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+1 for awesome, I really like the added line ...but, AFAIK, a Koan tries to thwart understanding in order to communicate an otherwise impossible to describe co
by nickbarone 14y ago
+1 for awesome, I really like the added line
...but, AFAIK, a Koan tries to thwart understanding in order to communicate an otherwise impossible to describe concept. By preventing understanding yet asking for investigation, a koan communicates its actual content through your investigation, rather than the successful translation of the words into your thoughts.
- gruseom 14y agoYes, that's more or less how I think of koans too. (There's also the fact that in the tradition that originated them, koans were given in the context of a personal relationship between teacher and student. We missed that when we turned them into intellectual gimmicks.) But the point is that this metaprogramming business is not impossible to describe.