Page 20 - Autumn 22

Ten Ox-herding pictures by Peter Gregory, UK
In a meeting of a group of Buddhist friends recently I was reminded by our teachers of the “Ten Ox-herding Pictures”, which depict the spiritual progression of a Zen student. The author is said to be a Zen master of the Sung Dynasty known as Kaku-an Shi-en belonging to the Rinzai school. He also wrote poems and introductory words for each picture.
I believe the stages are universal, and apply to anyone seeking their inner truth, wherever they may find it, but I also believe they are relevant to our personal progression in learning homeopathy; they certainly resonated with my own journey, so I though it might be interesting to look at them from a homeopathic perspective. The pictures I am using were painted by Shubun, a Zen priest of the fifteenth century. The original pictures are preserved at Shokokuji, Kyoto. He was one of the greatest painters in black and white in the Ashikaga period. I plan to take them one at a time and see how it goes. Instead of the original commentaries I will try and add a haiku for each one. I hope you may find it interesting and I don’t find I am being too ambitious!
Picture 9
Returning to the origin; back to the source The ninth picture shows nature, just as it is; the water is flowing, the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing. So we are back where we began, but we see it differently now. In homeopathy , we are back at the ‘coal face ‘ of practice. But now we see everything with the benefit of our homeopathic understanding. The original commentary says that the experience of emptiness is not enough – if we attach ourselves to it this could lead to isolation and separation, so we have to r-enter the world and practise what we have learned in everyday life.
So I suggest the notion that we are but homeopathic veterinary surgeons, not animal homeopaths. That being so we have the privilege of a conventional understanding of health and disease, of medicines and surgery. So when a client presents us with the results of blood tests and scans we can understand them, and if we are asked about a lump we know the dangers of missing a mast cell tumour and conversely the likelihood of it being a lipoma.
This is what it means for us to return to the source, because it is our conventional knowledge of veterinary medicine that initiated our homeopathic journey. Now, rather than completely cast off our conventional foundation, we can integrate it with our homeopathic knowledge. There is a lot of controversy among homeopaths of all types abut whether we should promote ‘integrated medicine’ rather than concentrate on homeopathy itself. The fear is that homeopathy will become ‘watered down’ and practised as one of several possible therapies in an ‘integrated approach’. I share this fear, but on the other hand I consider that that is what I do. I don’t only practice homeopathy; I change the diet (though I admit that is covered by Hahnemann in paragraph3: remove obstacles to cure. But I may prescribe a vitamin supplement, some glucosamine, or CBD oil. On rare occasions I have used a course of antibiotics, and rarer still a short course of corticosteroids to see a patient with atopy through a severe flare up. I often use acupuncture. These are all things I have in my tool kit if I need them, by virtue of my veterinary qualification, and could be described as ‘integrative therapy’ . But most of the time I prescribe a homeopathic remedy on its own. I think that is what the supporters of ‘homeopathy as part of integrated medicine’ are thinking of. The danger is that we find ourselves as just one group
among several others,
some of whom may not be
supportive of homeopathy,
so this we must guard against.
Nevertheless when we come to
really understand homeopathy we see it
can treat most of the conditions labelled in the conventional sphere, often better than conventional medicine – and it can also bring resolution of many conditions for which there is no conventional treatment. In short we see its power as a therapeutic method – and we understand the futility of so much conventional medicine. But that doesn’t mean we should isolate ourselves from our profession. Ironically that is exactly what our RCVS is trying to do to us, and heave recently rejected our latest submission of evidence, but they are actually failing. I am confident I can speak for all our members in UK when I say we continue to converse with our colleagues – we request a history when we see a new patient, we report what we have prescribed, and if necessary we discuss the patient with our conventional colleagues. Exchanges are almost invariably friendly and professional.
Of course many of us take the opportunity to opt out of general practice and take up referral practice in homeopathy, but even the we should not underestimate the value of our conventional veterinary education and realise that much of our management of the patient is influenced by that source. But now we know.
So there we are. We have followed the ox, learnt another way of being, and now have returned to where it all began, equipped to apply our understanding to our practice. And now we Know.