.
Since that time the series has been used to illustrate the stages
of spiritual progress towards the Zen goal of satori or enlightenment.
It may seem to you that a systematic approach to
mysticism is a contradiction in terms and is particularly troubling with
respect to Zen, which admits, even promotes, the possibility of
instantaneous enlightenment. And
many a Zen Master would approve of that intuition.
But in fact, a lot of mystic traditions – for example: the
Catholic Saints, the Jewish Kabbalists, the Sufis – speak of stages of
spiritual progress or degrees of enlightenment.
One reason seems to be practical – a need to be able to talk
about a particular experience at all.
But perhaps more importantly, describing lesser enlightenments can
help prevent a person ‘on the path’ from becoming stuck in a place
that is not their end goal.
The tradition of using the ox to talk about Zen is
rooted in fragments like the following (credited to the Zen Master
Pai-chang):
A petitioner asked a Zen
Master “What is the Buddha?”
The Zen Master replied “It
is like seeking for an ox while you are yourself on it.”
A modern day equivalent might be “It is like
looking for your glasses when they are already on your face” except that
this does not convey the worth of an ox.
In the economy of the time, an ox was everything – factory,
engine, transport, cash, food – the ox was a “pearl of great price”,
if you will allow the mixing of Zen and Christian metaphors, and I hope
that you will because I intend to continue to do it freely.
3
Zen Ox Pictures
With the introduction out of the way, let’s consider the pictures
themselves. Each picture in
the series is accompanied by traditional prose and verse commentary.
I’d like to quote the poetry, because it is beautiful, but I’m
going to try and limit the amount of interpretation that I do.
Chiefly because I am no Zen Master but also because what I would
like to try and do is to present connections between the spiritual state
shown in each picture and spiritual states described by other mystic and
depth traditions.
The translation for the verse, as well as the
inspiration for much of the interpretation and the connections, was
provided by a talk I attended titled “Thread
of the Mystic” that was given by a local Buddhist priest named Genjo
Marinello.
3.1
Searching for the Ox
In the pasture of this 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.
I only hear the cicadas singing through the forest at night.
3.1.1
Commentary
You don’t search for something that you don’t
feel is lost, but in classic Zen fashion, the prose commentary begins
“The ox never has been lost. What
need is there to search?” The
would-be-journeyer is told right at the beginning that the journey is not
necessary – enlightenment is available immediately.
When I read the last line of this verse, I
immediately thought of a night in the Blue Mountains of Australia.
My family had been visiting my Grandmother and we were driving home
through the forest that covers the mountains.
At one place, the forest was filled with cicadas and my father
stopped the car so that we could listen to them.
Their singing was loud even when we were in the car, but once we
stopped the sound was so loud I couldn’t “hear myself think” and my
breathing synchronized with the rising and falling of their song.
When I closed my eyes, I was completely lost in the sound.
St Teresa (a 16th century Catholic Saint)
also talks about this state of beginning the journey in search of
something precious. Her
metaphor is entering the interior castle:
“It seems I’m saying something foolish.
For if this castle is the soul, clearly one doesn’t have to enter
it since it is within oneself. How foolish it would seem were we to tell someone to enter a
room they are already in. But
you must understand that there is a great difference in the ways one may
be inside the castle. For
there are many souls who don’t care at all about entering the castle,
nor do they know what lies within that most precious place, nor who is
within … You have already heard in some books on prayer that the soul is
advised to enter within itself; well that is the very thing I am
advising.”
3.2
Seeing the Traces
Along the riverbank under the trees, I discover
footprints!
Even under the fragrant grass I see its prints.
Deep in remote mountains they are found.
These traces no more can be hidden than one’s nose,
looking heavenward.
3.2.1
Commentary
The
“seeing the traces” stage will be familiar to almost everyone who has
studied nature or even from just seeing a sunset or the night sky.
The patterns are too intricate, too perfect and the scope too grand
not to inspire awe.
The traditional Zen commentary speaks of
“seeing the traces” when you gain some understanding of the Buddhist
scriptures. But for many
people, the classic “argument from design” proof of a meaningful
universe is more convicting than any scripture.
3.3
Seeing the Ox
I hear the song of the nightingale.
The sun is warm, the wind is mild, willows are green
along the bank,
Here no one can hide!
What artist can reproduce that splendid head, those
majestic horns?
3.3.1
Commentary
In Zen, this stage has the name Kensho, meaning
“sudden enlightenment experience”.
The prose commentary begins: “When one hears the voice, one can sense its source.
As soon as the six senses merge, the gate is entered.”
In his talk, Genjo Marinello explained that “It is
said the ‘senses merge’ because this experience represents the
harmonizing of one’s whole being.”
It is a glimpse of the infinite that shakes us to our
core. In many traditions,
this stage corresponds to a conversion experience – it is Paul’s
vision on the road to Damascus.
The conversion analogy is a good one because this
stage is certainly not an end. It
is much more a beginning.
3.4
Catching the Ox
I seize it with a terrific struggle.
Its great will and power are ungovernable.
It charges to the high plateau far above the cloud-mists,
Or in an impenetrable ravine it stands.
3.4.1
Commentary
Catching and losing, catching and losing.
Soon after attending the talk that inspired this one,
I read Ego and Archetype by
Edward Edinger, a Jungian scholar. Actually,
at the prompting of a member of this congregation.
The book begins by describing the Jungian model of
the psyche as consisting of two major centers: the Ego and the Self.
The Ego is the center of our conscious personality – that which
we usually refer to when we say ‘I’.
The Self is the center of the total psyche – conscious and
unconscious – and is used in Jungian circles as another name for God.
Edinger goes on to talk about the importance of
establishing and maintaining a strong Ego-Self “axis” and then of the
“psychic life cycle” which consists of the Ego moving along that axis,
towards and away from the Self. To
use the technical terms, the Ego first identifies with the Self and
experiences “Ego Inflation” and then it is unable to maintain that
identity and falling away, experiences “Alienation from the Self”.
Ideally, the Ego and the Self establish a stable
ongoing relationship, a process called “Individuation”, but in
practice this is uncommon and the Inflation-Alienation cycle continues.
Catching and losing, catching and losing.
I couldn’t help but draw parallels between the
Jungian “psychic life cycle” with its difficult goal of Individuation
and the spiritual journey shown in the Zen Ox Pictures.
St Teresa describes this stage as one of spiritual
“dryness”. “The dark
night of the soul” is another common expression.
3.5
Taming the Ox
The whip and the rope are necessary,
Else it might stray off down some dusty road.
Being well trained, it becomes naturally gentle.
Then, unfettered, it obeys its master.
3.5.1
Commentary
This stage is one of self-discipline.
Then, having achieved a sufficient level of humility, one begins to
experience what St Teresa calls “spiritual delights”.
3.6
Riding the Ox Home
Riding 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.
3.6.1
Commentary
The prose commentary begins: “The struggle is
over”.
Once this stage is reached there is no turning back.
One can still be thrown from the Ox’s back, but at this stage it
is a relatively simple matter to climb back on.
The last four pictures show states of non-duality,
that is, of Oneness.
3.7
Ox Forgotten, Self Alone
Astride the ox, I reach home.
I am serene. The
ox is no more.
The dawn has come. In
blissful repose,
Within my thatched dwelling I have abandoned the whip and
rope.
3.7.1
Commentary
The Sufi tradition distinguishes three stages of
Oneness. This stage
corresponds to “I am She”, that is, “I am God”.
Meister Eckhart, the 13th century
Christian mystic and honorary Zen Master, made non-duality a major subject
of his sermons:
“When
I come to the point when I no longer project myself into any image and
fancy no images in myself, and toss away everything within me, then I can
be transported into God’s naked being, and this is the pure essence of
the Spirit. There every
comparison must be driven out, so that I can be transported into God and
can become one with him and one substance and one essence and one nature
and in this way a child of God. And
after this has happened, nothing more in God is hidden that will not be
revealed or will not be mine.”
3.8
Both Ox and Self Forgotten
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 ancient masters.
3.8.1
Commentary
The prose commentary reads:
“Mediocrity is gone. Mind is clear of limitation.
I seek no state of enlightenment.
Neither do I remain where no enlightenment exists.
Since I linger in neither condition, eyes cannot see me.
If hundreds of birds strew my path with flowers, such praise would
be meaningless.”
Eckhart:
“A
person shall become truly poor and as free from creature will as when
first born. And I say to you,
by the eternal truth, that as long as you desire to fulfil the will of
God, and have any desire after eternity and God; so long are you not truly
poor. That person alone hath true spiritual poverty who wills
nothing, knows nothing, desires nothing.”
And Eckhart again:
“No one asked me where I
was going or what I was doing.
Back in the womb from which
I came,
I had no God and merely was
myself.”
For this stage, St Teresa speaks of spiritual
marriage:
“Melding with the root of my own being,
which is none other than the root of the universe, I am completely gone
with no trace remaining, in one step crossing an ocean, returning I am
reborn with a new song in my heart.”
In the Sufi tradition, when in this stage, one says
“I am I”. It is known as
the “intoxication of union”.
3.9
Returning to the Source
Too many steps have been taken returning to the root and
the source.
Far better is it to say at home, blind and deaf, and
without much ado;
Dwelling in one’s true abode, unconcerned with that
without
The river flows tranquilly on and the flowers are red.
3.9.1
Commentary
If the 8th picture is the womb, then this
picture is rebirth and the newborn’s “just be-ing” awareness.
Note that once again the Zen Master comments that the
journey is not necessary, enlightenment can come at any time and it is
best that it comes to us right here, right now.
Eckhart:
“Isness is so noble.
No creature is so tiny that it lacks isness.
If a caterpillar falls off a
tree, it climbs up a wall in order to preserve its isness.
So noble is isness!
If you were able to deprive
God of isness,
A stone would be more noble
than God, for a stone has isness.
What is God?
God is!”
3.10
Entering the Marketplace with Bliss-bestowing Hands
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.
3.10.1 Commentary
The final goal of all Zen Masters – to return to
the world with bliss-bestowing hands – this makes them true
Bodhisattvas, working for the enlightenment of, not just themselves, but
all sentient beings.
It seems that all of our most treasured spiritual
figures did their bliss-bestowing work in the marketplace:
“And it come to pass, as
Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came
and sat down with him and his disciples.
And when the Pharisees saw
it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans
and sinners?
But when Jesus heard that,
he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick.”
In the Sufi tradition, this stage is known as the
“sobriety of union”.
I’ll end with some quotes from Eckhart:
“You may call God love
You may call God goodness.
But the best name for God is
compassion.”
And:
“This path of which I have spoken is
beautiful and pleasant and joyful and familiar.”
4
Bibliography
4.1
Books
King James Version, Christian Bible, (Zondervan)
Edmund Colledge, Berndard McGinn (translators), Meister
Eckhart, (Paulist Press)
Edward Edinger, Ego and Archetype, (Shambhala)
Matthew Fox, Meditations with Meister Eckhart,
(Bear & Co)
William James, The Varieties of Religious
Experience, (Random House)
Genjo Marinello, An Investigation of the Zen Ox
Pictures, (Lecture notes)
D.T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, (Grove
Press)
4.2
Internet References
Jamie Andrews, 10 Bulls,
[ http://www.cs.sfu.ca/people/ResearchStaff/jamie/personal/10_Bulls/Title_Page.html
]
Anonymous, Ten Oxherding Pictures,
[ http://www.zip.com.au/~lyallg/tenbulls.htm
]
Urs App, The Ten Oxherding Pictures,
[ http://www.iijnet.or.jp/iriz/irizhtml/zenart/10ox.htm
]
Ji Bong, The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures,
[ http://www.kwanumzen.com/primarypoint/v07n1-1990-winter-JBZM-TheTenOxHerdingPictures.html
]
Ruben Habito, The Zen Ox-Herding Pictures,
[ http://www.mkzc.org/oxherd.html
]
Jikihara, K'uo-an, The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures,
[ http://www.zen-mtn.org/zmm/gallery3.htm
]
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