Episode
Let the soft animal of your body, love what it loves
- Published
- Jun 14, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1895
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://amykisei.substack.com/p/let-the-soft-animal-of-your-body
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Summary
Greetings Friends, Happy New Moon! This past week we explored the Hidden Lamp Case 21: Linji Meets the Old Woman Driving the Ox. Linji Meets the Old Woman Driving the Ox China, ninth century Master Linji Yixuan went to see Master Bingdian An. On the way he met an old woman driving an ox in a field. Linji asked her, “Which way is the road to Bingdian?” The woman hit the ox with her stick and said, “This animal! It walks all over the place without even recognizing the road.” Linji repeated, “I asked you, which way is the road to Bingdian?” The woman said, “This beast! It’s five years old and still can’t be put to use.” Linji said to himself, “If you want to learn something from the person in front of you, first observe what the person does.” And he had the feeling that his sticking-point had been removed. Then, when he reached Master An, An asked him, “Have you seen my sister-in-law?” Linji said, “Yes, I’ve already been taken in tow.” I’m curious when you read this exchange is there a line or phrase that interests you, or that you have some sort of reaction to? Feel free to share. What touches you, what are you curious about? What feels aversive? What questions come up for you? How is this exchange relevant for your life and practice? These koans are teaching stories. And often what stirs in us is our way into them. If you are interested in hearing a little more about Master Linji and his origin story, as well as my comments on the koan, including being useless—listen to the audio recording. The Soft Animal of the Body I am always curious when animals show up in koans. In reflecting on this koan, I got interested in the Ox. The Ox is a symbol for our true nature in the Zen tradition. There are a series of images called the Ox-herding pictures that portray important eleme…