This year we will be looking at the 10 Oxherding Pictures. Each picture comes with a short verse. The pictures represent the struggle we have as practitioners living in samsara (the conditioned world). The ox (or bull) represents what can be called the true self, Buddha-nature, emptiness, and/or anatta (non-self). The oxherder represents each of us as practitioners. And the pictures tell the story of a practitioner’s journey towards greater peace and acceptance with seeing things as they truly are. 

The oxherding tales are primarily instructional teachings. They are designed to be reflected upon and practiced with. Do not let the simplicity fool you. They represent important turning points in our practice experience. The verses point to several things one could contemplate within the experience. Together the pictures and the verses can broaden our awareness of the nature of the path to awakening with all its challenges and benefits.

The pictures follow a specific sequencing. We will look at a different picture each month. The first week of the month we will look at the picture and verse. During the subsequent weeks of the month, we will explore the picture in greater detail. On the last week, we invite you to bring whatever artistic expression of the month’s practice to the sit/talk and share it with the sangha. Hopefully we can follow this schedule at all of our various sits/talks.

Note: this is a significant and important Zen teaching. We will not, however, teach this as a Zen practice because Tim and Tuere are not Zen practitioners. Instead, we will use these pictures as an opportunity to view our practice from a different lens, allowing us to maybe see past some of our habit patterns and habitual states of mind.