#3. Seeing the Ox

Among willow branches swaying in the spring breeze, an oriole is singing.

How can the sparrow experience his joy in calling to his mate ?

Isn't the moonlight glimmering in the forest my home ?

As you persevere in following the tracks of the ox, you finally begin to glimpse its tail now and again. In this way you first catch sight of the ox.

For a Korean, the oriole's song seems to say, "prettily, prettily, brush your hair and come over." It is this kind of mating song that I refer to in the verse. Yet "how can a sparrow," who cannot sing in the same way as an oriole, "experience the oriole's joy in calling to his mate ?" Or how can a mere sparrow appreciate the wonderful time the golden oriole has in flying back and forth between the trees in pursuit of his mate ?

After practicing for some time, one gradually starts to make progress. This is like peering at the distant moon and watching its light glimmering faintly in the forest. Such light is similar to the dim, flickering flow of a firefly. After the perseverece in meditation, occasionally a little insight will light up for a few moments like the glow of a firefly, die, light up again, and then die again. This is what is referred to by the line, "Isn't the moonlight glimmering in the forest my home ?"

What you experience at this stage is something that you have never heard or seen before. Recognizing now that such a thing exists, you reflect that it is probably correct to keep going in this direction. At such a moment the mind has to make an important decision. In striving to maintain the hwadu, you have been advancing with great difficulty through a patch of thorny bushes. Now, in the midst of all this, a little moonlight starts to shine in the forest. Although you are encouraged to continue, this is still an uncertain and ambiguous time.