Body Is a Wild Ox, and Mindful Awareness Is The Ox Herder | Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh (EN subtitles)

We know that

the practice

of being fully aware of the whole body

is a very important practice.

I mean, being fully aware of the whole body

and calming the whole body

—or being fully aware of
the whole physical formation

and calming the whole physical formation—
are of great importance.

In the Discourse on the Full Awareness
of Breathing, as we already know,

regarding the body,
there are 4 breathing exercises.

(1) Identifying in/out.

(2) Identifying long/short.

(3) Being aware of the whole body.

And (4) calming the whole body.

The term "the whole body," in the
original Sanskrit text, is "Sarvakāya."

Sarvakāya means "all of the body."

It also means, "all the...

"all the...

organs and elements of the body."

So,

"being fully aware of the whole body"
has two meanings.

The first meaning

is, one is fully aware

of one's body as an integrated whole.

And the second meaning is,
one is fully aware of one's body

with all the...

different parts and elements

of that body.

When we study the Sutra on the
Four Grounds of Mindfulness,

we see more clearly.

It means, we have mindful awareness

of our whole body when we walk,
stand, sit down, and lie down;

when we...

have bodily actions;

when we

meditate on and look deeply
into different parts of the body;

when we can see

the true nature of the body

—the four things called mahābhūta
or the four great elements

i.e. earth, water, fire, and air.

We also meditate on and look deeply into the body's
nature of being subject to decomposition,

i.e. "the 9 stages

of decay,"

or the 9 stages of decomposition
of a human's body.

After we...

can be mindfully aware

of our whole physical formation,

we can embrace it,

we can look very deeply into it

and, with that, we can have insights.

Those insights are the insight of impermanence,

the insight of non-self,

the insight of interbeing,

and the insight,

"This body is not mine.

I should not cling to it.

I should not identify my self with it.

Because if I do that,

I will suffer."

Once there's such understanding,

it'll start to dawn on us that,

practicing mindfulness in Plum Village

while walking, standing, sitting down,
or lying down; while working;

while doing deep and total relaxation;

we are indeed embodying

what the Buddha has taught

in the Sutra on the Four Grounds of Mindfulness.

All the...

guided meditations

in the book...

"The Blooming of a Lotus"

are to...

resolutely embody what the Buddha has taught in
the Sutra on the Four Grounds of Mindfulness,

and in the Discourse on the
Full Awareness of Breathing.

So,

regarding the last 2 breathing exercises
concerning the body,

i.e. the 3rd and the 4th breathing exercises in
the Discourse on the Full Awareness of Breathing,

i.e.

being fully aware of the whole body

and calming the whole body

—at this point, we get to understand them better,

in more detail, in terms of how to...

be mindfully aware of the whole body

and how to calm the whole body.

We can understand them better
thanks to the Sutra

on the Four Grounds of Mindfulness,

i.e. the Discourse on the Four
Establishments of Mindfulness.

In the Discourse on the Full Awareness of Breathing,
although the Buddha didn't go into detail

to show us exactly how to meditate on and
look deeply into each position of the body

and into the elements making up the body

i.e. the 32 bodily organs,

in the breathing exercise called
"being mindfully aware of the whole body,"

we see that

all of these practices are included in there,

i.e. being mindfully aware of the whole body,
then calming the whole body.

The moment...

we can take hold of our body
with mindful awareness,

well,

we can begin to train and tame our body,

and our body begins to become one with us.

At the beginning when mindfulness is still weak,

our body is like an ox

—a wild ox.

So, mindful awareness is the ox herder.

And our body is the body of a wild ox.

So, the ox herder

has to come to the ox

and, thanks to the mindfulness practice,

the ox herder gets to befriend the ox,

and, bit by bit,
they can train and tame the ox.

Eventually, the ox herder
can sit on the ox's back,

or lie on the ox's back,

and the ox still goes in the direction
they want them to go.

That's the image of...

Thập mục ngưu đồ (十牧牛圖),
or the Ten Ox Herding Pictures.

At first, it seems that
the ox is a separate self-entity,

and the ox herder is
another separate self-entity.

The two don't go together.

But little by little,
the ox herder can befriend the ox,

and the ox

gets to be more and more familiar
with the ox herder.

And eventually, the ox herder
and the ox become one.

We see that,

finally, the ox herder

can sit on the ox's back singing.

It doesn't matter where the ox goes,

(because) wherever they go, they'll always go
exactly to the places the ox herder wants them to go.

After they lie on the ox's back,
the ox just rides them home.

If we can't train and tame our body,

it'll be difficult for us
to train and tame the mind.

So,

the practice of the Four Grounds of Mindfulness,
or the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, begins

with observation of the body in the body.

Taking hold of the breath;

taking hold of the body every time it's in the
walking, standing, sitting, and lying down positions;

taking hold of all bodily actions

like bending down, standing up,

going in or coming out;

being able to see the different parts of the body;

smiling to them;

befriending them;

being one with them;

genuinely caring for them;

and seeing the different elements in the body.

These are very...

very...

important ways of practice.

Someone may say, "When I practice,
I only want to practice with the mind."

Saying that, they don't really understand
what "practice with the mind" means.

One has to also practice with the body.

One's body is the object of
one's practice and transformation.

We have to practice and transform our postures
and the way we conduct our body first.

We should know that, when we fail to take hold
of our footsteps and our breathing,

we can't take hold of our mental formations.

So, only when we can take hold of
our footsteps and our breathing,

only when we can take hold of our bodily actions
going about our daily life,

can we take hold of the mental formations
and understand them.

Only then, do we and the ox
become a pair of close friends.

Only then, the ox becomes us

and we become our ox.

That's why the Buddha
always used to say that,

his teachings

are to train and tame the body and the mind.

And...

only when one can follow those ways of
training and taming one's body and mind,

can one...

make peace and reconcile

with one's body and mind.

One time, there was a...

a horse-trainer

who came to visit and train with the Buddha.

"Điều mã sư" in Sino-Vietnamese
means "the horse-trainer."

Well, after that horse-trainer

practiced with the Buddha for some time,

one day,

in a tea meditation, the Buddha asked,

"Dear friend, how have you trained and tamed
your horses? Would you mind sharing with us?"

The horse-trainer said,

"Some horses like being sweet to,

so I use sweet methods.

And I can train and tame them rather easily.

However, some other horses liked...

liked being hard on, they liked strict measures.

So, I use strict measures.

With that, I can successfully
train and tame them.

There are yet other horses

with whom I have to be both sweet and
strict to successfully train them."

So, there are 3 such cases.

Then, the Buddha smiled kindly and asked,

"Let's say, in the case where a horse

can't be successfully trained
even after having applied those 3 methods,

what will you do then?

Being sweet to them doesn't work.
Being strict on them doesn't work.

Being both sweet and strict doesn't work, either.

What will you do then?"

Then, the horse-trainer said,
"In such a case, I have to kill the horse.

I have to isolate them and kill them.

Because it's not safe leaving them in the herd.
It'll be a bad example for the rest of the herd.

With that, it only brings harm."

The horse-trainer

turned to the Buddha asking, "How about you?
How do you train your disciples?

Because I see that, in your community, there are
also some elements very difficult to train."

The Buddha just sat quietly and smiled,
not saying a word.

The horse-trainer implored, "Please,
Lord Buddha, tell me how you do it."

The Buddha said, "Well, I basically do the same.

Some disciples

need to be sweet to,
to successfully be trained.

Others can only be trained successfully
when being strict on.

Yet others need to be both sweet to
and strict on to make it."

Inevitably, the horse-trainer came to ask the Buddha
the very question the Buddha had asked him.

"So, respected Buddha, in the case

where all 3 methods still fail
after they've been applied,

how do you deal with that disciple?"

The Buddha said, "I do the same as you do."

"What do you mean by doing the same as me?"
asked the man. "It means, I also kill that disciple."

With his eyes wide open,
the horse-trainer said,

"But haven't you been observing
the precept of 'Not killing'?

How can you kill your disciples?"

The Buddha responded,

"When I say 'kill,' I don't mean
killing by a sword or a gun.

'Kill' here means 'no longer allow them
to continue living in the community.'

When one is no longer allowed to live
and train in the practice community,

that's considered

the end of their life.

It's a death.

To those who cannot be trained
after applying the first method,

the second method,

and the third method,

there's only one way to go,

i.e. not allowing them to continue
living and practicing in the community."

At that moment, the horse-trainer
began to understand

the meaning of the word 'kill'
that the Buddha had used.

Because the Buddha said very clearly,

it means "not allowing them to continue
living in the community,

having to detach them from the community."

So our life—our monastic life,

our monastic ideal—

fails.

That's equivalent to a death.

Of course, in a practice community,
in a sangha,

there's compassion,

there's protection,

there's loving embrace.

And...

the practice community applies

inclusiveness,

i.e. "embracing without leaving anyone out,

without pushing anyone out."

However, if everyone in the practice community
has done the best they can,

but that element

hasn't done their very best,

the community is left
with no other choice.

That's what the Buddha meant.

But the energy

of the Buddha and the practice community
is very powerful.

From the Buddha's experience,

if the most aggressive and stubborn
horses can be trained and tamed,

they will become the best horses.

The same with elephants.

If the most violent and difficult
elephants can be trained and tamed,

they'll become the best warrior elephants.

So,

capable horse-trainers and
capable elephant-trainers

know very well.

Sometimes they use iron chains.

Sometimes they even use hammers.

But making use of these things is not
to punish the horses or the elephants.

It's to nudge the horses

to break the aggressive behavior habit

that they acquired living in the woods.

With wit and skillfulness,

with enough gentleness,

and with enough firmness,

that horse-trainer or that elephant-trainer

can...

can

train and tame that horse

or that elephant.

That horse and that elephant will become...

crucial talents.

[Touching the bell]

[Bell]

If the horse-trainer

has enough determination,

they'll have enough patience,

and they'll use every way they can
to train and tame this...

this untamable horse.

But training and taming doesn't mean punishing.

Training and taming means helping this horse break
the behavior habits they acquired in the woods

so they can cultivate good habits instead.

So, sometimes one has to use a post,

an iron chain,

a pair of pliers, or a hammer.

But using these doesn't mean
the horse-trainer is a wicked person.

What matters

is not the discipline.

What matters the most is not the discipline.

What matters the most is
the loving-kindness and compassion

and the wisdom of the horse-trainer.

That compassion must be expressed

in many ways.

But the true essence of loving-kindness
and compassion is patience.

Wherever there's patience,
there's love and compassion.

If we lack patience, it means our love and
compassion is not yet strong and firm.

So, dealing with a bad-mannered horse

or a hostile horse

takes them all the more time

and all the more love and compassion.

If we can make it,

it will be a profound achievement.

According to the Buddha,
if that quality is there—the quality of...

patience, i.e. the essence of compassion—
we're bound to make it in almost all cases.