633. Koan - IELTS Vocabulary - Japanese - Philosophy

Koan : 선문답

 

 

1)
Koan is something that they use in Zen Buddism   
it's normally a statement or an anecdotes or qustion and answer which is puzzling, it's strange it's paradoxical 
it's like a riddle, it's not something that doesn't have the answer

this is effectively making you think about what is reality 
this is designed to make you think more about life or about existence or things like this
koans are short stories, fables, questions, something designed to make the student think about them
it may help them to understand the universe bettere to become more enlightened
I think this is a good koan because this then makes you think about what actually is the question I'm asking what do I mean by what is the answer to life the universe and everything
it makes you think that the question it's not a simple question. it's a much much complicated question
this is the idea of a koan, it's something to meditate a paradox which is training Buddhists to stop using reasoning and become more intuitive and maybe to think about things in a different light
it's like a problem or a riddle that normally has no logical solution and maybe you're thinking about why this paradox has no logical solution. becacuse not everything can be resolved using reasoning
it's to help illuminate your mind to help you think further 

a koan or a question that is just non sequitur 
it doesn't make sense

to think about it because effectively it's trying to destroy the reliance on using logic for everything and for us to become more intuitive 

 

 

2)

for example, what is the meaning to life the univese and everything? and this computher thinks about it for millions of years and finally says 42

i think the most common of these koans or the most famous is what is the sound of one hand clapping. Does it have an answer?
for example, is there a teaching that no master has ever preached before and the answer is yes there is and then the question is what is it and the answer is it's not mind it's not Buddia, it's not good it's not things, so here you are only defining something by what it's not. How do you define the undefinable, it's probably never been taught before because nobody has been able to define it. this is the idea of a koarn
what is Buddha? three pounds of flax, flax is a seed, three pounds of seeds

 

Formality : 5.5

 

 

 

 

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