BOOK REVIEW ©1996 Insight Publishing 

Title: Gentling the Bull
Author: Myokyo-ni
Publisher: Charles E. Tuttle
Format: 144 pages, soft cover
Price: US$12.95
Reviewer: Arturo Banta
Gentling the Bull, subtitled "The Ten Bull Pictures: A Spiritual
Journey," leads the reader through an allegory common to all spiritual
traditions of both East and West. Like all metaphors, the more it is explained,
the more meaning it loses. And yet, paradox of paradoxes, if it does not
get explained, the neophyte has no toehold on penetrating the meaning.
Metaphor, myth, and symbol are pathways to discovering the archetypes
that hold the keys to transformation. In the Western tradition, the leading
myths dealing with handling the raging beast that overcomes our "better
nature" are the Theseus and the Saint George tales. Both of these
familiar fables end with the violent deaths of the Minotaur and the Dragon.
The West is awaiting a less brutal rendition of the archetype. Myokyo-ni's
explication of Kakuan's twelfth century Ten Bull Pictures may be the right
telling for our parlous times.
The Ten Bull Pictures is a rendition of the basic quest legend. It begins
with a search for that which the novitiate seeks, believing it is outside
himself. All quest legends begin from this point, which is depicted by
Picture Number One: Searching for the Bull. However, as each succeeding
picture progresses, we see how the Buddhist version of the story diverges
from most Western versions. The titles of the pictures reveal the progression
according to the Zen tradition.
I. Searching for the Bull.
II. Finding the Traces.
III. Finding the Bull.
IV. Catching the Bull.
V. Gentling the Bull.
VI. Returning Home on the Back of the Bull.
VII. Bull Forgotten-Man Remains.
VIII. Both Bull and Man Forgotten.
IX. Return to the Origin, Back to the Source.
X. Entering the Market-Place with Bliss-Bestowing Hands.
The ten Bull Pictures in the book are not reproductions of Kakuan's
originals. Those have been lost to the ravages of impermanence (historical
time). The pictures are, instead, renditions of the ten pictures by the
15th century Japanese Zen monk, Shubun. These are said to be "exact
copies of the now lost series." "Exact" or not, they convey
the story which carries us to the archetypes painted somewhere in the 1100s
of the Common Era.
The venerable Myokyo-ni (Irmgard Schloegl), founder of The Zen Centre,
London, has taken on the task of explicating the series of pictures for
us. Her first gift to the English speaking world, I believe, is in identifying
the beast as a bull rather than an ox. In all previous descriptions of
Kakuan's allegory, I have seen the animal referred to as an ox. And, I
always wondered, "Who needs to master an ox?" It appears to most
of us, I believe, as a most docile beast. But, a bull. Ah, now I can see
it as a match for the Minotaur or Dragon. The bull can represent for readers
of English "the wild aspect of our heart, which is also the human
heart." What in the world are we to do with these passions?
The Buddhist Beatniks of the San Francisco of the 1950s understood that
the Dharma taught that we can just let the bull rip in all directions,
and thus exhibit the Buddha-Nature. Kakuan, and later Shubun, and now Myokyo-ni
are here to tell us that we neither kill the "monster" nor let
the beast run amok. The Buddhist process, the Zen process, is depicted
in this book.
In this book, Myokyo-ni has taken on the task of explaining the ineffable.
Probably no one relishes the task of translating parables to prose. Three
sets of poems have been translated from the original Chinese text by the
author. But knowing the leap from picture and poem to any meaningful comprehension
by Western rationalists is unlikely, Myokyo-ni has constructed this slim
book as a tentative bridge across the chasm.
I, for one, have never really understood the bull (ox) Zen allegories
before. With the help of this author, my imagination has caught a glimpse
of the archetypal images. |