Organ Mountain Zen



Friday, January 13, 2006

Ten Ox-Herding Pictures: Stage Five

STAGE 5
TAMING THE OX

Introduction
Once thoughts rise up even slightly, they are followed by other
thoughts.
Through enlightenment, they become true; in delusion, they become
false.
It is not due to our surroundings that they are there;
they are only produced by our mind.
We must pull the Ox firmly by his tether and not allow any doubts to
enter.

Verse
Whipping does not depart from the body at any moment.
Lest he follow his own whim, entering the dust and dirt.
If you devotedly tame him, he will be pure and gentle.
Without bridle and chains, he will follow you of his own accord.
____

So Daiho:

I learn unevenly: trying to learn to walk again, I often stumble. Learning to be a therapist, I sometimes fail to listen. Learning to be a human being once again and not a hunter of human beings, I sometimesa see myself kill.

Images are the worst: coffee spoons, cigarettes, motorcycles, medals, beads, long hair, beard, no beard, shaved head; badges of this and that. Like mud they stick to my boots and cause me to grunt while walking. I just want to fly. Zazen releases the weight of the badges. Then,

Nice guy. Feminist. Buddha. Vietnam Vet.

Illusions not even as real as spooks in the night sky.

Faith in our practice is foundational. Coming to the mountain Zendo, meeting my Master, I sit each day. His life is nothing to write home about. Most Masters live this way. Ordinary living that is all. So I don't write home.
It is important to recognize the chimeric quality of thoughts and feelings. As one old friend used to say, "a bag of shells, Harvey, a bag of shells." When we see our thoughts as important or profound or valuable we are lost. When we see them coming and celebrate them we are lost. Only when they are seen for their true nature, the nature of wind across the desert, are they in their proper context.

So here it is: just sit. Sit in the morning. Sit in the evening. And in between, steer yourself directly.

Be well

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