Zhenghuangniu Riding an Ox [left of a pair of Zhenghuangniu and Yushanzhu]

The two Chinese Chan (Jp: Zen) Buddhist priests Kano Dōun depicted here were unrelated in life but came to be associated through painting later. Zheng Huangniu (Jp. Seiōgyū) was an eccentric and was known to act out of the ordinary. He often traveled on the back of a yellow ox, seated backwards and often hanging bottles on the ox’s horns. In spite of his bizarre behaviors, he adhered strictly to Buddhist rules and monastic regulations. Yu Shanzhu (Jp. Ikuzanshu) lived in modern-day Hunan province in the 900s. One day, a traveling monk asked him to consider the kōan, “A disciple asks Master Taiqing Fadeng, ‘How can you proceed further from the top of a hundred-foot pole?’ to which Fadeng replied, ‘bad.’” As Yu Shanzhu ruminated on this puzzle, his donkey fell over a bridge. The sudden jolt brought him enlightenment.