koans - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about koans Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary
1,756,715,775 visitors served.
forum mailing list For webmasters
?
New: Language forums
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

koan
(redirected from koans)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Encyclopedia 0.02 sec.

kōan

In Zen Buddhism, a superficially nonsensical question or riddle used by a Zen master to help a pupil achieve satori (enlightenment). It is used in the Rinzai school of Zen.

A kōan supposedly cannot be understood through the processes of logic; its solution requires attainment of a higher level of insight. An often repeated example is ‘What is the sound of one hand clapping?’

An answer would be that the word ‘clapping’ by definition involves two hands, and therefore this particular kōan is unanswerable.



How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Email
Feedback
?Sign in SSL protected
Email:
Password:
Register

? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
In today's fast-paced climate, where online tastes are scrutinized, diced and puzzled over like Zen koans, the only issues everyone seems to agree upon are that the music world is changing with the speed of sound -- and the Police reunion on tonight's Grammys telecast is the must-see event of the year.
An emphasis on transcendence and change led performance artists such as Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, and Laurie Anderson to create situations that forced their audiences to reconfigure their thoughts, Baas argues, much as Zen koans push a student toward insight.
The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans is a compilation of koans by the thirteenth-century Zen Buddhism master Eihei Dogen.
 
Hutchinson browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Hutchinson Encyclopedia
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2009 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Terms of Use.