What is a Koan?
A Koan can be a story, question, dialogue or statement .It is found in the sayings and doing of sages who are authorized to teach the principles of Buddhism.
About Koans
- It may not be possible to understanding the meaning of a koan using our rational understanding.
- The faculty of intuition helps us in grasping the essence of a koan.
- Koans are the products of an enlightened state of mind.
- The Zen teachers teach koans as recitation and the students practicing it concentrate on it during the meditation to come out with an answer to it.
- The Zen teacher probes the understanding of the student about the koan by asking him checking questions.
- The answers giving by the students to koans vary depending upon the circumstances also including actions or gestures in place of words.
- But the masters look for an answer that convinces them that the disciple has indeed realized the essence of the koan.
- Koans can be taught only by extremely qualified master who have an eye to measure the disciple’s progress and relate to him according in various stages of his learning.
- Objectively, koans try to change the prevalent perception we have about a subject, often in a subtle manner.
An Example
A Philosopher asks Buddha:”Without words, without the wordless, will you tell me truth?”
The Buddha kept silence.
The philosopher bowed and thanked the Buddha, saying: “With your loving kindness I have cleared away my delusions and entered the true path.”
After the philosopher had gone, Ananda asked the Buddha what he had attained.
The Buddha replied, “A good horse runs even at the shadow of the whip.”
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