Ten Bulls
The ox and his herdsman or in the common variant, the ten ox Pictures (十 牛 图Chinese, Pinyin Shiniu tú; jap十 牛 図, jūgyūzu, in some variants, there are only five, six or eight pictures ) is a motif from the Chinese tradition of Chan Buddhism. The original version consisted of a short verse with illustrative woodcuts. They describe and illustrate the spiritual path of a typical Zen Buddhists.
Although it is in the imaged animal to a water buffalo ( the Hanzi牛actually stands for "cattle" ), the term has prevailed bullock pictures in the German language area.
History
The basis for the up to today 's most popular image cycle (a total of four handed ) was from the song- Chinese Linji Chan Master Kuoan Shiyuan (廓 庵 师 远, Kuoan Shīyuǎn, Kuo -an Shih -yuan ) written in 1150 and illustrated. Later, Chi -yuan added a preface and short prefaces to each image. This version learned in China and Korea not widely prevalent, but enjoyed great popularity in medieval Japan. In China and Korea, the earlier version of the Chan Master Pu Ming (普明, Pǔ Míng, P'u -ming ) was much more popular, which in many respects differs from Kuoan of the.
Kuòāns version was released in Japan in the 17th century along with waka poems by Shōtetsu ( 1380-1458 ) in an anthology of Zen writings called Zenshu shiburoku, which was often used as introductory material for Zen students. The originals of Kuoan have been lost. Among the most popular versions of the ten ox images of the present are the prints of Hanga woodcutter Tokuriki Tomikichirô (徳 力 富 吉 郎; 1902-1999 ). († late 15th century), with illustrations of acting in the Muromachi period Shubun priest of the temple Shokoku -ji: In the West, the series of images in particular by the translation into English by DT Suzuki was ( First Series in 1927, in Essays in Zen Buddhism. ) Posted.
Content
Below the names of the images Kuoan version, combined with pictures of Shubun:
2) Finding the Ox Trail
3) Finding the Ox
4) Catching the Ox
5) The Taming of the Ox
6) The return on the back of the ox [ ie, the ego has been tamed. ]
7) The ox is forgotten, the shepherd remains
8) The perfect oblivion of the ox and the herder
9) After returning to the ground and origin
10) coming in to the market with open hands
After Heinrich Dumoulin of ox stands for the "real, deep self " and the shepherd " for man par excellence ". Dumoulins interpretation of this parable of the "Zen - operation par excellence " is as follows:
" The shepherd has lost his oxen and stands out on a limb ( 1 image ), but man can lose his self? He looks and sees the trace of the Ox (2nd picture), there is a mediation, a help in the religious things like sutras and temples monasteries may play a role. The traces nachgehend, he finds the ox (3rd picture), but still it is only a distant, intellectual knowledge or intuitive feelings about the oxen, he tames the beast with hot effort (4th ), and feed it with careful vigilance ( fifth image ). These two stages involve the practice in the Zen hall, the hard, peinvolle exercise to the detection of enlightenment and the essential practice of the enlightened. The practitioner obtains full security, even the shepherd moves toward the back of the ox and returns, playing the flute, triumphantly home (6th picture), the joy of the shepherds and the raised head of the yawing not after grass animal show the obtained full freedom to. Both are now one, the shepherd of his freedom requires no more of the " ox ", he forgets about it as after the famous word Chuang -tzu 's case and power are useless if the rabbit and the fish are caught. So the shepherd is alone, without the ox (7th image ). Now both, the ox and the herder disappear in the founding and comprehensive Nothing of the circle Runds (8th image ). When the shepherd appears again, all things around him are such as they are ( 9th picture) - the everyday life of the Enlightened One. And the shepherd comes to the city and to the market and gifted all round (10th image ). The Enlightened lives with all his fellow human beings and like all his fellow human beings, but the quality that he radiates, stems from its enlightenment here. "