The Sound of One Hand Clapping

Can you answer this ancient koan?

Timothy James Lambert
Chryptianity Revealed
7 min readAug 26, 2021

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What is a koan?

A koan is a paradoxical word, phrase, or story used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the limits of logical thought and to bring about illumination.

One of the earliest and most well-known koans within the Zen tradition is mu-koan. The word mu basically means “not”. It was used in reply to questions when the very act of asking a question in hopes of receiving an illuminating answer is both pointless and absurd.

The very nature of koans is that they have no logical answer. They are a refutation of the very idea that language can capture the essence of enlightenment.

The mu-koan dates back to at least the 13th century when it was included within a collection of 48 koans. The word mu is used in the title of the collection, Mumonkan. Mu was huge in the world of Zen Buddhism.

Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku

It took another 500 years for Zen to produce its most famous koan. It was created by Hakuin…

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Chryptianity Revealed
Chryptianity Revealed

Published in Chryptianity Revealed

Learn how you can use the texts from the Nag Hammadi library to unlock the Bible’s mysteries. Discover the secrets of Chryptianity!

Timothy James Lambert
Timothy James Lambert

Written by Timothy James Lambert

Author of The Gnostic Notebook series, stand-up comedian, and Gnostic. Known as the Judas Iscariot of Gnosticism for revealing that which is not to be revealed.

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