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

her husband; the Human Being will take advantage of the partnership to merge assets,
diversify incomes and investments, and organize doubles in tennis. The Titan will martyr
herself; the Animal will passively submit to her fate; and the Angel will join the Junior
League and the Symphony Society, take courses in Continuing Education and in record time
emerge as one of society's leading young matrons.
And if it should happen that one of these marriages begins an unhappy dissolution, the
woman, alone, miserable and confused, is sure to receive from family and friends advice that
accords with these same six worlds' perspectives. The Hungry Ghosts will counsel her, "Get
out and get yourself another man! There's more than one fish in the sea!" The Titans will
chastise, "What did you expect marriage to be, a Tupperware party? Stop your griping! You
made your bed, now lie in it." The Human Beings will recommend that she immediately get a
lawyer, a financial counselor, and a membership in the YMCA. The Animals, seeing no
problems at all since she holds title to her home and is assured of enough alimony to get by
on, will ask incredulously, "What do you have to be miserable about? Do you know how
many divorced women get stuck with nothing? Count your blessings!" The Devils, however,
will have no trouble in recognizing the cause of her grief. "How do you expect to hold a man
looking like that? Lose ten pounds, see a beauty consultant, and above all, get yourself some
decent clothes!" And, of course, the Angels will insist that she seize the opportunity to
expand her horizons by studying philosophy, psychology or, now that she's a `woman of
experience' and has a certain `depth,' creative writing.
In Samsara, the world which the ego dominates and distorts, whenever someone is
involved in an emotional crisis he receives or he gives advice of these six types. Such
counsel is considered eminently sensible and no one perceives any contradiction in believing,
for example, that happiness consists in being wealthy and that there is a lot of money to be
made exploiting the discontented rich.
Samsara is strife, itself. Every segment is a war zone. And the simple cause of the
conflict is that the ego, by its very nature, exists in a perpetual state of desire, wanting love,
fame and power and, unfortunately for us all, not much caring how it gets them. To succeed
in its ambitions it will lie, cheat, steal, betray, kill, and generally manipulate other egos
without the smallest mercy. If in the course of its development it has noted how loyalty,
gratitude, or generosity are prized, it seeks fame for being grateful, generous or loyal. But
when it perceives that such virtues are not to its immediate advantage, it defers to Number
One and dispenses with such sentimental notions. Seemingly altruistic acts that are
performed because the ego desires the esteem such actions generate are not altruistic at all;
on the other hand, altruistic acts which are performed from genuine love and selflessness are
acts which have transcended the ego and are not Samsaric at all.
May any man dare to hope that after he has unscrupulously striven half a lifetime to
gain an objective he will, upon finally possessing it, enjoy it for more than two weeks? No.
The moment an ego gets what it has fought for, it devalues the prize. The goal loses its
fascination and the bored, competitive ego quickly sets its sights upon another, more worthy
CHAPTER 5 SIX WORLDS OF SAMSARA
S EVENTH W ORLD O F C HAN B UDDHISM
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