Ten Buffalo-herding Pictures
(Thập Mục Ngưu Đồ)
I. Origin
The buffalo is a very popular animal to the farmers because they drew ploughs and
carried heavy objects in ancient Asian countries before machines were developed. People took
great care of the buffalo so they were healthy for work; a boy was hired to herd the buffalo every
day. The buffalo is very strong, and also dangerous because of its sharp horns. To control its
temper, the farmer used a string threaded through the buffalo’s nose, that when paired with the
rod, could control the buffalo as they wished. Since the method of controlling farm buffalo was
easy to understand among disciples, the Buddha demonstrated a similar method to show his
disciples how to control their minds.
In one of the Buddha’s lectures, the Buddha taught his disciples how to foster their
minds as follows: “One should watch their mind as if herding buffalo. One should watch their
mind with the rod—do not let the mind loose for the buffalo to destroy other farmers’ rice fields.”
The buffalo is the heart’s symbol. The practitioner is the herder. He must control the “wandering
buffalo” in his mind, that is, he must set himself free from his nature to get into the state of
awareness and liberation. The scholar later used the Buddha’s teaching to draw the ten buffaloherding pictures. The picture album was called the “Ten Buffalo-herding Pictures”
Many picture albums created by many authors appeared in several generations. The
earliest picture album and the most popular album in the Mahayana Buddhist School was the
picture album from Chinese Zen master Kuoan Shiyuan (1100-1200), born in the Song Dynasty.
There were many picture albums in color or in black and white, which were analyzed by the Zen
school or by the Mahayana school.
At the present time, the picture album introduced to most of the countries in the world is
the picture album of the Zen master Kuoan Shiyuan, but its explanation was expressed in many
flavors. The most famous study is from the Japanese Zen teacher Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, in his
book “Studies in Zen”. This book has been translated to Vietnamese by the scholar Trúc Thiên
and the Zen master Tuệ Sỹ.
II. Classification
Two different schools drew the ten buffalo-herding pictures: The Mahayana school and
the Zen school. Even though the drawings are different, both picture albums had the same idea:
It showed the process of people’s mind training from the untrained mind or primitive mind to the
entertainment mind. First, one has to win his/her own mind, and then be aware of his/her mind,
to finally free his/her mind.
1. The Mahayana School Pictures
a) The symbol: The black buffalo was drawn. Through the 10 consecutive pictures, the
black buffalo changes its color gradually from black to white. The color changes from its head,
its body, and then its tail. That is the “gradual” enlightenment. With persistent practice, the
unenlightened mind is gradually filtered out and clearer. It is by the gradual herding of the
buffalo that the buffalo becomes tamed. Its black and dirty skin becomes white bit-by-bit.
b) The content: The ten buffalo-herding pictures show the mind training process of the
practitioner, first is to win his or her instinct, then to be aware and finally to be free. The last
picture represents the end of all thoughts, and the mind settling into one calm and happy state.
2. The Zen School Pictures
a) The symbol: The totally black or white buffalo was drawn. The buffalo kept its hair
color through the process. That is the “sudden” enlightenment (Quick enlightened, become the
Buddha right away). The practitioner becomes the Buddha in his/her mind, a sudden becoming,
not gradual through each level. The complete enlightenment circle in the 10th picture of the
Mahayana school which is in the 8th picture of the Zen school has the title “Both buffalo and
people were forgotten.”
b) The content: The 10 pictures of the Zen school showed the three steps in time and
space: false mind catches the true mind, the mind and un-mind, the regular mind.
The cross-reference table between the Mahayana’s pictures and the Zen’s pictures:
Mahayana’s pictures:
1. No herd
2. Begin to herd
3. In Harness
4. Faced Round
5. Tamed
6. Unimpeded
7. Laissez Faire
8. All Forgotten
9. The solitary Moon
10. Both Vanished
Zen’s pictures:
1. Looking for the buffalo
2. Finding the footprints
3. Catching a glimpse of the buffalo
4. Catching the buffalo
5. Taming the buffalo
6. Riding the buffalo home
7. Buffalo lost, man remaining
8. No buffalo, no man
9. Returning to the source
10. In town with helping hands
The way to practice: control the mind to the “free” state. The leader used the pictures as our
guide to practice. Hence, we select the 10 buffalo herding pictures from the Zen school as our
guidance.
III. The meanings of the Zen ten-buffalo-herding picture
A. The false mind catches the mind
1. The first painting: The buffalo-herder seeks the
buffalo. Where is it? Around him is the forest, the
jungle, and the maze of crisscrossing roads. He
only hears cicadas chirping in the trees.
a) The meaning: Seek the buffalo, and the
herder plays around not knowing where the buffalo
goes. The truth is that buffalo is still there. It has
never really goes astray. Having turned his back on
this True-nature, the boy cannot see it.
The “Search for the Buffalo” poem:
In the pasture of this world, I endlessly push
aside the tall grasses in search of the buffalo.
Following unnamed rivers, lost upon the interpenetrating paths of distant mountains,
My strength failing and my vitality exhausted, I cannot find the buffalo,
I only hear the locusts chirring through the forest at night
b) The comment: The herding boy should keep the buffalo and prevent it from dirt but he
loves to play so much so the buffalo goes astray. This painting indicates how our false mind
always pursues the various objects of greed in our seductive lives, till we can‘t control our mind
any more.
2. The second painting: The buffalo herder finds the
tracks
a) The meaning: Find the footprint. Even
though the buffalo goes far away, its footsteps are
still there; therefore, he can follow the footsteps to
seek the buffalo. Our mind is the same. If we keep
practicing, we will find the right way to go.
The “Discovering the footprints” poem:
Along the riverbank under the trees, I
discover footprints!
Even under the fragrant grass I see his prints.
Deep in remote mountains they are found.
These traces no more can be hidden than one’s nose, looking heavenward.
b) The comment: The herder follows the footprints to find the buffalo. Similarly, the
searcher finds indications, clues in one or more spiritual traditions. He experiences sensations
related to the spirit. His search is more focused and better oriented.
3. The third painting: First glimpse of the buffalo. The
herding boy finds the buffalo.
a) The meaning: Perceive the buffalo. When we
find the spirit, we find the mind.
The “Perceiving the buffalo” poem:
I hear the song of the nightingale
The sun is warm, the wind is mild,
Willows are green along the shore,
Here no buffalo can hide!
What artist can draw that massive head, those
majestic horns?
b) The comment: When one hears the voice, one can sense its source. As soon as the
six senses merge, the gate is entered. The buffalo is found! The mind appears.
4. The fourth painting: catch the buffalo, thread his nose, watch it. For so long a time has it
reveled in the wild fields that breaking it of its old
habits is not easy. If the boy would tame it completely,
he must use his whip. The buffalo is gradually tamed
and he will not lose it anymore.
a) The meaning: catching the buffalo. The boy
should know how to control the buffalo. If one wants
to control his/her mind, one should have the
guidelines or the instructions.
The “Catching the buffalo” poem:
I seize him with a terrific struggle.
His great will and power are inexhaustible.
He charges to the high plateau far above the
cloud-mists,
Or in an impenetrable ravine he stands.
b) The comment: To train the mind, even though the mind is still not pure but it does not
wander to many directions. It symbolizes our struggle with our basic nature, something that
can last a whole lifetime.
5. The fifth painting: The buffalo walks behind
the herder. It follows the herder in every step.
a) The meaning: Tame the buffalo. The
first thought arises. Another thought follows.
When one is awakened, he or she sees the
truth. When one is deluded, he or she is
confused.
The “Taming the buffalo” poem:
The whip and rope are necessary,
Else he might stray off down some dusty
road.
Being well trained, he becomes naturally
gentle
Then, unfettered, he obeys his master
b) The comment: The herder washes the buffalo. He holds tight the nose-ring, not
allowing it to get loose. The mind practitioner does the same: clean the mind and never leave
the right path.
6. The sixth painting: The herder rides the
buffalo home. He hums the rustic tune of the
woodsman and feels very happy.
a) The meaning: Riding the buffalo
home is to bring the mind into its primal state.
When we live in the mindfulness, our thoughts
and actions are the right mindfulness.
The “Riding the buffalo home” poem:
Mounting the bull, slowly I return
homeward.
The voice of my flute intones through
the evening.
Measuring with hand-beats the pulsating
harmony,
I direct the endless rhythm. Whoever
hears his melody will join me
b) The comment: The herder is able to control the buffalo. However he still holds the
nose-ring even though he can play his flutes on the buffalo’s back. When we are mindful, we
continue practicing so we can attain enlightenment.
B. Mind without mind:
However, if the mind exists then sight will exist. The mind uniting with sight creates love.
Mind, sight and love connect together uninterrupted. This circle of interdependence causes
restlessness, conflict.
No conflict: There is no second Zen teaching, not two teachings, but also not one.
Conflict is caused by the mind’s concept that we lack something. We think we lack
something, so we look outside to find what it is and try to fill it up. Zen’s concept teaches us that
there is no lacking. We have been complete from the beginning—from the past and to the
future, we have never lacked. But our thoughts put us at risk because they create the idea of
completion and fantasy. The completion and fantasy created by our thinking is called ignorance.
Ignorance is not real, that is why no one wastes time to eliminate it. All that we need is
autonomous or voluntarily. Ignorance disappears when we discover our own selves in
ourselves, as the dark disappears in front of the light.
An autonomous and voluntarily stage will follow after the external demanding stage.
Autonomous is not reflection but an end concept. Apply the methods of inaction or free
reflection to reach the end concept stage. By free reflection, we start to see from thoughts or
sounds (all of the secrets of the enlightening point at the word “see”) to realize the unreal mind
and the unreal man. See the false mind, then the mind ends and the buffalo disappears.
7. The seventh painting: The herder sits at the
cottage very peacefully. The buffalo is not
beside him anymore. There is sun shining
above, the breeze blows, the river runs below.
a) The meaning: “Buffalo” is not a
problem. The self-holding is depleted but the
dharma-holding still exists.
The “The Buffalo transcended” poem:
Astride the buffalo, I reach home.
I am serene. The buffalo too can rest.
The dawn has come. In blissful repose,
Within my thatched dwelling, I have
abandoned the whip and rope.
b) The comment: The herder is no longer
busy with the buffalo. He is free to play his flute. The practitioner is completed. Our mind has
been purified. It needs not to be controlled. It is not wandering any more.
8. The eighth painting: Both the herder and the buffalo
are vanished. Only the whole and undivided circle is
shown.
a) The meaning: both buffalo and self are
forgotten. Both the people and buffalo are forgotten.
This is represented as a whole and undivided circle.
This is “mind-no mind” concept. Knowing this “mind-no
mind” is to understand Buddhism thoroughly. In the
spirit perspective, enlightenment goes above the
holding of the self. In the reasoning perspective,
enlightenment is the whole: no obstacle. In the
metaphysic perspective, enlightenment is the sudden
awakening of the concept: the freedom is the
reincarnation and the reincarnation is the freedom. Detaching the earthly affection and gaining
the holy Brahmin’s knowledge are none. We will not attach at both ends.
The “Both Buffalo and self transcended” poem:
Whip, rope, person, and buffalo, all merge in No-thing..
This heaven is so vast no message can stain it
How may a snowflake exist in a raging fire?
Here are the footprints of the patriarchs.
b) The comment: The whole truth appears. This is suitable to the fulfillment and the
purity. The herding, the mind training is speechless.
C. Typical mind:
In the Zen school, no mind does not mean the final way. One needs to go to the next
stage. One needs to return. To return is to go back to the physical world, to all the living beings,
to the unlimited living sources inside one’s self and outside one’s self. One needs to go back to
be a normal person. (He or she will see mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers).
Returning to the world is the dharma-hood. This is also the meaning of the ninth painting.
9. The ninth painting: A bright scenery is very
peaceful. It depicts the spring, the chirping of the
bird and the pretty tree on the tranquil riverside.
a) The meaning: One returns to their
original nature. The original nature is pure. It did not
have any dirt. One observed the freshness or the
wiltness of the physical things without any
disturbance. Residing in the silence of the nonactive path, one is not the same as illusory; hence
he/she needs not to practice the dharma or to hold
on the dharma.
The “Reaching the source” poem:
Too many steps have been taken returning to the root and the source.
Better to have been blind and deaf from the beginning!
Dwelling in our true abode, unconcerned with that without –
The river flows tranquilly on and the flowers are red
b) The comment: In the absolute truth, all the peaceful realms can be displayed. These
realms existed originally from the absolute truth.
10. The tenth painting: The practitioner walked into the market very peacefully.
a) The meaning: The leaves fell down to its
root. The river flowed back to its source. People
have the pure primal nature. Its nature is empty;
hence the Zen school said one needs not to do
anything, only to find and to return his/her buddhata.
To return means to join. To join is to enter the order
of the nature, no beginning and no end of the
universe. In this orderly nature, people is a no-mind
entity hence there is nothing to do, nothing to work
on. All the dharma is nothing to do but they are all
equal in the no limited realm. Every entity is
unlimited so they are free to go. They are not free in
the nirvana, not free in the delusion but they are free
in the air. Nirvana and delusion are the magic of the
mind. In the world of not-seeing, the name of Saints
or devils, right or wrong, awakened or deluded, are
meaningless. All are the same. They are all transformed from the Boddhi nature.
All are in one, one is for all.
The dust contains the three thousand worlds
The three thousand worlds are the dust. All is non.
If existing, they exist all.
If not existing, the whole universe is none.
Looking at the moon and the river
Who will know have or have-not. The “have or have-not” reasoning is non-duality.
b) The comment: That is the Bodhisattva’s seeing. The Bodhisattva of free reflection
sees to the ultimate things. When he returns to the world: under the regular daily life, he is
mixed into the world. He does not see the dust as dirty, but as a miracle representation of the
bodhi nature. He is not a Buddha but a normal person, very normal. He is a nobody, who is
doing nothing. He is not a very important person but a normal monk. He enters the forest
without noise and immerses into the water without waves.
Returning to the real world is to go back to the normal mind. The Zen school has said,
“The normal mind is the right path.”
Phù Vân, the imperial preceptor of the Tran’s dynasty, had said: “Take the people’s
desires as my desires. Take people’s mind as my mind. By understanding this doctrine, one can
do everything in harmony. Not to follow, not to leave, not to stand, not to attach are the dharma.
Free to go, everywhere is bodhimandala. Any doctrine is Buddha’s dharma. Eat when one is
hungry and drink when one is thirsty are the dharma realms.
Therefore, the monk in the ten buffalo herding pictures goes freely in the market. His one
hand carries the bottle of water. His other hand holds the bamboo rod. He and other monks are
Buddha. This is the “no dwelling” nirvana.
a) Meaning: Entering the market with bare hands. Close the door, one walks by himself,
ignoring all the saints, the old time. Cover the self, leave the attachment path, carry the bottle to
the market, walk with the cane home, he teaches everyone to become the Buddha.
The “In the world” poem:
Barefooted and naked of breast, I mingle with the people of the world.
My clothes are raged and dust-laden, and I am ever blissful.
I use no magic to extend my life:
Now, before me, the dead trees become alive.
b) Comment: The practitioner is on his way to the world and continues helping others.
IV. The 10 buffalo-herding pictures and the Huynh-Truong’s training
Huynh Truong’s training process is built step-by-step from the 10 buffalo-herding
pictures. We must vow to search for it with self-experience by renouncing greed, love,
attachment, do-good and do-evil. That is the magic of the precepts (the first 6 pictures from the
Zen school).
Eliminating all bad ideas, dwelling in mindfulness, self-control, getting rid of crazy
delusions to enter concentration stage and enter the nature center of mind. That is a place of no
demand, no physical, no work, or also called “Mind without Mind” (pictures 7 & 8 of the Zen
school).
Stay calm when facing life and death, relax in troublesome, act the Bodhisattva’s ways.
Drainage beyond reincarnation karma, wisdom will illuminate. No longer worry, sorrow due to
entering the ultimate truth, everything without fear. Called “Normal mind” (last 2 pictures from
the Zen school).
V. Conclusion
In order to summarize all the ultimate meaning of the 10 Buffalo-Herding, we present the
poem to replace the summary.
Use foot prints to track down buffalo
Originally, un-mind needed to learn dharma
There are foot prints there is buffalo
No dharma mind to look for