The “Ox-herding” chapter in the Ekottara ?gama as well as the Yijiao jing 遺教經 both teach people how to deal with the five or six sense bases. In this context, the ox represents the sense bases. The Chan school’s ox-herding pictures of the Song dynasty are derived from the Yijiao jing, which provides instruction in the practice of the five bases. However, the Chan masters in the Song and Ming were concerned with dealing with all six bases. The reason for this difference may be found in the fact that the Chan school values lineage [and sūtras] over Chan texts, and so likewise the Yijiao jing received more attention. The ox-herding verses of the Song dynasty emphasize practice on the bodhisattva-path. But beginning in the Ming dynasty, ox-herding verses written by Chan masters only valued Chan thought, Chan practice, and Chan attainments. In the end, however, this degenerated to the point where they simply tried to outdo one another in literary flourish. This phenomenon may be related to Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism and the Chan school’s development, rise, and decline.
