Editor’s Note

The following article by Venerable Hui Min, Head Monk of Dharma Drum Mountain and one of the Dharma heirs of the late Chan Master Sheng Yen, is adapted from a Dharma talk delivered during the morning meal on December 24, 2025. It was originally published in the Dharma Drum Sangha Bulletin (法鼓僧報) on December 30, 2025, in anticipation of the Year of the Horse.

Through the parable of the four types of horses, he explores training of the body and mind. The article encourages practitioners to cultivate mindfulness and wisdom before hardship compels them to awaken. This article was translated by Venerable Chang Zhai and edited by Edward Lin.

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“Auspicious Joy and Abundance” is the theme for all Dharma Drum Mountain disciples to welcome the year 2026, the Year of the Horse.

In Chinese culture, it is customary to use twelve animals to represent the cyclical changes of the years, giving time more vivid imagery and shared memory. Because animals are closely connected to humans, these animals have become associated with the changes to the 365 days in a year. Among the twelve zodiac animals, some are closely tied to human life; for instance, the rat and the dog have lived alongside humans since ancient times. The dragon carries mythical or symbolic significance; the tiger is a figure of fear; as for the pig, in Japanese culture it often refers to the wild boar, which is quite fierce, whereas in our everyday perception, it is mostly the domesticated pig, which has a relatively gentle temperament.

Cattle and Horses: Vital Partners in the Advancement of Human Civilization

Among these animals, the ones most closely associated with the development of human civilization are undoubtedly the ox and the horse. The domestication of the ox greatly advanced agricultural civilization, freeing farming from complete reliance on human labor and saving a significant amount of manpower. The history of human domestication of cattle is quite ancient, dating back roughly 8,000 to 10,000 years, with distinct centers of domestication emerging in the Near East and South Asia.

Therefore, in Buddhist scriptures, the ox is often used as a metaphor, and the Ten Oxherding Pictures are particularly relevant to spiritual practice. An ox possesses great strength, just as the human body and mind are powerful, particularly the mind. If not properly tamed, this power can lead to destruction. If guided in a positive direction, however, it can become a constructive force. In scriptures such as The Sūtra of the Buddha's Bequeathed Teachings, an untamed ox trampling crops is used as a metaphor for the harm caused by a mind and body left to run wild.

In contrast to oxen, horses have profoundly influenced human civilization in a different way. Generally speaking, the domestication of horses began approximately four to five thousand years ago on the Eurasian steppes. Archaeologists have discovered wear marks on horse bones and teeth resulting from long-term use of bits, indicating that these horses were controlled, ridden, or harnessed by humans.

It is worth noting that recent ancient genetic studies indicate that, although evidence of early horse domestication and riding has been found in the Botai culture of Central Asia, this lineage did not become the primary ancestor of modern domestic horses. The primary ancestral lineage of modern domestic horses is more likely to have originated around 2200–2000 BCE from the Eurasian steppes between the Volga River and the Don River. Horses from this region possessed superior speed, endurance, and adaptability to working with humans, leading to their widespread selective breeding in later periods and rapid dispersal across Eurasia.

The Parable of the Horse in Buddhist Scriptures: The Wisdom of Taming the Six Senses

 By the time of the Buddha, the use of horses had become quite widespread; consequently, Buddhist scriptures began to feature teachings using horses as metaphors. Similar to the oxherding parable, these metaphors were used to illustrate how to gather the six sense faculties and tame the body and mind.

 Such metaphors actually echo the issue of the “speed” of sensory responses. From the perspective of biological evolution, taste and smell are chemical senses that require a relatively close distance to function. Smell, in particular, relies on mucus in the nasal cavity to capture chemical molecules in the air, concentrating them to a level where they can be perceived. Hearing, on the other hand, is a physical perception of sound waves and can elicit a response from much greater distances, while vision, as a perception of light, is even faster and conveys richer information.

Just as the speed of horses completely transformed human mobility and the nature of warfare, our senses—if left untamed—can cause chaos or harm with their swift reactions. Yet, if properly guided, they can become a powerful force for the benefit of both self and others.

In Buddhism, there is an important term for this type of practice aimed at taming the body and mind: yoga. Its Sanskrit root is yuj, which originally meant “to yoke” two oxen or horses together so that they can be driven as a team to work together on farming or transportation tasks. Consequently, the term has come to imply “unity” or “pairing,” referring to methods of cultivating the body and mind that involve the connection (harmony, alignment) of the body and mind, mental states, samatha (calmness) and vipassana (insight), or principle and wisdom. Since maintaining a state of unity between body and mind is akin to the yoke that connects two oxen or horses working together, enabling the accomplishment of various necessary tasks. This highlights the importance of the proper connection between “body and mind, mental states, self and others, and humanity and nature.”

The Four Types of Horse Alertness: The Transient State of Alertness

Another metaphor involving horses—one that everyone is likely more familiar with—is “the four types of horse alertness.” Compared to cattle or camels, horses interact much more closely with humans. Horses are extremely sensitive animals; when a rider controls them, they respond quickly. In fact, a whip is rarely needed—they can be guided with the slightest of cues. This is why equestrianism exists as an art form and is featured as an Olympic sport; we often witness the nimble and elegant coordination between horse and rider. But when you want to pick up the pace and unleash its full potential, ordinary controls aren’t enough; when you need to push it to its limits, that’s when you need to use the whip.

The first-class horse—it bolts at the mere sight of the whip, reacting even before it is struck. Buddhism uses this analogy to describe the keenest awareness of impermanence. When we see news reports of a fire in Hong Kong, we feel a certain connection because of our geographical proximity and cultural affinity. But if a fire breaks out in Argentina in South America, most people feel much less affected because it is so far away. Yet those with keen spiritual faculties are like a horse that sees the shadow of the whip—they sense danger from afar.

The second-class horse—as soon as the whip touches its coat, it knows to run; this is a metaphor for the teaching that witnessing birth, aging, sickness, and death with one’s own eyes leads to the realization: “Mindful of impermanence, beware of laxity.”

The third-class horse—it must be struck until the whip cuts into the flesh and it feels pain before it becomes alert. This may be the case for most people; they often do not truly recognize impermanence until an unpredictable event befalls someone they love: “So this is impermanence!” Until then, they tend to regard such things as someone else’s problem, something distant and unrelated to their own lives.

The fourth-class horse—it must be struck to the bone, with pain searing to the marrow, or even to the point of flesh being torn open, before it becomes alert. It is as if one must be diagnosed with cancer to truly understand what impermanence is, or only when one’s own body and mind suffer a major accident or calamity can one gain a profound realization.

Photo by pexels-evie-shaffer

Through this parable, the Buddha reminds us to be mindful of impermanence early on, to cultivate merit and wisdom, and not to wait until severe suffering befalls us before turning back.

A Year of the Horse Filled with Joy and Abundance

Let’s cherish the Year of the Horse with the many parables about horses found in Buddhist scriptures, which offer us rich inspiration for our spiritual practice, from taming the six sense faculties as one would tame a horse, to yoga’s unification of body and mind, and the four horse parables that serve as a reminder of impermanence. All are important Dharma gates that guide us toward auspiciousness, joy, and abundance.

 May we, in this year, skillfully guide our minds, accumulate merit and wisdom, walk the Middle Way, and proceed with stability and ease at every step.

 Photo by pexels-missi-kopf