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Gentling the Bull –  Finding the Traces

Reading the Sutras and listening to the teachings, the herdsman had an inkling of their message and meaning.  He has discovered the traces.  Now he knows that however varied and manifold, yet all things are of the one gold, and that his own nature does not differ from that of any other.  But he cannot yet distinguish between what is genuine and what fake, still less between the true and the false.  He can thus not enter the gate, and only provisionally can it be said that he has found the traces.

Under the trees by the water, the bull’s traces run here and there.
Has the herdsman found the way through the high, scented grass?
However far the bull now may run, even up the far mountains,
With a nose reaching up to the sky, he cannot hide himself any longer.

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Many wrong paths cross where the dead tree stands by the rock.
Restlessly running round and round, in his little nest of grass,
Does he know his own error?  In his search, just when his feet follow the traces,
He has passed the bull by and has let him escape.

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Many have searched for the bull but few ever saw him.
Up north in the mountains or down in the south, did he find his bull?
The One Way of light and dark along which all come and go;
Should the herdsman find himself on that Way he need not look further.