In his new book, Cosmological Koans: A Journey to the Heart of Physical Reality, physicist Anthony Aguirre explores deep questions about the nature of reality, using an approach inspired by Zen koans ...

“What is the sound of one hand clapping?” That’s the one we’ve all heard. A koan, they’re called. Even if you’ve never set foot in a Zen center, chances are this question has floated past you at some ...

As defined by Dictionary.com, koan [koh-ahn] is a nonsensical or paradoxical question to a student for which an answer is demanded, the stress of meditation on the question often being illuminating.

Koans are paradoxical statements intended to derail mental business-as-usual for the Zen Buddhist student on the journey to enlightenment. A book about koans at first glance seems itself paradoxical, ...

Henry Shukman considers the Zen koan to be the most condensed narrative. “They are very inscrutable. They make no sense to the mind, but they can bring on a dramatic shift in how we experience and see ...

A Zen Koan for Post-Valentine’s Day: Do you have “healthy doubt” or “unhealthy doubt” about whether your partner is “The One”? First let me say a word about the Zen Koan. Within Zen meditation ...