Category Archives: intermediate

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The Ten Oxherding Pictures

A Holiday Gift from the Buddhist World to all of us.

The ten Oxherding Pictures from Zen Buddhism represent the stages and path to awakening, integration and enlightenment, with the Ox representing our True Nature and the Oxherder each of us, the embodied being. It is important to note that the stages are not linear but spiralic and multi-dimensional, as we usually can get glimpses of more advanced levels before we have truly completed and integrated the any or all of the previous ones.

Also, we may often be working with several stages at the same time. More subtle awakenings in one level may trigger unconscious and unresolved traumas stored in the earlier levels that then need to be revisited, transformed and integrated. Then, the energy held in trauma is resolved and free to use for deeper growth.

There are many variations on the ten pictures representing the stages, and these are usually accompanied by poetic verses and/or commentary describing the journey. The paintings seen below are traditionally attributed to 天章周文 Tenshō Shūbun (1414-1463), of the Muromachi period in the late fifteenth century and are found at the Shōkokuji temple in Kyoto, Japan.

These stages can be seen as three sets of three transformations, with the final stage standing alone. The first three are the beginners journey, the second three those of the intermediate student, and the final three the most subtle and refined. The tenth transcends all and resolves as the awakened Buddha in the world helping others. Looking more deeply and ironically, we find that ultimately it is the Ox who is training and leading the Oxherder

1: Seeking the Ox
We know something is missing in our lives, but don’t know what it might be, or where to look. Our souls ache, our spirit feels fragile. The spiritual journey begins, but our minds are full of confusion and delusion. Our search is random and we cannot find the Ox anywhere. This is Dante at the beginning of The Divine Comedy.

2: Seeing Tracks of the Ox
Through study and guidance we begin to get glimpses. Maybe we discover yoga or meditation, or find spiritual teachers or writings that inspire us. But although we see the tracks, the Ox is still unseen, unknown. The tracks give us some confidence and we continue seeking, driven by the awakening cosmic impulse to discover/uncover the fullness and truth of our Being. The Ox is calling us.

3: First Glimpsing the Ox
There is the Ox. Wow! So magnificent! How did we ever not see! But the Ox remains elusive, disappearing into the forest. How could that be? Our minds are still confused, our seeking still undisciplined. The Ox teases us. She is everywhere and then nowhere to be found. Our mental habits and beliefs still dominate in spite of the revelation and we struggle to find ground. We are still beginners on the journey.

4: Catching the Ox
We finally catch the ox and grasp the rope to hold her, but she is wild and free, used to cavorting in the fields. We must hold the rope firmly and steadily. The rope of course is our evolving meditation practice and this is where it gets more serious. We are no longer beginners. We are in the realm of un-abiding awakening and must be ‘all in’ with our practice to stabilize the ground. Habits and conditioning have many tentacles extending into the unconscious, so our discipline must become stronger. The Ox keeps us on our toes.

5: Taming the Ox
As our practice becomes stronger, we can hold the rope more loosely as the Ox is relaxing somewhat. It is actually the mind that is relaxing as we begin to realize that the Ox is always steady and it is our minds that are wild and untamed. By relaxing our efforts, our practices can now include resting in the infinite and we become more comfortable in stillness and mystery. Habits still arise as the unconscious has many layers and levels of confusion and trauma, but we recognize the reality that our thoughts arise and fall from the depths of silence and that our delusion is self created.

6: Riding the Ox Back Home
The seeking and struggle come to an end and we can let go of the rope as Ox and herder are one, moving effortlessly together though the world. Buddha Nature is awake and free and we feel spontaneous joy and happiness. The Oxherder plays his flute for the birds and children of the village. This joy and delight can be a surprise as the practice has seemed quite serious at times. Unseen unconscious traumas may still exist so vigilance is still required.

7: Ox Forgotten, Self Alone
The Ox is now gone and the Oxherder sits at home alone. This is ‘Self as ‘I am’ without the need to ‘be something. This is Kaivalya of the Yoga Sutras, Purusha distinct from Prakriti. Up until now, there has remained a subtle sense of duality, of practice and life, of spiritual and not spiritual. This now dissolves. There is no longer ‘something to do’. Everything is meditation and nothing is special. Things are ‘just as they are’.

8: Ox and Self Both Forgotten
Total Emptiness. No concepts, ideas or beliefs, no sense of separateness. Even the “I am” is gone. All gone. Not even the scent of ‘holiness’ or special-ness remains. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate.

9: Return to the Source
From the realization of Emptiness emerges the realization that the amazing flow of life always continues on in its own perfection. Seasons come and go. Cherry trees bloom in the spring. Birds sing and the rivers flow. Stars are born and others explode into cosmic dust. Emptiness is Fullness, Fullness is Emptiness. Bodhi svaha!

10: Returning to the Marketplace with Helping Hands
The enlightened being joyfully joins the world to aid all beings on their journey. Freedom, wisdom and compassion are the roots of action. Enlightenment is not passive but celebratory and engaged.

Here are some other perspectives:
From Tricycle Magazine
https://terebess.hu/english/Kuoan1.html
https://terebess.hu/english/oxherd0.html

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Embodying Presence: Fall 2022

Administrative Details: Tuesday

The first class will be on Tuesday, September 12, 9:00-11:00 am PDT (12:00 – 2:00 pm EDT), and will run for 13 consecutive weeks, ending on December 13. $360 for the series, no drop-ins. (Adjustments can be made for regular students with some previous commitments.) A video of the class will be available every week. You can register by e-mailing me at yogarthur@aol.com where I can give you more info on payment etc.

Administrative Details: Saturday

There will be four Saturday classes, 9 – 11 am PDT (PST): September 24, October 22, November 19, December 17. $110 for the four classes: $30/class for drop-ins. Five students minimum per class.

Basic Class Structure

The class begins with a 20 – 25 minute meditation, beginning with guidance on heart opening and then sitting in silence (shikan-taza, the Zen practice of ‘just sitting’.) followed by a check in for questions on practice. Then a period of free movement of your own choice, a demonstration/explanation of the embodied theme of the day and your own personal explorations of the theme. The class will end with a chance for follow up questions, and if time permits, another short meditation.

Class Themes

The core categories are Being, Becoming and Belonging: Being is our shikantaza practice andworking with the Heart Sutra and its challenging pointing to emptiness.. I am currently working on the embodied themes for the fall session (becoming) which will include deeper explorations of the three dantiens through pelvis, ribs and skull bones, the four limbs, working with diaphragm and breath and some spherical, circular and spiralic energy patterns that occur from cell to skin. (More being!) Belonging will include world on healing our ancestral lineage through grandmothers and great-grandmothers as well as the support of our emerging and evolving sangha.

Reading Homework

I have been spending much time with these two books. Powerful and inspiring, but challenging!

Being: “Cultivating the Empty Field” The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi , translated by Taigen Daniel Leighton with Yi Wu. Wonderful descriptions of the ‘undescribable’ with guidance on practice (Cast off the body-mind – then cast off ‘casting off”).

Becoming and Belonging: Essence with The Elixir of Enlightenment: The Diamond Approach to Inner Realization
(two books in one volume) by A.H. Almaas (pen name for Hameed Ali).

Hameed articulates the process of awakening through recognizing and transforming the ego structures, and how embodying awakening activates the many facets of ‘Essence’, such as courage, compassion, curiosity, love, and more. He also references Taosit Vedic, Buddhist and Sufi teachings to show the universality of awakening, as well as Western psychological pioneers and explorers to help understand the developmental processes of the ego. This is a rare and extraordinary book by one who has mastered the practice and the supporting scholarship.

If you are not familiar with Hameed, here is a recent interview of him with Tami Simon.

gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svahah

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Embodying Presence:

Winter Series Mid-Term Notes

Being: Living in Presence: Three Commitments (from Adyashanti)

Commitment to Stillness as the root of Presence
Commitment to resting in the breathing flow, as both portal and anchor
Commitment to compassion for our humanity and the challenges of the commitments

Becoming: Three Principles of Embodying

Finding and feeling the dynamic field of aliveness as vibration and tone
Discovering/feeling/exploring the Yin and Yang poles of tone as:
weight/lightness, condensing/expanding, flexion tone/extension tone etc.
Finding and resting in balanced tone as a portal to Stillness

Belonging: Living/practicing the four Brahma Viharas in all of our relationships in the world
Loving-kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, Equanimity

Discover and explore how these three link together in our daily lives. As a personal example, it is an act of loving kindness to myself to do my practice every morning. Part of that practice involves invoking compassion as a way of opening my heart. The breathing is essential in both Embodying and Presence practices. I feel my aliveness being more juicy in the presence of joy. My heart opens more when I can feel others distress and suffering.

Embodying Presence as
a vibrational field, embracing all, from atoms to cells, organs, tissues and the world around us

Becoming as awakening to, and exploring the feeling of, the living, breathing, bio-dynamic presence of the body’s energy field. We will call this organizing field as ‘primary tone‘ as it has a vibrational quality, as in music.

Explore primary tone beginning in the feet at K-1. Climbing the wall, walking, dancing, any way to engage your feet. In skiers tadasana, find the flexion/extension balance through feet, ankles, knees and hips, keeping the pelvis vertical, neither ‘tucking’ nor ‘untucking’, as the body bobs up and down. Let your tail hang freely, like a dog, bird or reptile. Feel the support of Mother Earth as yin/grounding/flexion/condensing, as well as the support of Father Sky as yang/ space / extension/ expansion. Here primary tone connects to the Cosmic support of gravity and boundary-less space.

Explore going in and out of the simple standing forward bend, uttanasana, maintaining the flexion/extension tone balance in the legs and notice how the spine responds. Feel the flexion / extension through the joints as an expanding / condensing throughout the whole body.

Connect K-1 to the pubic bones and then sternum, feeling a lift and support to the yin front body and organs, and repeat the above two explorations.

Explore primary tone as a living, dynamic three dimensional volume, surrounding the three dantien spaces, and linked with the Microcosmic Orbit. Dantien means ‘exlixir field’ and thus implies an energetic vibrancy. Our entry points to the volumes are the three bony cavities, the pelvis, ribs and skull.

In general the tone of the Yin/ front body/ gut body/ torso flexion/ condensing Conception Vessel tends to be to low and the tone of the yang/back body/spinal column/ torso extension/ expanding Governing Vessel, tends to be too high. This may be a pattern that begins in utero (premature birth doesn’t allow the compressive forces that build yin flexor tone) or just from a sedentary lifestyle. Our intention is to explore the state of balance between yin/yang and adjust accordingly.


Our starting points to awaken/strengthen yin front body tone are: The pubic symphysis for the lower dantien, the sternum for the middle, and the birthing crown* at the back of the skull near where the upper occipital bone meets the two parietal bones.

(* This is a term Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen uses. First to differentiate it from the crown chakra at the top of the skull, and also as the point of initiation of the birthing impulse of extension, when the baby begins to emerge from the deep torso flexion of the late womb state.

Ideally for labor, the baby is positioned head-down, facing your back, with the chin tucked to its chest and the back of the head ready to enter the pelvis. This is called cephalic presentation. Most babies settle into this position with the 32nd and 36th week of pregnancy. Other fetal positions for birth include different types of breech (feet down) and occiput posterior position (face up).)

Awakening primary tone through hands, feet and mouth.

While sitting, feel your hands gently and slowly opening and closing around a center point (Pericardium 8), like a bird about to clasp a branch. Feel you whole body responding. With your feet on the floor, feel them creating (yang) that same flexing/condensing and extending/expanding from the soles of the Feet (K-1), and feel the whole body joining in. You can have in dog pose with this, engaging all four limbs. Feel the body receiving the action (Yin) and then feel the hands and feet receiving the action (yin) from the action (yang) of the body (diaphragm, ribs, lungs, abdominal wall etc).

Now find you soft palate at the back of the mouth (you can use your tongue if necessary). Gently open and close your mouth in an expanding/condensing action similar to hands and feet. Relax you jaws and facial muscles to allow this some ease. Now imagine a gentle suckling action at the soft palate with the tongue, like in nursing. Feel you whole gut body responding, feeling the gentle movement. Relax and feel the primary tome throughout the entire body, from head to toes and skin to organs and bone marrow.

Now place your hands on the back of your skull, like in sirsasana (head balance), and as the mouth slowly opens , lift the back of the skull very gently opening the top front of the spine at Skull – C-1. Feel that as the mouth closes, the upper back of the neck releases as the skull bone oscillates back over C-1. By learning to feel the back of the skull as a source point of initiating extension/ expansion, as at birth igniting, many/most neck issues can be resolved.

Working with Trauma

Embedded in the primary tonal field of the body are pockets of resistance and holding. These come from psychological and emotional traumas, large and small, as well as injuries. Large traumas usually need the help and support of professionals in the world of psychotherapy, as when the trapped energy is triggered, it can often overwhelm the capacity to stay stable amidst the storm. A trained therapist with a grounded nervous system and stable primary tone can act as an anchor and stabilizer as we learn to navigate out own inner world. this is analogous to a parent helping to stabilize a young child when in a state of overwhelm/meltdown. This is why having a deep connection to Mother Earth and Father Sky is important for adults. We all need support for our challenges.

In working with smaller traumas, we can take support from the Stillness awakened in our meditation practice and the linking our our priamry tome to the Cosmic Fields of Mother Earth/Gravity and Father Sky/Spaciousness . the organism inherently moves toward healing and wholeness, but sometimes this process becomes stuck (dukkha). this is why continous practice is essential in the awakening process