Riding the Ox Home: Stages on the Path of Enlightenment - Softcover

Loori, John Daido

Softcover

ISBN 10: 157062951X ISBN 13: 9781570629518

Publisher: Shambhala, 2002

Synopsis

Maps and guideposts are helpful when we undertake a journey. The ten Ox-Herding Pictures, the accompanying ancient poems, and a modern commentary by John Daido Loori, sketch the spiritual path encountered in Zen training, a path of exhaustive study of the self and the realization of the ultimate nature of reality. The Ox-Herding Pictures can be our companion on the Way of self-discovery, our compass and perspective when we need one. They are a bottomless source of mysterious wisdom to which we can return again and again for inspiration, and they translate easily into the gritty reality of spiritual practice that emerges from and grounds us in the inescapable relevance of our daily lives.

The exquisite versions of the pictures found in the book are traditional Chinese nanga brush paintings by Gyokusei Jikihara Sensei, a modern Japanese master of calligraphy and a teacher in the Obaku School of Zen. The traditional verses accompanying them have been translated by John Daido Loori and Kazuaki Tanahashi, translator and editor of Enlightenment Unfolds: The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Dogen.

About this title

About the Author:

John Daido Loori (1931–2009) was one of the West's leading Zen masters. He was the founder and spiritual leader of the Mountains and Rivers Order and abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery. His work has been most noted for its unique adaptation of traditional Asian Buddhism into an American context, particularly with regard to the arts, the environment, social action, and the use of modern media as a vehicle of spiritual training and social change. Loori was an award-winning photographer and videographer. His art and wildlife photography formed the core of a unique teaching program that integrated art and wilderness training by cultivating a deep appreciation of the relationship of Zen to our natural environment. He was a dharma heir of the influential Japanese Zen master Taizan Maezumi Roshi and he authored many books.

From Publishers Weekly:

Influential Zen Buddhist teacher Loori, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in New York, offers a clear commentary on "The Ox-herding Pictures," a traditional series of (usually) 10 pictures from 12th-century Chinese Zen master Kuoan accompanied by verses. The pictures form a characteristically wry Zen parable about the process of enlightenment. Loori successfully demonstrates his mastery of teaching: he makes the process simple and accessible, even while issuing cautions about how very, very hard the journey actually is. Loori is also a photographer, so his aesthetic sensibility lends richness to his use of the pictures as a teaching device in Zen study and practice. The herd of Zen oxen books continues to grow: Loori's nicely complements How to Raise an Ox by Francis Dojun Cook (Wisdom, May), an introduction to 13th-century Japanese Zen master Dogen that is more conceptual but equals Loori's in being a key to unlocking the considerable treasury of Zen heritage. (Indeed, both authors are students of Japanese Zen master Taizan Maezumi Roshi.) True, there is literature aplenty on Buddhism, but Loori is an authoritative and respected teacher and this small book, with illustrations in traditional brush painting style by Japanese calligrapher Gyokusei Jikihara Sensei, is effectively visual. It will make a great gift for a Zen student.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Shambhala
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 157062951X
• ISBN 13: 9781570629518
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 104