#koan

Ci risiamo con le domande assurde … a cui, ovviamente, non pretendo di rispondere. Il quesito del titolo “Che cos’è la vera meditazione?” è solo uno spunto per introdurre l’argomento, per stimolare a rifletterci su. Per quanto si tenti di spiegarlo, un conto è parlarne a iosa sino a sceverare gli angoli più remoti del pianeta spiritualità di matrice contemplativa, sino a sfiorare finanche…

What the fisherman taught me

One night I saw a school of fish by the crystal pier. Entranced by their swimming beauty in the dark lit waters, five fingers point them out to a nearby fisherman preparing his baits, before my mind could even intervene or stop them. Immediately I felt a pang of regret: I had doomed these creatures to certain entrapment and death.

But the fisherman reassured me:

Another Zen koan that my book introduces is the famous “sound of one hand clapping”. It’s not quite what I expected. Many koan were developed in early Chinese “Chan” (Zen, 禪) Buddhism and then compiled into collections such as the Blue Cliff Record, the Gateless Gate and so on. Later generations would use these koans as part of the training and practice. Centuries later in Edo-Period Japan the…