Ten Bulls

Poems and drawings in the Zen tradition 15th century Japanese hanging scroll depicting a scene from the Oxherding sequence. Ten Bulls or Ten Ox Herding Pictures (Chinese: shíniú 十牛 , Japanese: jūgyūzu 十牛図 , korean: sipwoo 십우) is a series of short poems and accompanying drawings used in the Zen tradition to describe the stages of a practitioner's progress toward awakening, and their subsequent return to society to enact wisdom and compassion. Inspired by Indian Buddhist teachings, the pictures emerged in Song Dynasty China and spread among the Chan/Zen tradition throughout East Asia. History Indian background The calf, bull, or ox is one of the earliest similes for meditation practice. It comes from the Maha Gopalaka Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 33). It is also used in the commentaries, especially the one on the Maha Satipatthana Sutta (Digha Nikaya 22) and the Satipatthana Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 10). In Indian Buddhism, the simile of the bull is compatible to the ancient traditional Chinese view within cosmology that includes the zodiacal Ox (niú 牛) as a birth year and quality, as a result this similarity helped with the early assimilation of Buddhism into Chinese cu