![]() I suppose you could say that it was like the sudden solution to a koan, which is not an intellectual affair, but more of a breakthrough into the ground of being. Mother of the Unconventional William Meyers 2011 ![]() It is a learning tool intended to alter our perception of reality. John Farr: Getting Religion: The Ten Best Films on Faith John Farr 2011Ī koan is a Zen riddle, the answer to which-if, in fact, there is an answer-is largely immaterial. A Zen koan is a short story or sentence that initially seems paradoxical in nature. Whether you think of it as a Buddhist riddle termed a " koan", a mystical allegory, or an inner-world travelogue if you're in the right frame of mind, you will surely be fascinated by Bae's highly intelligent, visually arresting film. It is for you the way your life is for you. ![]() It can be like an ear wormit seizes you and won’t go away. Notes on 'Kafka and the Coincidence of Opposites' 2007 If you have heard of a koan and it stayed with you, you can try that one out. Contemplating these words is part of the training given by a teacher to help a Buddhist student to awaken. PronunciationEdit IPA: kon Hyphenation: koan. This surprising answer has catalyzed practitioners’ meditation, self-questioning, and development of insight for all these centuries, and the koan is still given to students today.The Zen scholar and teacher, Daisetz Suzuki (1870 - 1966), once explained that the origin of the term koan was a kind of certifying document that, in ancient times, was used to test one's understanding of Zen.Ĥ The koan is the principal form of meditation practiced by the Rinzai sect. Zen Buddhism has a reputation for being inscrutable, and much of that reputation comes from koans. A koan is a surprising or paradoxical word or phrase, taken from an anecdote, that is used as an object of meditation in traditions descended from Chinese Chan Buddhism, like Japanese Zen. From English koan, from Japanese (kan), from Literary Chinese (literally, public case). Later, when the student is ready, they may choose to work on a koan as their meditation practice. Sometimes a koan is snatched from a poem. Sometimes the format of a koan (’k-‘än) is question-and-answer, but the answer is designed to shift your consciousness rather than answer the question. You may have heard some of the more celebrated koans, such as “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” or “Show me your face before your parents were born.” One famous example of a single-word koan derives from a 10th-century Chinese story in which a student asks the renowned master Chao-chou (Japanese, Joshu) whether a dog has buddhanature (the potential for awakening) and the master replies, “Wu!”-in Japanese “Mu!” ( emptiness). Zen practice usually begins with the breath. (Zen Buddhism) A story about a Zen master and his student, sometimes like a riddle, other times like a fable, which has become an object of Zen study, and which. Working with koans is a way to open a gate to your consciousness so that you can experience that light. In some schools, a student may work on a koan for years, or may need to work through a traditional list of koans. Koans are used as intentional paradoxes to stump your rational mind, which is seen as a form of mental unbinding in traditional Buddhism. When habitual thinking or reasoning leads nowhere, students will begin to “sit with” the koan and ultimately bring the teacher a direct or spontaneous “answer” that reflects their Zen training. The tradition of koan study may vary in some ways in different schools of Zen, but in the form most familiar to us in the West, students are given a koan (which may be more or less well known) and are asked to demonstrate to the teacher their comprehension of its meaning. In these anthologies, each story-usually an exchange between two Buddhist masters or between master and student-is paired with elucidating commentary, a brief encapsulation of the point, lines of verse, and sometimes commentary on the verse. ![]() The word koan is a spelling of Chinese gong’an, meaning “public record” or “legal precedent,” and also means “story.” Most of the koans used today come from several collections of gong’an dating back to 12th- and 13th-century China the best-known collections have been translated many times and are found in English under titles like The Gateless Gate and The Blue Cliff Record. A koan is a surprising or paradoxical word or phrase, taken from an anecdote, that is used as an object of meditation in traditions descended from Chinese Chan Buddhism, like Japanese Zen. ![]()
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