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Scene 30, Episodes 8 and 9. Baodingshan, Dazu (map)
The Oxherding Parable illustrates the process of enlightenment. As the herdsman gradually tames his ox, so the spiritual seeker tames his unruly mind by the practice of Zen.
In Scene 8 (left photo), two hersdmen (actually the same person, as in Episode 6) relax by a pond and enjoy the beauty of nature, represented by a crane, while one of them plays a flute. The ox is nowhere to be found, showing that at this state the concerns of the active mind are absent; the Zen doctrine of "no mind." In Scene 9 (right photo) the ox and the herder each go their own ways; the ox rambles freely in the grove, as the herder unconcernedly falls asleep, undisturbed by the tricks of a chattering monkey (symbolic of the mind's stream of consciousness) in a tree above.
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