Engage in the answers and the questions will come.

What is a koan? A zen koan is a short story or sentence that initially seems paradoxical in nature. It is a learning tool intended to alter our perception of reality. zen perceptionzen perception

Paradox is something that does not make sense. sense In the case of a koan, it is how we think that does not make sense. Once our mind is capable of seeing things more simply, there ceases to be a paradox. The paradox existed between reality and our thoughts, between opinion and the actual.

Koans explained Nobody can answer a koan for you. It may take years for your mind to see what a koan is telling you - a sudden unexpected flash of insight will occur.

Consider this question as a koan: "What is the meaning of life?“ koan Interpretation 'What is' represents an attempt to answer a question in unequivocal terms. question 'Meaning' is an attributed value relative to the individual. Meaning 'Life' encompasses the entirety of existence, and cannot be described or understood in any term other than the whole. Any part of life cannot by definition explain the whole. Existence is too complex to be comprehended intellectually or verbally. describedpartdescribedpart

Purpose The example question is a koan because it highlights the futility of the question itself and the meaningless nature of the answer. The only acceptable answer is 'life'; and this tells you nothing. Questions define and limit answers, and presuppose that everything can be explained.

Insight But this is not how we understand koan. The answer is not gained through analysis - it must just occur -.

Koan Your understanding of a koan will change as you change.

Two monks were arguing about the temple flag waving in the wind. One said, "The flag moves." The other said, "The wind moves." They argued back and forth but could not agree. Hui-neng, the sixth patriarch, said: "Gentlemen! It is not the flag that moves. It is not the wind that moves. It is your mind that moves." The two monks were struck with awe. Koan #1

What is the sound of one hand clapping? Koan #2

How do you expect me to find something when it’s not lost? Koan #3

And the classic koan… If the tree falls in the forest, does it make any noise?

Reviewing Yann Martel's Life of Pi is a great deal like trying to solve Zen koans, the ancient conundrums used by Buddhist teachers to facilitate their disciples in reaching a state of enlightenment. The trick of the koan is that there really isn't one correct solution. There may be many -- as many different ones as there are students seeking enlightenment -- or there may be none. Who knows. The koans are simply tools to promote non-linear, out-of-the- box type thinking which will, according to the Eastern mystics, lead a seeker to a sense of oneness and harmony with the universe.

Let’s now to our understanding of what existentialism is. Read about Pi’s visitor in the ocean (Ch ), the Winnie the Pooh adapted story, and think about the koans. Come to class with thoughts about the following: What do we assert Martel’s message to be? Why the absurd? Why the animals? Why the loss of everything? Does it add another layer to our understanding of the book?