The other day I was in a local Italian food import store and saw the sign above, hand-painted on the warehouse wall.
The sign completely captures what I hope to bring to this season of giving and thanks. Best wishes for the season!
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
I found a little Jogye-jong temple up the hill behind the train station in our new neighborhood. It was just a small Zen hall and a shrine for the mountain spirit, but around the hall had a very blue Ox herding series. I'll post them for you soon...
Joseph, thank you for your friendship. Please give my greetings to Eunbong and Fina!
I sent the pics of you reading to Fina to my daughter and she wrote back to me saying that her memories of our time reading together are among the happiest of her life.
Zen teachers sometimes use the Ten Ox Herding Pictures to describe the path of awakening. Within this metaphorical framework, the ox symbolizes the secretive, unruly human mind.
I’m truly grateful to everyone who leaves a comment on this blog. Even though many comments are generous and thoughtful, I rarely respond. Thank you for your understanding.
I extend grateful appreciation to my daughter, Susie, who designed this site; to Zen Master Seung Sahn, for crossing the ocean; and to all beings for their never-ending encouragement and teaching.
May we together attain enlightenment and save all beings from suffering.
Copyright
(c) 2008-2018, Barry Briggs. All Rights Reserved. Header (c) 2015, Susannah Briggs.
A Modern Version of Images & Poems Joseph Bengivenni, who writes Somewhere In Dharma, has developed a tremendous version of ox herding. This takes you to the first image in the series.
New Ox Herding Drawings A new set of drawings (and poems!) by Lynette Monteiro. This link takes you to the first of the ten images.
Poems on the Ox Herding Pictures New poems by Zen Master Daehaeng. This link takes you to the first five poems. The second five poems were published on this site a few days later.
Ox Herding Pictures Images from the outer walls of a hall at Songgwangsa Temple in Korea. (PDF file)
Ox Herding Pictures In Asia, the Ox Herding Pictures are commonly painted on the exterior of temple buildings. This beautiful set is from Mu Sang Sah, a temple in the mountains of Korea.
I found a little Jogye-jong temple up the hill behind the train station in our new neighborhood. It was just a small Zen hall and a shrine for the mountain spirit, but around the hall had a very blue Ox herding series. I'll post them for you soon...
Posted by: Joseph | November 24, 2011 at 06:44 AM
Ah, I just realized it's American Thanksgiving today,
I hope you have a nice day.
And thank you for your blog and everything else that's come of it!
Posted by: Joseph | November 24, 2011 at 08:47 AM
Joseph, thank you for your friendship. Please give my greetings to Eunbong and Fina!
I sent the pics of you reading to Fina to my daughter and she wrote back to me saying that her memories of our time reading together are among the happiest of her life.
Best wishes,
Barry
Posted by: Barry Briggs | November 24, 2011 at 10:15 AM
Barry,
A very happy Thanksgiving to you and all of yours. Thank you for herding the ox on our behalf.
Your friend,
David
Posted by: David Clark | November 24, 2011 at 11:57 AM