In thirteenth-century China, a Daoist monk named Gao Daokuan (1195-1277) composed a series of illustrated poems and accompanying verse commentary known as the Daoist Horse Taming Pictures. In this annotated translation and study, Louis Komjathy argues that this virtually unknown text offers unique insights into the transformative effects of Daoist contemplative practice. Taming the Wild Horse examines Gao's illustrated poems in terms of monasticism and contemplative practice, as well as the multivalent meaning of the "horse" in traditional Chinese culture and the consequences for both human and nonhuman animals.

The Horse Taming Pictures consist of twelve poems, ten of which are equine-centered. They develop the metaphor of a "wild" or "untamed" horse to represent ordinary consciousness, which must be reined in and harnessed through sustained self-cultivation, especially meditation. The compositions describe stages on the Daoist contemplative path. Komjathy provides opportunities for reflection on contemplative practice in general and Daoist meditation in particular, which may lead to a transpersonal way of perceiving and being.

"[T]his book is a beautiful and original contribution not only to Daoist studies, but also to animal studies, a field that rarely ventures so far east and so far back into the past. This interdisciplinarity should make it [appeal] to anyone interested in poetry, contemplative practice, and human-animal relationships." - Reading Religion

"Komjathy’s translation of the text and its commentary is both elegant and readable . . . As an attempt to apply approaches from animal and contemplative studies to a historical piece of religious literature and then incorporate it into contemporary religious practice, Taming the Wild Horse, is [additionally] successful." - Journal of Chinese Religions

"Overall, Komjathy’s analysis of the primary material is accurate and informative, and the reader will have to judge the value of Komjathy’s interpretative contributions." - Religious Studies Review

"An outstanding annotated translation of a classic Daoist book of contemplation." - New York Review of Books