Fearing that it may fall into a steep and perilous path,
You hold it tight with whip and bridle, and with the strength of both legs firmly hold your ground.
Once past this critical moment, the ox comes following you.
It is at this stage that you learn to handle the ox in the right way. "Fearing that it may fall into a steep and perilous path" refers to the reaching of a certain stage in the practice when you are again beset with the doubt that no progress is being made. You reflect that in spite of your effort and enduring of hardship, the meditation is proceeding neither quickly nor well enough. Once more you are tempted to give up and instead study some sutras or recite some mantras. You might even contemplate becoming the abbot of a rich monastery or marrying a pretty girl and settling down to a worldly existence.
No matter how much effort you seem to be putting into the practice, it does not ripen as swiftly as you would wish it to. Soon all kinds of thougths start to trouble your mind. You wonder : By practicing in this way am I really getting anywhere ? What am I doing ? Now a mara has entered your mind. You become aware of the danger that the ox "may fall into a steep and perilous path." This can be a very frightening time. So you have to "hold it tight with whip and bridel, and with the strength of both legs firmly hold your ground." Othewise it may actually break loose and stumble into the perilous path.
If you exert a great deal of effort for a while, then you will pass the "critical moment." Thereafter, "the ox comes following you." This is so because once you cross over that difficult point you will have succeeded in finally tameing the ox somewhat. Then you will realize that even if you went back to the world, it would be of no use. However well you feed and clothe the body, however comfortable and secure you can make it, at one moment it will become nothing but a heap of ashes. Although beforehand you were tempted by such things, now you decide to relinquish them. You also decide to renounce all worldly positions, wealth, and fame; the prestige you could have in the religious order by being an abbot ; and the respect you would receive from lecturing on the Dharma, should you study the sutras. You now become determined to realize your own mind and become an accomplished being through the practice of meditation alone.
Once such a firm resolve has arisen in the mind, then you truly seize the abode of the hwadu. Now that the ox is being tamed in this way, the hwadu is firmly held and does not move. For such a person when he goes, it is practice; when he comes, it is practice. Having passed over the critical moment, the ox now obediently follows without your having to grab hold of it and pull it.