Korean Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

This article investigates the doctrinal significance and soteriological structure of the Tibetan Ox-herding Diagram, an iconographic system that depicts the gradual taming of the ox (glang po che, 牛) as a metaphorical representation of the mind (citta, sems / yid, 心). In the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Elephant-Herding Diagram, which adopts the elephant (gaja, glang po che, 象) as its symbolic animal, has long been regarded as the paradigmatic visual schema for illustrating the cultivation of calm-abiding meditation (śamatha, zhi gnas). By contrast, the Ox-herding Diagram examined in this study adopts the ox as its central symbol—much like the Chan Buddhist Ten Ox-herding Pictures—while at the same time reflecting, in its internal compositional logic and sequential presentation of stages, the systematic theory of śamatha practice developed within the classical Indo-Tibetan scholastic tradition.
The study develops its argument along three principal lines of inquiry. First, it reexamines the designation and conceptual status of this iconographic system, demonstrating that, unlike the Elephant-Herding Diagram, its theoretical lineage is explicitly connected to the Yogācāra treatise Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra (mDo rgyan). Second, it argues that the diagram constitutes a visual condensation of the essential framework of calm-abiding meditation that must be completed prior to the cultivation of insight (vipaśyanā, lhag mthong). More specifically, it presents a schematic representation of the progressive attainment of pliancy (praśrabdhi), understood as a psychophysical state of suppleness and stability, through the sequential cultivation of the six powers (ṣaḍvidhabala), the four modes of mental engagement (caturvidhamanas(i)kāra), and the nine stages of mental abiding (navākāracittasthiti). Third, although these sources are not explicitly cited within the diagram itself, the study suggests that its compositional structure may be understood as a condensed reconfiguration of the meditative systems articulated in Tsong kha pa’s Lam rim chen mo and Pha bong kha Rin po che’s Lam rim rnam grol lag bcangs (Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand).
In this respect, the Tibetan Ox-herding Diagram may be regarded as a representative case of the dynamic intersection and mutual reconfiguration of the symbolic iconographic traditions of Chinese Chan Buddhism and the systematic scholastic theories of meditation in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. As such, it offers significant theoretical implications for the comparative historical study of meditative cultures across East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist contexts.