Genju at 108zenbooks is up to number 4 of the Oxherding Pictures:

catching the Ox

Read Genju’s commentary here. (She uses the excellent term “connecting”—and dancing—instead of catching.) In the minibook Path of Enlightenment, we read:

Through extraordinary effort You seize the ox. Still, its will is forceful, its body spirited Sometimes it runs high into the mountains, Other times it disappears into the mist.

A breakthrough, an insight, has taken place. But, as John Daido Loori Roshi comments:

“Frequently, our actions are not in accord with our clarity. We know what we should be doing, we know what is right, but that is not what we do. Often, in fact, we do exactly the opposite.”

1. Searching for the Ox 2. Seeing the Footprints 3. Seeing the Ox

[Image: 108zenbooks]