Customer Reviews

Gentling the Bull: The Ten Bull Pictures: A Spiritual Journey

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A Zen teacher gave me this book to read. I was familiar with the Bull pictures and had read Zen Flesh and Zen Bones which includes the pictures with minimal commentary. Before reading this book however I didn't really get it. This book allows one to clearly understand the meaning of the bull pictures as it relates to the spiritual path. In the process of thoroughly explaining the bull pictures it also very eloquently conveys the core teachings of Buddhism as well. I highly recommend this book.

"The ten bulls" is a classic Zen text which consists of ten pictures to do with an oxherder capturing and taming the bull thereby achieving enlightenment. Each picture has an associated poem. These are renowned for their simplicity and make a great Zen text having few words.

All this is changed in this book, where each of the ten pictures is made a chapter. The chapter starts with a copy of the picture and several poems that go along with it. What follows is Myokyo-ni's prose to do with the content of the picture. On the plus, her text provides a lot of insight into both the nature and practice of Zen as well as the human condition. On the downside, unless you're an actual Zen practitioner you might find some of her views too radical, as I did. Also, I enjoyed the ten bulls because it has no fixed meaning as a text by itself whereas reading this book has anchored it to a specific meaning which differs from my interpretation.

You'll get the most out of the book if you're serious about your Zen. If not, this will be a lively and thoughtful (although at times disagreeable) window into a world that is so misrepresented in modern society.