Finding the Ox

"Finding the Ox

A golden oriole trills on the branch,
The sun is warm, the wind mild, and the lakeside willow green.
Now there is nowhere for the ox to escape!
Yet what artist can paint his majestic head and horns?

Finding the ox depicts the first awakening. However, in this case, the herder is shown to glimpse only the back of the ox, which represents that he has only a partial insight into I am. To seek is one thing, but to find is another. In addition, while in Advaita the idea is simply to discover who one is, in Zen, understanding the revelation of our pure nature has to enter from the beyond; the ox is outside of the herder, so to speak. The ox has to enter the landscape of our perception in order to be identified – it has to show itself to the seeker. This revelation is a function of grace, initiation, or transmission. A seeker cannot simply stumble upon the ox because it must agree to be seen: it descends from another dimension that cannot be bridged either through practice or self-enquiry.

Seeing the back of the ox is that first opening to I am. It is only the back because it is incomplete and the duality between me and I am is still very gross. One is both looking at and seeking one’s pure nature; one can perceive it, see it, but one cannot become it. Indeed even this seeing lacks continuity, as the ox is wild and keeps getting lost in the forest of forgetfulness.

The question is: Who is seeing, and what is being seen? One must avoid falling into the pitfall of accepting easy and clichéd answers, and, above all, one must respect the nature of that divine duality, for that duality is the very way."

~ Anandi