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Hoofprint of the Ox
Principles of the Chan Buddhist Path as Taught by a Modern Chinese Master By Chan Master Sheng Yen and Dan Stevenso
Issue Date 2001/1/1
Drawing its title from the famous ox-herding pictures that symbolize enlightenment as the search by an ox-herder for his wayward ox, Hoofprint of the Ox is an inspirational guide to the self-discovery that is possible through Chan practice. Master Sheng Yen shares his wisdom and teachings in this first comprehensive English primer of Chan -- the Chinese tradition of Buddhism that inspired Japanese Zen. Often misunderstood as an obscure system of paradoxes, the Chan path leads to enlightenment through apparent contradiction. While demanding the discipline of traditional Buddhism, Chan asserts that wisdom (Buddha-nature) is innate and immediate in all living beings, and thus not achieved through the strictures of religious practice, but through dropping all attachments and clinging that obscure our true self-nature.