Here's something to try on for yourself when you have
a moment.
Imagine
you're holding two identical golf balls, two Slazenger 1s
say, one in the palm of each hand. Now
imagine
you push each into the other so they both occupy the
same space. What happens to them? Don't be logical
or rational about it. See if you can let all that go, and
just experience it. Amazingly, both of them
disappear.
Getting that when two identical golf balls occupy the same space at the
same time
both disappear, is the
precursor to getting that when any two identical objects occupy the
same space at the same time,
they disappear.
It's
koan-like,
koan-esque,
not to mention it's patently profound contemplating that when two
identical objects like two Slazenger 1 golf balls occupy the same
space, they
disappear.
Doing so is the forerunner of "I get it" or of "I don't get it.". On
the way to "I get it" we may come up with a flurry of "Yeah but ..."s,
"How 'bout ...?"s, and "What if ...?"s, given we're so spring-loaded to
not just grok (as Robert Heinlein may have said) a
koan-like
experience, but rather to look for its answer / for its
explanation. Instead of just grokking it and getting (a)
profound insight, we'll ask "What does it mean?" which
brings forth the domain of rationality and explanation, and that kills
the koan.
We're addicted to rational explanations. It's why we have no
Zen.
We're
koan-killers.
Explaining the
koan-like,
koan-esque
Slazenger 1 golf balls anomaly not only does us a
disservice, but it does the
koan-like
anomaly a disservice as well. That said, take a Venn
diagram with two identical partially overlapping circles. Let
the circles be identical spheres. Let the spheres be identical
Slazenger 1 golf balls. Where they are overlapping /
occupying the same space, that's where they're
disappearing.
Continue until they are both overlapping each other completely, and
have
disappeared
completely. There's
a breakthrough
in our experience when that happens. And if it doesn't, don't ask why.
If you asked why, any
Zenmaster
worthy of the title
"master"
would do something inscrutable like
taking off his sandals,
placing them on his head, and walking out.
There's also
Werner's
koan-like,
koan-esque
"A superstition
isn't
a superstition
when it is;
a superstition
is
a superstition
when it isn't.". Getting it, could be deemed to be an "intellectual"
get ie it's resolved by intellect. The two golf balls etc
disappearing
ie the Slazenger 1 golf balls anomaly, could be deemed to be an
"experiential" get ie it's resolved by experience (not by
the laws of physics).
Classic koans
like "What is
the sound of one hand
clapping?"
and "What was
your face
before you were born?" could be deemed to be "ontological" gets ie
they're resolved by being. Explaining any
classic koans
like "What is
the sound of one hand
clapping?"
and "What was
your face
before you were born?" not only does us a disservice, but it does
the koans
a disservice as well.
You could kill just about anything profound about
a koan
by explaining it. Explanation is the sure-fire way to kill
a koan.
You grok
a koan
... or you don't. That's how
a good koan
works. It's OK not to get it. It's OK to get it. And if at first you
don't grok it, don't explain it. Don't kill it. Instead, tenaciously
sit with it in your lap like a hot
brick.
And if you still don't get it, set it aside for a while until it jumps
out and grabs you suddenly, waking you up bolt-upright in the middle of
the night as you exhale, relieved and pleasantly surprised, saying
"A-Ha!" and then "Of course!". Whatever you do,
just don't rationalize it or try to explain it.
A good koan
can't be gotten that way. Really it can't. So: "What is
the sound of one hand
clapping?".
Just grok it. Don't be a
koan-killer.
