No one knows when the oxherding pictures appeared, and who created them. It was almost impossible to trace down their origin. All we know about these pictures is that originally there were only six pictures, all of which were lost. Until the Song Dynasty in the XII century there reappeared many sets of oxherding pictures in various Zen Buddhist sects and monasteries, which reflected different trends and perspectives in Buddhist practice.
In Kubota’s commentary, the ox in these pictures is “the absolute essential self.” The boy represents the practitioner, or “the imperfect, limited, relative self of the phenomenal world” that is always seeking for something. When the relative self finds the tracks of the absolute self, he tries to grasp it, to tame it, and he finally masters it, only to become incorporated into the absolute self. In the last stage, both the boy and the ox are forgotten, and everything in the ordinary world is displayed as is. Thus, the ten pictures show the progression of our Buddhist practice: from losing sight of the essential self to finding and getting incorporated into it in order to see things in the phenomenal world as they actually are. These pictures are very helpful for self-examination and self-reflection as they may indicate in which stage Buddhist practitioners are.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxherding_pictures
The Ten Oxherding Pictures from D.T. Suzuki, The Manual of Zen Buddhism
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/mzb/oxherd.htm
Thích Tuệ Sỹ. Oxherding pictures- The Mahayana and the Zen perspectives. (Tranh-Chan-Trau-Dai-Thua-va-Thien-Tong)
http://www.daophatngaynay.com/vn/phat-phap/giao-phap/giac-ngo-giai-thoat/3185-Tranh-Chan-Trau-Dai-Thua-va-Thien-Tong.html
Kakuan Zenji and Kabuta Ji’un. “Ten Ox-Herding Pictures”
http://www.terebess.hu/english/oxherding.html
