Anybody lose an ox?

Zen Master Kakuan says hi. He's the guy who solved a big old meditation problem back in the 12th century or so. Ever wonder how far you have gone? How much further it is? You're not alone. All part of the journey. But as soon as you're taking stages of meditation you're talking beginning and end. You're talking goals and the desire to reach them. Which is exactly how you don't get there.

That's why most teachers don't say much about the 'higher/deeper stages' of meditation. Some others see the value of at least explaining the way to the 'springboard states'. Some go further (like Ajarn Brahm in his book about the janas as Theravada Buddhists call the deeper stages) and explain it all as well as they can from a personal point of view.

That comes with a price (don't say I didn't warn you). Now you aren't only going full throttle for your goal; you have an image and an expectation of that goal that you might find working against you. If only there was a road map clear enough to get you on your way, but also vague enough to keep you from chasing a mirage. Well: there is. Enter the Ten Ox-hearding Pictures by Zen Master Kakuan where the quest for mastering the mind is told through the search of a boy for his ox in ten pictures accompanied by verse and (update) commentary.



The boy is you and the ox is your true self. And as you meditate like no body's business day in and out you will slowly progress through all the stages. From meditating in frustration and restlessness, to getting a grip on your mind, to taming your mind, letting go of everything and then coming back to the beginning to do it all again from a new perspective until you can walk freely amongst the people in the village without a care in the world.



Anyway, for your downloading pleasure (just click the images): the Ten Ox-hearding Pictures by Zen Master Kakuan in a higher quality than you can usually find them on the web (They'll look lovely framed). I've even gone as far as to redo the verses a bit to make them less old fashioned and more resonant poetically. Audacious I know. But they are just words. Relax. And more importantly: enjoy!

Update 30/06/08: added the comments to the verses and the pictures. Zen is like the internet: just no good without comments...

Dress to impress

Every now and then I've tried to explain it to people outside of Thailand: the dress code. Huh? You guys have a dress code? Yes. Gotta wear a tie? Sometimes and we wear yellow on Monday. Huh? We wear yellow on Monday. Why? For the king. The king came to your school? No.... I'll try to explain the elaborate ever changing rules one last time.

My school is probably one of the more traditional government schools in Thailand. So we have a stricter dresscode. But just like everywhere in Thailand (also in shops and offices) we wear yellow on Monday in honor of the king. A yellow polo shirt that is. With a specific crest.

It all started with the old crest in honor of the king's 60 years on the throne. That was worn on a yellow polo on Monday and Tuesday and by some the entire week. Then came the new crest for the king's 80th birthday. But you can still wear the old logo. Although on Monday it is preferred if you wear the new one. All this is still on a yellow shirt. You still with me?



Of course you can not not honor the queen. So that's why we wore blue for her on Wednesday. With or without a crest. On Thursday we do not honor the rainbow or something. It just means that we can wear any color (with a tie, don't forget the tie in a matching color). The Thai teachers (and students) wear their boy scout and girl scout uniforms that day. (Yes: we dogged a bullit).

Friday we wear yellow again. Not for the king. For the province. On Friday everbody in Thailand wears a design or color from their area. In Phuket Friday is batik shirt day and in Khon Kaen you are actually supposed to wear a yellow dinosaur shirt. But plain yellow's good too. Even a yellow polo with the old 60 year crest. Got that?

Unfortunately there's more. Since the death of Vadhana (in December 2007) we all had to wear black and white. Initially for a couple of weeks but it got extended to 100 days and as you can see we can still 'choose' to wear black and white every Tuesday and Wednesday. To complicate matters it seems that any dark color is okay too and on Wednesday I've already seen some dare devils go back to blue.

I can not begin to explain how important this dress code thing is to (most of ) the Thai. Outside the schools the king's shirts are still worn by all. And you should see what happens on special holidays where Thai style dress is the norm (yes: I do have an Isaan style jacket, no: I have no pictures....yet).

And then there's the pink shirt... Pay attention, it's been right there in the graph all along! The pink shirt is actually more a fad that got started when the king had to go to hospital (end of 2007). It looked touch and go for a while but he came out in good health and spirits and wore a pink jacket. Thai people have since then started to wear pink shirts with crests to keep wishing the king good health. Of course you couldn't do that on Monday (are you nuts?). But on Tuesday it's cool. That's to say it used to be cool because we still have to wear black for now.

We foreign teachers have so far tried to make Thursday into swimsuit-, polka dot-, neon-, birthday suit- floppy shoe and monkey tie day. Neither of those stuck. I'm open to suggestions :)