Member-only story
Koan #1 — Two Zen Students Meet on the Market Road
A Story About Ourselves and the Nature of Confusion
A Tale of Two Puzzles
What is a koan?
Beyond the fact that it’s a story allegedly used as a teaching/testing tool, nobody really knows.
Originally used as objects of meditation by traditional schools of Zen Buddhism, these mysterious short stories range from paradoxical to downright nonsensical. At the very least, they make one stop and — not think — but ponder.
Maybe this is the purpose of a koan? To slow the mind down and focus it carefully on a problem?
Not with human powers of rationale and reason; but through a calm process of rumination.
That is what I used to think, at least, and maybe there is still a kernel of truth in that conclusion, but there is also something else happening.
Something I can’t quite put my finger on.
Regardless, upon careful inspection of a well-formulated Zen koan, a keen mind will soon find itself at a loss — no matter how intelligent.
Why?
What sort of puzzle is immune to a clever intelligence?
