Over the weekend I reviewed the ten ox-herding pictures, and wanted to make a few comments. Although there are no distinct boundaries between the various stages of spiritual evolution represented by the pictures, they roughly correspond to what happens on what we might humorously refer to as "the STANDARD MODEL of the trip around Mt. Woo woo." I use the words "standard model" to distinguish between the usual kind of spiritual sequential attainment (sequential collapse of illusions) and the rare cases when everything collapses all-at-once and forever.
After the sense of selfhood collapses, there usually still remains a reflecting function of consciousness. There is freedom of action, and although the old sense of there being someone behind the action is absent, the mind still hangs around making distinctions and creating some obscuration. There is no longer an effort to control the mind because the imagined controller has disappeared, but there is still mental reflectivity occurring. This is roughly equivalent to the eighth ox-herding picture of "No ox, no man." Emptiness reigns, but it isn't yet fully alive.
The ninth ox-herding picture, "Returning to the Source," is a positive samadhi where the whole world comes alive, and the reflective function of mind is barely perceptible.
The tenth ox-herding picture "Entering the marketplace with helping hands," represents a state of such profound oneness that thoughts are incapable of any disturbance whatsoever. There is a free flow of energy in which being, itself, is joyous in the wondrous expression of its own isness. There is no thought of self, and helping others (which are indistinguishable from oneself) becomes a form of pure play. Indeed, all of life is play. The idea of being right about something, or needing something, or wanting something, or having attained something becomes laughable. There is no "me" who knows anything important, and there is no "you" needing to be taught anything. Perfection pervades everything, and the entire universe is then like a flower blooming in emptiness.
In searching for the ox, one is primarily concerned with attaining enlightenment (realizing the fictional nature of the searcher). After this point is reached, the Zen tradition then goes on to highlight what happens after enlightenment. Tozan's Five Ranks, for example, deal exclusively with stages of evolution following enlightenment, and some Buddhist schools break down those five ranks into fifty-two stages through which the enlightened person passes before reaching ultimate maturity.
In general, there are two major breakthroughs on the pathless path of non-duality. The first occurs when one catches a glimpse of non-duality. Zen calls this "passing through the gateless gate." It can be a cosmic-consciousness experience or a sudden insight into the nature of reality. Afterwards, one knows that the universe is not the conventional place of things and events that it previously appeared to be. One knows, without any doubt, that the universe is a unified whole even if it continues to appear otherwise.
The second breakthrough occurs when the sense of selfhood collapses and the universe is then seen as one's true self. Beyond that point, there is only an infinite unfolding of Self-discovery as oneness revels in the joy of its own beingness.
On the web virtually all discussions deal only with the path from the sense of selfhood to the sense of oneness, but it is worth pointing out that the pathless path doesn't need to stop there. What happens as ATA, shikantaza, attentiveness to the sense of "I Am," or any other form of attentiveness continues beyond the collapse of selfhood? The invitation to find out is always open.
Many seekers seem to think that when the sense of selfhood collapses, that's the end of the transformative process, but although it can stop there, it can also continue in ways that are quite subtle. Tozan's Five Ranks point to that continuing unfoldment, and Tozan's fifth rank and the tenth ox-herding picture point to the end result.
