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Ox-Herding Story
by Jill N. Henry, EdD, APP
www.mountainvalleycenter.com/chakra9.htm

In ancient China and Japan, centuries ago, a series of pictures began to appear. They were engraved in wood, painted on plates, and generally distributed throughout the culture. These pictures, known as the “ox-taming’ series of the Chinese Ch’an and Japanese Zen, formed a visual story of the stages of achieving the Buddhist enlightened mind.  We will use them to explain our path through the Chakras.

Picture 1 – Seeking the Ox. This picture generally shows an Ox alone, or a person alone. Also called “Struggling to Emerge from Confusion”, this is the beginning stage of awareness. The Ox was the first animal to be tamed by man and represents all the unseen energies of the chakras. We must first become aware that there is something more to life than what is experienced by the five senses. The majority of people are not aware, and therefore do not even seek beyond what is apparent. The first step is knowing that there is something to seek.

In Picture 2 – Finding the Tracts – the ox is seen with head looking up. This represents the first attempt to discover the nature of the ox. At this stage, we begin to read about energy, about spirit, about the chakras. Though this information is intellectual only, it is enough to encourage us to continue the exploration.

Picture 3 – First Glimpse of the Ox, represents our beginning abilities to sense and feel the energy of the chakras. The first experience of colors, feelings, beliefs which lie hidden within us. We begin to experience an inner source of energy and power and begin to understand how this inner work can help us in our lives.

The next three pictures, Catching the Ox, Taming the Ox, and Riding the Ox Home, depict our intense inner work in chakra development. It is here that we identify our strengths and weaknesses in the first 4 chakras. We work on our beliefs about survival in the root chakra. We explore our relationships and sensuality in the navel chakra. Issues of personal power are dealt with in the solar plexus. Blocks to love and healing are released in the heart chakra. This is intense work and results in establishing some level of control over our own energies. To “ride the ox” is to have tamed it! The ox, or our own inner nature, now is under our own command. We are now able to extend our abilities in the world because we have control of the ox and can use these inner energies to manifest our desires.

Picture 7 - Ox Forgotten, Self Alone, is the work of the fifth or throat chakra. This is the establishment of inner direction and its natural flow of outward expression. Going inward, beyond the senses. Experiencing directly the energy before it becomes encapsulated in thought and feeling. And letting that energy flow outward without effort.

Picture 8 – Ox and Self Forgotten, is the meditation associated with the brow chakra. This is the direct experience of the inner wisdom of knowing. Knowing for its own sake, without external influences.

Picture 9 – Return to the Source, is the oneness experience of the crown chakra. The merging with All That Is. The return to Home.

The Ox-herding pictures would not be complete without picture 10 – Entering the Marketplace with Helping Hands. The reason we explore the chakras, the reason we take the time and effort to develop them at all, is in order to return to the world and be of service. The more we can understand and empower our natural energies, the more value we can be to our family, our friends, our community and our world.

NOTE: The ox-herding pictures used here are from an excellent book called The Inward Arc: Healing and Wholeness in Psychotherapy and Spirituality by Frances Vaughan, 1985