seventh world of chan buddhism - Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun

She must have paid a fortune for it. I remember seeing it years ago and it still looks the same.
So soft... Too bad I'm not into Duncan Phyfe. Lord, she ought to recover those chairs! The
armrests are positively grungy. But this rug... I'll bet it's a real oriental. Yes... This must be
the one she bought in Cairo. That breeze means business. I wonder if I left the car windows
down. She'd better get that branch cut back or one of these days it'll break the glass. Eleven
o'clock! Ah, that's the old Hamilton chimer Daddy says is rightfully his. I hope I can get out
of here by noon. I wonder if she plans to leave this place to me."
This description of things viewed through the intervening ego is the distortion of
reality, Samsara or Form.
There is no intrinsic difference between Form and Emptiness. We merely perceive
them differently.
In both Samsara and Nirvana the room was the same. But in Nirvana there was no
judgmental scrutiny or evaluation. There were no memories or plans, no `before and after,'
no `what used to be,' or `what will be,' or `what should be.' There was no prejudicial I or me.
In Nirvana there only `is.' And the perception of what `is' is direct, spontaneous, and, as it
happens, accompanied by profound joy and serenity.
We speak of the six worlds of Samsara because of the six types of human beings who
inhabit it. People are categorized according to the manner in which their ego accomplishes
its distortion of reality. Each type or `world' represents a style of adaptation, a pattern of
response or method of coping with the exigencies of life. Every individual, from the time of
his infancy on, through trial and error determines which style suits him best and is most
efficient in gaining him the attention and the status he craves. The six worlds, then, may be
considered six basic survival strategies. (Their identification, incidentally, constitutes the
oldest psychology system in history.)
In Buddhism, we learn to recognize these six strategies, not so that we may identify
them in others, though that can be helpful if the observations are objective, instructive, and
non-accusatory, but so that we may learn to identify them in ourselves whenever we use them
to evade responsibility, to maneuver other people into acting in our best interests, to gain us
whatever advantages we seek, and so on.
In the every day world of samsaric existence, every person in every society uses one
of these strategies. But we shall first describe them as they are found in religious life. In
monasteries, temple complexes and Chan Centers, monks and devotees who are still caught
on the samsaric wheel are jokingly said to practice Six Worlds' Chan.
The six classifications are Hungry Ghost Chan, Devil Chan, Human Being Chan,
Animal Chan, Titan Chan, and Angel Chan. Again, these are not Chan but are merely styles
of adaptation used by egos that have religious pretensions. (In Japanese Zen these
classifications are called, respectively, Gaki, Jigoku, Ningen, Chikusho, Shura, and Tenjo. In
CHAPTER 5 SIX WORLDS OF SAMSARA
S EVENTH W ORLD O F C HAN B UDDHISM
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