Ox Herding Series

Dear Taigu,

Thank you, thank you for taking us through the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures over these past months. It was an absolutely delightful walk with you. Today's last picture really hit home for me personally. Not only does the picture look remarkably like me in my samue (tummy and all :lol: ) but the message was received in my open ear, heart and mind.

You said that here we are "comoing down from the hermitage to learn, study and open yourself in activity and listening". I had to stop the video and replay that several times, because there I am, not only in an uncanny likeness on the paper, but also in the action of my life since coming to Treeleaf. Too often the hermit sees the hermitage as a finality, a place where he stays from now on. He does not see it as a place from which he can spring into life with a new freedom to experience that life. Too often the hermit makes sitting in the hermitage the end of his life, and a place from which others can see him doing just that. What a trap! Instead of seeeing the freedom the hermitage is offering , he sees it only as the slowly closing coffin lid.

Well for me, I enjoy going down from the hermitage to the marketplace and meeting with a new situation that can open up my interest and to learn something, to see that I have learned something while I worked away in my solitude. This series was very joyfully received by at least this one old hermit as he walks down into the market,

trying not to be noticed

Gassho,

Kyrill Seishin

I am adding my thanks here too!
Thanks to YOU.
Taigu for sharing, showing and the nudges -I can be a cantankerous Ox. Kyrill Seishin just your presence here - your open eyes and ears, my own to perk up, come to attention - thank you Sir!


Gassho
Shohei

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to add my thanks too! :P (Original isn't it ? ;o)
So thanks to Seishin to give us the opportunity, and to you of course for the time and all the work it represent!

I've been very touch by the moments of silence between the words.
Particularly, those days where have been without Internet at home, it was a pleasure to share all your words and your silences with friends or parents...
So simply, Thank You...

Gassho,
Luis/Jinyu

Hi.

Add me to the line.
Great to be on board.
Thanks for the practice.

Mtfbwy
Fugen

Many thanks Sensei...deep bows to you and your practice.

Gassho,
Dosho

Thank you

"We don’t teach or instruct, but open our hands, our eyes and ears to the living teachings of the Buddhas which are found in every single form of this universe, from garbage to star. A very humbling experience, serving and being invisible."

A timely thread... I was thinking of starting a similar one myself before this one popped up, and I'm only half-way through the talks. Thank you Taigu, for a wonderful teaching. Your take on the ox-herding pictures makes a lot more intuitive sense to me, and resonates more with things I've experienced, seen, and learned in my own practice, than any other interpretation of these images that I've come across. Holding onto the tail as representative of holding onto rigid, fixed views... "catching a glimpse" reflecting the way our ego wants to make everything a show, and to collect glimpses of things... brilliant, and so true. I think comparing your talks on the Ox-Herding Pictures to more traditional interpretations really shows the difference between the Soto and Rinzai perspectives. I look forward to finishing the series!

Gassho,

Stephanie

.

Thank You. I'm enjoying it. (Haven't finished quite yet)

Ron

Hey Guys,

Remember to post some comments and nice words over at the Shambhala Sunspace, not just here.

http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?author=101

It just lets the editors there know that somebody is watching, which means they might keep us there for awhile.

Gassho, J

Thank you brother Seishin, thank you all, deep bows in the ten directions.


This is made possible because of your sitting and commitment. Please, never finish the series, let it ring and ring over and over again, and forget about my words but listen to the deafening silence of This.

Yes, Stephanie, very true, although we walk the same walk, Rinzai and Soto guys go differently. That s the beauty of it all. Thank you for your very kind words.

May you all enjoy the ride, swallow the 10 gates and return, empy handed.

gassho

Taigu

Late, as usual, but I'd like to say thanks, also. Taigu, your teachings resonate with me, as I've often mentioned.

Deep gassho,

Jikyo

Where can I find all the videos for the ox-herding series? I tried doing a search on Shambala but could only find the last few.

Thanks,

Ron

http://www.youtube.com/user/tetsuten

Wow!! That was fast!

Thank You Very Much,

Ron

This should give you the accompanying pictures and written comments by Taigu, including links to the sitting before we moved to Shambhala Sun. There are 13 in the series (how did we end up with 13 about 10???? :shock: )

http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?s=oxherding

The earlier talks are here linked to here ...

http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=15304

What a wonderous journey that began and ended in the very same footprints. However,the baggage taken on the journey has been lost. And now This! Gassho

Zak,

These words taste really good, like good old mountains and rivers. And please, don't stop here!

deep bows

Taigu

Taigu
This morning the wonderous Dharma produced a perfect Picasso. Someone called it an Canadian Hemlock. When its mysteries unfold I will let you know its name. How could one possibly stop here? Gassho

Just starting "watching" this series of talks by Taigu, which came before I joined Treeleaf, thanks to Shawn's recreation of them as podcasts. Very great stuff. I think I need to listen to the first one another ten times. It's really awakened me to "live" and "dead" readings, and the dangerous trap of seeking "answers" to questions.

Thanks so much, Taigu (and Shawn)!

Gassho,
Matt