7. The Ox Is Forgotten, but the Oxherder Is Still Present

The seventh picture is "Forgetting the Ox." The ox has disappeared. Only the practitioner remains. This point is between the first and the eighth Bhumi stages, and between the forty-first and forty-seventh stage of the Bodhisattva path. The practitioner exerts no effort, and practices spontaneously, unconcerned with goals or purpose. Self cultivation ceases. Beginning practice is like swimming upstream. Great effort is required. Later the swimmer is one with the water. Is there still swimming?

8.Herder and Ox Both Forgotten

Both the ox and the ox herder have disappeared in the eighth picture. Only a circle, the frame of a picture, remains. The seventh picture removes the ox, which represents the world, the object. Finally, the subject, too, disappears in the eighth picture. Nothing remains. There is no goal and no practitioner.

9. Returning to the Origin

The ninth picture, "Return to the Origin," shows a mountain and a river. A novice practitioner sees mountains and rivers, but does not recognize them as such. Now the adept sees mountains as mountains, rivers as rivers. He has returned to the world. Everything exists but his attachments. There is no longer practice or no practice, wisdom or vexation. Everything is complete, everyone a Buddha and the environment a Buddha land.

10. Entering the Marketplace With Open Hands

Traditionally, we see a beggar and a ragged, big-bellied monk in the tenth picture. The beggar represents suffering, the monk a practitioner who has completed his practice. He has left the isolation of the mountain and returned to the world to help all beings. He has no vexations, but because others suffer he spontaneously provides help on the path to all needful beings.