First off, a Koan is usually described as a story, dialogue, question, or statement given by a Buddhist teacher (monk). This is usually found in the tradition of Zen (Chen) Buddhism. The purpose is for a Zen practitioner's mind to match the mind of an enlightened being.
Here's an example:
Shuzan held out his short staff and said, " If you call this a short staff, you oppose its reality. If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact. Now what do you wish to call this?"
Some may interpret this to be philosophical, and those that do would be entirely correct. I interpret this statement (by the way, we all interpret these Koans differently, that's the point) to be an epistemological criticism insofar as; we as finite beings in an infinite universe can't really claim to know anything (very, very philosophical).
Here's an example:
Shuzan held out his short staff and said, " If you call this a short staff, you oppose its reality. If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact. Now what do you wish to call this?"
Some may interpret this to be philosophical, and those that do would be entirely correct. I interpret this statement (by the way, we all interpret these Koans differently, that's the point) to be an epistemological criticism insofar as; we as finite beings in an infinite universe can't really claim to know anything (very, very philosophical).
3 comments:
...perhaps you dont need to call the staff anything at all...
exactly.
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