【Ten Ox Herding Pictures（Jyugyuzu）】Post-covid A must-have classic, a guidebook to finding your true self

It depicts a herder going out in search of a bull he had been keeping because it escaped.

What the herdsman is looking for is his true self, his true self.

What does it mean to “find your true self”? It’s about finding a way to be happy for yourself.

People are supposed to have everything, but they turn their backs on what they have and don’t look directly at it. We count the number of misfortunes and forget to count the small number of happiness.

I struggle to get lost because I try to find things I don’t have. The truth is, I have lost nothing.

Exhausted from searching aimlessly across the mountains and fields, the herdsman was following the bull by reading sutras and learning from others. And finally they found their footprints.

This is the stage where you have found clues to your true self.

The act of reading sutras and begging for teachings from others is admirable. But it’s important to have an eye for it.

That’s how J. Marvin Spiegelman, author of Buddhism and Jungian Psychology, interprets it.

“All books, all knowledge, even all that I have come to realize in the past, if not in communion with my own nature, are the same as garbage”

Sutras and teachings from others do not have a place for your “true self.” Don’t mistake the cue and the goal.

The herdsman finally found the bull, drawing on sutras and teachings from others. But the figure is hidden in the shadows, and only part of it is visible.

I was able to find the bull because he was also looking for himself. The history of my life up to that point, the subtleties of my mind, the pain and struggle and learning, all of which were necessary experiences to find a bull.

Like the “salt” contained in seawater and the “glue” contained in paint, you and the bull are originally one entity, not separate.

The herdsmen were able to catch water bull. You can rely on a single rope tied together.

After that, the bull did not give in to the will of the herdsmen, but wandered again, escaped, and disappeared.

People find their dreams and hopes, but in the process of making them truly their own, they run into confusion and trouble, and they have a lot to cheer about.

But that “agaki” is what it’s worth.

A bull, even if caught, will furiously seek the wild.

Even when I’m meditating, I’m constantly getting mixed thoughts. At such times, I rely on a single rope to refocus my consciousness and enter into my being.

The herdsman was able to catch the bull again that had disappeared.

With reins and whips, he manages to steer the bull and rush home.

People can’t face their doubts, worries and weaknesses, and are afraid to face them. However, it is important to have a constant desire to meet your “true self.”

Now, without reins and whips, we can’t control the bull. Otherwise the bull will run away again and try to return to the wild.

With a little taming, the bull should become one with the herdsmen without the need for reins and whips.

The bull finally gave in quietly to the herdsmen.

No more reins and whips are needed, and the shepherd is whistling on the back of a bull.

The herdsman and the bull became one. We were separated for a long time, but now we are one.

The “true self” and the self were originally one thing, just back together.

The herdsman came home. I sit in the eaves, looking at the mountains, looking at the moon and holding hands.

But there is no bull drawn here.

Just as the clouds clear and the moon shows its beautiful form, the bull realizes that it has been there from the beginning.

The bull that sought outside his own existence was one with himself, and within himself.

The figure no longer features a herder or bull, but a circle in the center.

This circle represents “Ku” (sky).

Everything in the world is “Soranashi (that things that seem to exist are all tentative and nonexistent).”

Spiegelman, mentioned earlier, says:

“The sun was in front of the light and the circle was in front of the man. What is the use of light when you have no eyes? What is the use of the whole when there are no parts?”

In search of the bull (the “true self”) and asking what my happiness was, I kept on going on a long journey. Then, once you reach “enlightenment,” you have to let go of even that “enlightenment,” or you will get lost about that “enlightenment.”

It says that if you meet your “true self,” don’t stay there, just run through it.

After it became “Ku,” what appeared was a “tree.”

At the end of his long journey he was able to find a bull, but there was no picture of him here, let alone a bull.

The very act of searching for your “true self” is precious, but the tree was still there in the garden before you set out on your journey.

If you look around with a pure heart, the world is beautiful enough as it is. The lake is spacious and the flowers are red. You don’t have to travel, you just sit in the garden and look at it and know it.

Trees teach us not what kind of “flowers” we can put into our lives, but the importance of taking root.

J Marvin Spiegelman puts it this way:

“Beyond the sky, beyond the sun, beyond the light, is the source. A source is a tree. The circle in the middle of the space meets the small circle in the hole of the tree”

＊”Ku” means nothing

The painting is “Hotei-san.”

It goes without saying that he is one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune.

This Hotei is a former herder.

After meeting his “true self” and realizing how happy he is, the herdsman goes to town, mingling with people and drinking without caring about his appearance. The face is full of smiles, and it heals and saves the people you meet.

Those who are enlightened, those who have gained something, can grow more by giving everything they have to others, without boasting about it or acting bossy.

Spiegelman says:

“Everything is Buddhist, everything is holy. That’s only when those things meet. Only when they meet and touch. If joy is not bestowed, what is it worth?”

If you can’t share, you don’t call it happiness.