One hand does not clap
Submitted by Peggy on Wed, 2004-07-14 09:40
Linda Sue Grimes, former English professor at Ball State University, who maintains an informative â??Classic Poetry for Students Who Hate Poetryâ? website, corrects a widely misquoted koan. One hand does not clap.
The koan is simply,
"You can make the sound of two hands clapping. Now what is the sound of one hand?"
What is the sound of one hand,... not what is the sound of one hand clapping. Interesting how the human mind will play tricks. Especially fascinating is how easily a misconception can become established as generally accepted truth.
But there really isn't that m
But there really isn't that much difference between the two questions. Both are predicated on confusion over terms. The "sound of one hand clapping" and the "sound of one hand" are actually absurd questions for the same reason, not different reasons.
Consider the "correct" answer to the properly-quoted koan: "The pupil faces the master, takes a correct posture, and without a word, thrusts one hand forward."
Then consider the standard gag-answer provided by smart-ass university undergraduates everywhere, to the mis-translated koan: Holding up one hand, and making clapping motions. (The high school version usually entails slapping the butt of your hand with the fingers of the same hand to make a small noise.)
The thing is, Zen "paradoxes" never seemed to me to be all that paradoxical. They illustrate the gap between how we speak of or perceive the world, and how it is; so what? In the advanced practice of engineering, one deals with that problem (albeit, often without much awareness of it) every day. Artists deal with it all the time.
Koans, too often, are simple tricks: They are processed by the part of your brain that processes logical puzzles, and they're not readily solveable by that part of the brain, in large part because they're too simple.
Tricks....
Well, Iâ??m no Buddhist, but I do see paradox as an inherent part of our temporal existence already without the need for specific koans, although they might be quite useful for some people. The use of koan in a master/student relationship is supposed to have the effect of perpetuating a transcendence of discursive thought, actually. The koan may seem â??simpleâ? when approaching it in a rational manner, but according to practitioners, the koan is not a riddle or puzzle, per se, nor is there always one fixed answer.
Anyway, I figure there is nothing wrong with pondering paradox. And, there is nothing wrong with learning from others along our personal paths. I personally have a problem with some master/student relationships, especially with self-styled gurus.
Realization, though, of what constitutes â??the gap between how we speak of or perceive the world, and how it isâ? varies among individuals. Depends on oneâ??s experience and worldview.