Koans — A Journey to Decipher the Indecipherable and Finding Peace
An opportunity to clear the clutter and open your mind
While reading through Ryan Holiday’s thoughts in his book — Stillness is the Key, I came across this strange term — Koans.
Go through these one-liners and try to answer them with your eyes closed:
- “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
- “What did your face look like before you were born?”
- “Does the dog have the Buddha-nature?”
- “When you can do nothing, what can you do?”
I tried answering them one by one. But then what’re the answers to these?
I was blank. I went into a spiral.
I am sure the experience was the same as you too.
- Two hands can make a sound. What’s the sound of one hand clapping? Silence? Stillness?
- I look at my face each day in the mirror, but how did I see the face when I was inside the womb? Wow! I close my eyes again and start thinking, and there is nothing except a white image. There was no face. There was just a body hanging inside a vacuum tied through a knot. That was the only image my mind could sew.
- What’s Buddha-nature? That’s for humans. How can a dog or a horse have the Buddha-nature?
- I do “nothing” all the time. So what am I doing during that time?
Welcome to the beautiful and confusing world of Koans
Koan — A paradoxical anecdote or riddle without a solution, used in Zen Buddhism to show the inadequacy of logical reasoning and provoke enlightenment.
I spent just a day reading, researching, and learning Koans, and now they are already a part of my daily routine.
Koans don’t have any solution, by design they are paradoxical. And that’s why when Zen Monks ask their students to practice Koans, the students keep on answering the same illogical and unexplainable question, again and again, only to experience a Zen-like moment during the course.
The idea behind a Koan is to set your mind in motion. To think about those illogical things which don’t have an answer which doesn’t have a logic, which will never have a solution.
Explain the unexplainable
Koans have a deeper meaning and purpose.
That’s why Buddhist monks created this experiment — a thought experiment — Koans.
There are roughly 1,700 of them in the form of exciting stories and one-liners like the one we just experienced.
A lot of times, we incorrectly assume Koans to be riddles or puzzles that need to be solved. But the whole idea of creating Koans is to not search for an answer instead. This puzzle can’t be explained. It should not be!
Koans let people break through the “common” thinking and think in a new direction. Koans lead to satisfaction without even answering them without even searching for the right solution.
My search for Koans led me to this beautiful TED Ed video.
My experience
Being aware of such a unique concept is good enough to inculcate this in daily routine. And, that’s what I did. I made a shift towards answering Koan during my early morning meditations.
Pondering upon these Koans is like trying to enjoy a destination less journey. My mind feels free. I let my mind flow in all the directions judging nothing or making sense of the thoughts that hit me. My mind felt happy, satisfied, calm, directionless, and blank. It was almost like a meditative zone.
The chatter, which is associated with answering Koans, is unusual. It’s unusual so much that it will bring you calmness.
The chatter of illogical Koans leading to logical calmness!
Koans feel like a combination of guided and unguided meditation. There is a framework in the Koan's form which will guide you, but then your mind is left to float in a suspended world to experience the beauty it.
Koans are new to me. I am learning something new each day.
Out of so many, which I have read in the past few days, these two Koans are my favorite.
Koan 1
Two monks were arguing about the temple flag waving in the wind.
One said, “The flag moves.”
The other said, “The wind moves.”
They argued back and forth but could not agree.
Hui-Neng, the sixth patriarch, said: “Gentlemen! It is not the flag that moves. It is not the wind that moves. It is your mind that moves.”
The two monks were struck with awe.
Koan 2
Tanzan and Ekido were once travelling together down a muddy road. Heavy rain was still falling.
Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.
“Come on, girl,” said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.
Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer could restrain himself. “We monks don’t go near females,” he told Tanzan, “especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?”
“I left the girl there,” said Tanzan. “Are you still carrying her?”
If you are confused and struggling to make any sense of these stories, I welcome you all to the fantastic and exciting world of Koans.
Koans — The world of no answers, the world of no logic, the world of not trying to explain the unexplainable!
The next time you sit in meditation and are struggling to control and calm your thoughts, just let these Koans help you. Try to answer them. The journey and the process will help you enter the meditative zone easily.
Nishith is a Chartered Accountant by profession. He is a Marathoner, an avid reader, writer, aspiring author, and a personal-transformation coach. He is the creator of a unique self-transformation platform — “Be Better Bit-By-Bit.”
Under the umbrella of a simple philosophy — Small and consistent improvements, he is trying to transform people’s life — Bit-By-Bit.