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

the legend, "Even when you're baaaad, you're God's precious lamb." Unicorns - stuffed,
ceramic, and wax - lounged on the tables; and then there materialized one night a rather
large, blue pyramid frame. It hung from the light fixture in the center of the room from
which place it funneled through its apex the scattered energies of nearby galaxies or so we
were told. The following week there appeared in the room's four corners long, ray-collecting,
quartz crystals which pointed to the center of the room, deliberately plotting the trajectories
of their cosmic payloads to collide with the pyramid's vertical downpour. Despite the danger,
chairs were positioned nearby - a bit too insouciantly to suit me - while a star-topped wand of
uncertain function stood ready presumably to tap the celestial current and direct it wherever it
was needed.
If all this were not enough to open the fontanels of the most hardheaded skeptic and
set his spine into harmonic motion with the firmament, there also appeared plaques and other
representations of the zodiacal constellations, a little bust of Cleopatra, an obelisk, some
engraved invitations to witness a spirit channel's transmission of the voice of a dead
philosopher, and several portraits of White angels who, we were informed, could cause
sacred books, epistles, and other instruments of enlightenment to appear on people's coffee
tables and credenzas.
When dozens of bright red, paper hearts were taped to walls, doors and mirrors ("to
remind people to love"), the Zen Buddhists cried foul and were invited to move out.
To be fair, New Agers are sincere in their beliefs which, after all, are predicated upon
seductive, semi-plausible explanations. They are told that pyramids are the most stable of all
geometric shapes and who would argue with this? They are offered testimonials by persons
with scientific credentials, persons who, having stood inside an Egyptian pyramid, were able
to describe convincingly the "incredibly strong vibrations" and other effects of interstellar
radiation. They hear about Marconi, radio waves, and the receptivity of crystals. It seems to
make sense. But something prevents them from subjecting their beliefs to any kind of
scrutiny. We wonder how they can be so interested in historical Egypt without giving Egypt's
history a thought. How do they not know, as every unconcerned schoolboy does know, that
after the Syrians invaded Egypt in the 7th century, B.C., came the Persians in the 6th, the
Macedonian Greeks under Alexander in the 4th, (did they forget that Cleopatra was of
Macedonian Greek descent?), the Romans at the time of Christ, (did they recall Mark Antony
and Julius Caesar?), the Arab invasions in the 7th century A.D., the French, the Turks, and
finally the British (didn't they see Lawrence of Arabia?). Not until after WWII under
President Nasser was Egypt truly ruled by an Egyptian. How did it happen that Egypt, the
absolute center of pyramid power, had to be dragged through two and a half millennia before
it found the strength to stand on its own political feet?
As to crystal power, they knew their crystals came from South America. How did
they remain unaware that they were mined there by some of the world's most exploited
workers - men who died poor, young, and with lungs filled with the wondrous dust. If it were
CHAPTER 10 FIRST ZEN PRACTICE: THE 1:4:2 HEALING BREATH
S EVENTH W ORLD O F C HAN B UDDHISM
99