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Koan
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Meaning
Noun
●
In Buddhism:
A
story
about a Zen
master
and his
student
, sometimes like a
riddle
,
other times
like a
fable
, which has become an
object
of Zen study, and which, when
meditated
upon, may
unlock
mechanisms
in the Zen
student
’s
mind
leading
to satori.
●
A
riddle
with no
solution
, used to
provoke
reflection
on the
inadequacy
of
logical
reasoning
, and to lead to enlightenment.
●
A
therapy
technique
used by Traditional Chinese
medicinal
physicians
or
medical practitioners
to
break
a
presenting
patients
habitual
pattern
of
thinking
that has been
diagnosed
as the
primary
cause of a
illness
or disease.
Sourced from
Wiktionary
Origin
koan
English
公案
Japanese
公案
Mandarin Chinese
Sourced from
Etym
Synonyms
KōAn
Related
Sutra
Prajna
Tantras
Riddle
Proverb
Haiku
Poem
Dharma
Four Noble Truths
Noble Eightfold Path
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