Koan of Discovery
(a Zen Parable or Puzzle)
by Jason B

A young Zen monk came humbly one day to his Master and asked, "Master, will you please divulge to me the Secret of Life that may meditate on it?"

"I will" replied his teacher, with a smile. " But first I want you to go and spend the evening meditating on the question you have just asked me."

"Come and see me in the morning and we will discuss the Secret of Life."

So the young monk went to the meditation hall and spent the evening as he was instructed.

The next morning he returned to his Master's quarters.

"Well, said his teacher cheerily, "Do you still wish me to tell you the Secret of Life?"

"No Master," replied the young monk somberly. "Please do not ever tell me."

Interesting.

Thanks, a little strange I know...

From what I know, Zen is about questions, not answers.

That is why there is the word Mu, which roughly translates to no-thing, or un-ask the question.

For example, if someone was to ask:


Then:
Yes, implies you have been beating her.
No, implies you are beating her.

Both yes and no fail to answer the question.

Zen views all questions as the one above, with no proper answer. If there is no answer then the only way to achieve enlightenment is to focus on the question.

(I know very little about Zen, so would love to be corrected on my understanding of it.)

Essentially you are correct, sir. I am no Zen master, but I have familiarized myself somewhat with the philosophy.

There is a famous Koan where one monk asks another, "Does a dog have a Buddha nature?" The other monk responds by saying "Mu" which translated literally means, "Un-ask the question." One master described the Koan as "Answer Yes or No and you will lose your own Buddha nature.

However, this is not the case with all Koans

The purpose of the Koan, as I understand it at least, is actually to focus the students mind. It's words act like an "optical illusion" for the brain--like looking at certain drawings which can be transcribed to paper, but cannot exist in physical reality.

The Koan can be answered, but any answer ascribed to the problem inevitably leads to deeper question.

And often, there is more than one initial answer

A good starting sourcebook for Zen is "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones" by Nyogen Senzaki