The oxherder : a Zen parable illustrated
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The oxherder : a Zen parable illustrated
George Braziller, c2002
1st ed.
Available at 2 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
"The Ten Oxherding Songs are reproduced from a handscroll dating to 1278, ...and executed in ink and color on paper. Collection of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation." -- t.p. verso
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In the Buddhist parable of the ox herder, a herdsman's search for his missing ox is likened to an individual's journey toward enlightenment. Buddhist masters composed this parable, whose origins reach as far back as the literature of ancient India, to guide students of Buddhism in their spiritual journeys. The Ox Herder: A Zen Parable Illustrated presents the earliest known Japanese handscroll illustrating the parable - the only one with paintings in colour. Unlike many early Japanese handscrolls and books, it is intact, from its preface explaining the basic tenets of Buddhism to its signed inscription dated 1278. Extremely popular among Zen Buddhists in medieval Japan, "The Ten Ox Herder Songs", as the parable is best known, divides the herder's journey into ten stages, each illustrated by circularly framed images accompanied by a four-line poem. The paintings, rendered in the graceful traditional manner of Japanese narrative illustration, show the progress of the ox herder (a seeker of truth) toward enlightenment (the ox).
Appearing with the ten pictures are the preface and the ten songs that accompany the images, both in the original and in translation, and the final inscription. Stephanie Wada's introduction traces the history of this particular work within Japanese Zen Buddhist painting. For students of Zen Buddhism, Japanese art and seekers of truth from all walks of life, The Ox Herder: A Zen Parable Illustrated offers ancient lessions of spiritual growth and beauty.
by "Nielsen BookData"