The question would be better posed: “What is the effect of one hand clapping?” Ah! This is a question I can sink my teeth into. Similarly, there is no sound of one hand clapping. Sounds are things that ears and brains turn compression waves into. The backfire creates compression waves-not sounds. This brings up the old (and boring) philosophical “riddle,” “If an Oldsmobile backfires and no one (human, squirrel, whatever) hears it, does it make a sound?” This is no riddle. But first consider this: what does the word “sound” mean? Again, as the best monks will tell you, this is pure nonsense.Īccording to the Zen Community of Oregon, “It asks us to undertake deep listening, to listen as we never have before, to listen not only with our ears but with our entire being, our eyes, our skin, our bones and our heart.” Wisdom or nonsense? You decide. The idea has something to do with hearing the sound of no sound.
![koan one hand clapping koan one hand clapping](https://66.media.tumblr.com/539a6e2973bc04a415c607026cc6c913/tumblr_p5wlsvrrtP1tij0y2o1_1280.jpg)
The most common answer to the question is that it is (with apologies to Paul Simon) the sound of silence. I thought about the sound of one hand clapping for a couple of decades and I came to an answer that is both rational and spiritual. According to my favorite online dictionary, a koan is “a paradox to be meditated upon that is used to train Zen Buddhist monks to abandon ultimate dependence on reason and to force them into gaining sudden intuitive enlightenment.” And the most famous koan is, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” The idea is that there is not a rational answer-the monk must come to an intuitive answer to the question.Īs the best monks will tell you, this is pure nonsense.