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"A paradox to be meditated upon that is used to train Zen Buddhist monks to abandon ultimate dependence on reason and to force them into gaining sudden intuitive enlightenment." -Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary "Koan, problem with no logical solution assigned to students of Zen Buddhism as a subject for meditation. The tern koan literally means "public record," and indeed, koans are often records, or anecdotes, involving famous masters." -Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia Vol. 15 "Suppose here is a completely blind man who trudges along leaning on his stick and depending on his intuition, The role of the koan is to mercilessly take the stick away from him and to push him down after turning him around. Now the blind man has lost his sole support and intuition and will not know where to go or how to proceed. He will be thrown into the abyss of despair. In the same way, the koan will mercilessly take away all our intellect and knowledge. In short, the role of the koan is not to lead us to satori easily, but on the contrary to make us loose our way and drive us to despair" -Zen Comments on the Mumonkan p. 101 |
| What is a Koan? |
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