Hands of the Adept

A snippet from Ten Methods of the Heavenly Dragon

By Robert Sheaffer

I looked across the table at Shun Yuan. He was sitting very still and with his eyes half closed and his hands folded together he reminded me of the large Buddha that I had knelt before in the temple on Baguashan. As I sat watching him I felt a great wave of stillness coming over me, as if he was somehow radiating a quiet peaceful energy which imbued all those it touched with an inner calm. Still watching him I could feel myself gradually getting more and more relaxed. The scene around me started to take on a curious other-worldly quality which was similar to that which I had experienced after my period of very deep meditation. The colours on the walls started to change, turning from their normal subdued smoky yellow to a much more vibrant yellowish gold. Shun Yuan himself was reduced to a dark blob and then his hands moved and began tracing curious patterns in the air in front of him which hung ghostly against the black background of his robes, like the after-images on an old television set. His hands, glowing now it seemed, reached out towards me, his extended forefinger touching me on the forehead as he whispered, "Look the other way Rob. It's not out here."