While it seeks neither to define zen nor answer its most famous koan a riddle unanswerable by conventional thinking, in this case the sound of one hand clapping, this bestselling little book with 437,000 copies in print possesses a maverick zen spirit that points to a different way of looking at the world. Jul 17, 2009 what is the sound of one hand clapping is a well known zen buddhist koan. Viewed as an ideal method for attaining and transmitting an unimpeded experience of enlightenment, they became the main object of study in zen. Koan work, like zen practice meditation, is a way of developing the skills of selfunderstanding and selfmastery in lif. These cryptic expressions are among the bestknown examples of koans, the confusing, often contradictory sayings that form the centerpiece of zen buddhist learning and training. The book of householder koans book santa monica public. Not only that, but youll learn more about the world around you. Really though, it is about how to live a life steeped in intimacy and love and openness. That a handbook existed recording not only the riddling koans that are central to zen teaching but also detailing the answers to them seemed to mark zen as rote, not revelato. For all that, the sound of one hand clapping opens the door to zen like no other book. Jan 17, 20 most people know the famous riddle, what is the sound of one hand clapping. Koans pronounced koahns are cryptic and paradoxical questions asked by zen teachers that defy rational answers.
Koan practice starts with the shokan, or first barrier, usually the mu koan or the koan what is the sound of one hand clapping. Quite a number of students in our karate organization have also studied zen. What is the meaning behind what is the sound of one hand. The sound of one hand clapping tao sangha north america.
He deemed himself a failed monk because he had been assigned the koan of what is the sound of one hand clapping. A teacher of zen would reject them out of hand, all the while demanding a real response. I thought about how many things exist solely in relation to something else. The student of zen is supposed to meditate on this riddle. For instance, heres what happened when i meditated on the one hand clapping koan. You can hear the sound of two hands when they clap together, said mokurai. For all that, the sound of the one hand opens the door to zen like no other book. Jan 29, 2012 koan when you can do nothing, what can you do. Teachers often present koans in formal talks, or students may be challenged to resolve them in their meditation practice. For example, zen masters say, listen to the sound of one hand clapping. This is a powerful and intensely sad novel, which deals with loss, alienation and the power of human beings to inflict pain on those they love most the title comes from a zen koan a philosophical riddle formulated by the japanese zen master hakuin ekaku, who asked you know the sound of two hands clapping tell me, what is the sound of one hand as i understand it, the student of zen is. When the sound of the one hand came out in japan in 1916 it caused a scandal. Thinking that such music might interrupt, toyo moved his abode to a quiet place.
About the book what is the sound of one hand clapping. These zen buddhist koans will open your mind huffpost. When the sound of the one hand came out in japan in. Zen mater hakuin 18th century japan echo from a sound that never was meditation alone.
Zen koans such as this one are a puzzle or seemingly paradoxical statement designed to help us breakthrough our usual ways of perceiving the world. The next evening, when his teacher asked him to illustrate the sound of one hand, toyo began to play the music of the geishas. A good friend of mine and a very senior instructor in new zealand is quite serious about his study. Nyogen says american zen is running sideways writing books, lecturing, referring to theology, psychology, and what not. By posing puzzles that cannot be solved by pure logic, it forces the student to get outside the box, usually by a shoc. The koans deal with the challenges of relationships, raising children, work, money, love, loss. There is a famous zen koan philosophical riddle which asks, what is the sound of one hand clapping. Thelle on the boundary the sound of one hand paul mccartney. You lift both arms and clash the hands together, dont you. Zen koans, beginning some 1500 years ago, refer to stories or questions arising in encounters between monks and old chinese and japanese masters, and include commentaries designed to help the zen practitioner awaken. The famous hakuin koan featuring the phrase sound of the one hand is often misquoted as the sound of one hand clapping, resulting in an absurdity that renders the koan spiritually useless.
Many are also aware that it is connected with zen buddhism, and some will even know that it is a famous koan by. I think this is probably a good book for people that are interested in zen buddhism, and i do like reading it, but i dont think i got a lot out of it. The story of sonya and bojan buloh in the sound of one hand clapping is a story of heartbreak and despair. If one is to work on this koan, indeed on any koan, one must demonstrate its meaning. The speakers who delight in offering this absurdity do it with the purpose of showing the lack of logic in language andor linear thinking. Zen buddhist masters use these paradoxical stories or questions to force their pupils to slough reason in favor of sudden enlightenment. The question often is shortened to what is the sound of one hand clapping. What does the koan sound of one hand clapping mean to. The mind will work out many solutions and all will be meaningless, and the master will send you back again and. This zen koan or paradoxical riddle, composed by the japanese zen master hakuin, has been the source of many interpretations with even bart. May you find value in these classic zen koans and quotes about zen.
In books about zen we read that the koan grips the students heart and mind and creates a true mental impasse, a state of sustained tension in which the whole world becomes an enormous mass of doubt and questioning. Bring me the rhinoceros is a wise and intimate book. Jundo and kirk discuss the origin and history of koans, what they mean, how they work, and what the sound of one hand clapping really is. Many are also aware that it is connected with zen buddhism, and some will even know that it is a famous koan. The sound of one hand zen and christian spirituality. The zen koan serves as a scalpel used to cut into the mind of the meditator. Toyo saw the older disciples visit the masters room each morning and evening to receive instruction in sanzen or personal guidance in which they were given koans to stop mind. A koan, of course, is a paradoxical parable or query used in zen buddhism to elicit enlightenment. Explanatory words such as the two hands represent duality, the one hand is unity or the sound of one hand is the sound of the true self are useless. After the tokugawa shogunate took power, buddhism was separated from the state cult and forced to fend. If you meditate on koans enough, youll build it up just like a muscle. There is another hand out there suffering and in their own plight.
For example, one koan nearly everyone has heard of originated with master hakuin ekaku 16861769. Ostensibly it is about koans, those tricky zen riddles such as what is the sound of one hand clapping. In theory zen buddhist koans are stories about nothing else but enlightenment the koan stories describe strange actions of medieval chinese monks who in one way or another became deeply enlightened. Most of us know koans through what is the sound of one hand clapping. The true path is the path on which there is no coming and no going. This translation was compiled with the western reader in mind, and includes koan yamadas clear and penetrating comments on each case. A zen monk named ichhi labored his whole life in the kitchen of the great monastery at lake hakkone. How does hakuins famous koan relate to zen buddhism answers. This book supposedly reveals the secret answers behind the koans, those famous riddles of zen practice, such as what is the sound of one hand clapping. For all that, the sound of the one hand opens the door to zen like no other. It is a mistake to think of a koan as a question that has an answer. Zen master hauins koan about the sound of one hand makes no conceptual sense. I was drawn to zen in the early 1970s with one of their most famous koans, what is the sound of one hand clapping. While the brain teaser did indeed originate with a zen master, it does not fully represent the nature of the koan.
I was forced to examine the underlying reality of the koan and examine it that way. Koan curricula are, in fact, subject to continued accretion and evolution over time, and thus are best considered living traditions of practice rather than set programs of study. There is also some poetry from genro, that comments on the koan for example a cloud rests at the mouth of the cave doing nothing all day. Another good question, but a strikingly western one. Zen flesh, zen bones is a collection of three zen works, 101 zen stories, the gateless gate and ten bulls. This is a powerful and intensely sad novel, which deals with loss, alienation and the power of human beings to inflict pain on those they love most the title comes from a zen koan a philosophical riddle formulated by the japanese zen master hakuin ekaku, who asked you know the sound of two hands clapping tell me, what is the sound of one hand as i understand it, the student of zen is supposed. Maybe youll pick it up for a minute and find an hour has slipped by. He had a little protege named toyo who was only twelve years old. As a teacher, he placed special emphasis on koan practice, inventing many new koans himself, including the famous what is the sound of one hand clapping. The zen master poured his visitors teacup full, and then kept pouring.
Including koans that go back to the master who first brought the koan teaching. Koan elder ting asked linchi, master, what is the great meaning of buddhas teachings. The sound of one hand clapping by richard flanagan goodreads. It sounds difficult because its impossible to clap just one hand, isnt it. The religious art of zen master hakuin, katsuhiro yoshizawa, with norman waddell. The moonlight penetrates the waves through the night, but leaves no trace in e water. What does the koan sound of one hand clapping mean to you. Working with zen koans ebook by albert low rakuten kobo. It was practiced by government officials and was part of the state cult. Koans are designed to be nonsensical, shocking, or humorous. The book of householder koans is a collection of koans created by 21 st century zen practitioners living a lay life in the west. Zen buddhism has a reputation for being inscrutable, and much of that reputation comes from koans. Masters of zen buddhism often give their more advanced students a koan to contemplate.
The title comes from a zen koan a philosophical riddle formulated by the japanese zen master hakuin ekaku, who. A charismatic and extraordinary zen teacher and artist, hakuin 16861769 is. The sound of one hand clapping, a 1997 novel by richard flanagan. The book of householder koans waking up in the land of attachments by eve myonen marko and wendy egyoku nakao monkfish book publishing company. If there is one koan that best characterizes the nature of the koan, it is the well known, what is the sound of one hand clapping. In the gateless gate, one of modern zen buddhisms uniquely influential masters offers classic commentaries on the mumonkan, one of zen s greatest collections of teaching stories. Its a hammer used to shatter fixed thinking, a rubiks cube of words for the mind to unravel. That a handbook existed recording not only the riddling koans that are central to zen teaching but also detailing the answers to them seemed to mark zen as rote, not revelatory. Sep 21, 2012 amir mourad talks about the spirit of zen, the practice of zazen sitting meditation, and koans.
About this episode youve probably heard about koans, those enigmatic zen dialogs that make no sense. The master of kennin temple was mokurai, silent thunder. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the sound of the one hand. Prior to the tokugawa period, buddhism was an elitist religion in japan. The student of zen is supposed to meditate on this riddle until some degree of insight or enlightenment occurs. If you know anything at all about zen, you know the famous question about the sound of one hand clapping. When i asked my father the koan, we got into an interesting existential conversation about what is and the nature of the universe. Top 10 books on zen buddhism watkins mind body spirit magazine. To me, i hear what is the sound of one hand clapping. If you fall in love with the road, you will forget the destination. Koans are a treasured tool of some zen masters, ancient and modern, for training erstwhile students in opening their boundaries. Koans are questions whose answer cannot be arrived at through analytical mental processes you cant think your way to. The title comes from a zen koan a philosophical riddle formulated by the japanese zen master hakuin ekaku, who asked you know the sound of two.
Koans are questions whose answer cannot be arrived at through analytical mental processes. The solving of a koan demands a supreme effort of concentration and involvement from the student. Aug 07, 2014 a fiery and intensely dynamic zen teacher and artist, hakuin 16851768 is credited with almost singlehandedly revitalizing japanese zen after three hundred years of decline. Oct 31, 2015 these zen buddhist koans will open your mind. The sound of one hand clapping, a 1998 album by british musician dobie. For example, taking one hand away changes the clapping sound or in this case, nonsound. Buddhism, koan, zen koan two monks were arguing about the temple flag waving in the wind. And one chapter from the pre zen rudrayamala tantra. We all have our own opinions of what various koans mean, and recently ive been going around asking folks what they thought of what is the sound of one hand clapping.
The book of householder koans waking up in the land of attachments book. But i immediately ran into a brick wall one hand cannot clap. Toyo saw the older disciples visit the masters room each morning and evening to receive instruction in sanzen or personal guidance in which. Like all koans, its an attempt to stimulate thoughtless awareness, which is one way to understand nirvana. When i mediated further on the koan, i started thinking about relationships. Including koans that go back to the master who first brought. Jul 11, 2011 masters of zen buddhism often give their more advanced students a koan to contemplate. What is the sound of one hand clapping is a well known zen buddhist koan.
Its purpose is to get the student to transcend mere logical. The struggle between father and daughter created a yawning gap i just wanted to fill with the love and forgiveness that seemed but an outstretched arm away. Zen was a secretive practice, its wisdom relayed from master to novice in strictest privacy. The question what is the sound of one hand clapping. Learn more about koans, including many more examples, in this article. The sound of one hand clapping, a 1998 australian film adaptation. One hand clapping by serge kahili king there is a famous zen koan philosophical riddle which asks, what is the sound of one hand clapping. Koans like hakuins what is the sound of one hand clapping. Most people know the famous riddle, what is the sound of one hand clapping. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. It is meant to test whether you have awakened to your bodhinature or whether you are still entrenched in your worldly mortal false self ego mindconsciousness caught up in the conventional world that is samsara and still tread.
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