The Ox-herding Pictures, which combines both literature and art by using illustrations and poetry, are for the Chan practitioner. It reveals the Chan school’s transformation of the mind through the interaction between the boy and the ox. For this thesis, the Kuo-An’s Ten Ox-herding Pictures will be the focus of research, in which a comparison of similarities and differences will be made with other related works with the name “Ox pictures” that are found in the Buddhist canon, as well as a deeper analysis of the Kuo-An’s Pictures. This thesis will also look into the Ten Ox-herding Pictures in relation to the history of Chan practice through the investigation of the philosophy found in the ten cultivation practices and the practicality of the practice. Also, we will look into the role the pictures plays in the history of Chan enlightenment where the practice of Chan School being unable to transmit through language, is still able to provide a proper direction that provides later practitioners clear guidelines in practice. Following the research results, the concepts in the ten cultivation practices in Ten Ox-herding Pictures are a profound cultivation theory that gives later practitioners a guideline on how to practice Chan, rather than an analysis of the human mind. It also combines Buddhist cultivation practices and emphasizes on the application of these practices such as leading practitioners into understanding of sutras and teachings, cultivation of the six faculties, emphasis on habits and defilements, focusing on the mind, and the necessity in eradicating attachments of ego and all phenonmena(dharmas). In addition, this thesis will investigate Chan Thought in Ten Ox-herding Pictures, revealing Chan school’s emphasis on actual practice in reminding practitioners of the age of the degenerating Dharma(mofa) to practice diligently for realization can only be experienced by oneself.
