What is the sound of one hand clapping?

[ion]

Like a wave without a shore to crash upon, so is the sound of one hand clapping.

 

Give it a beach and hear a round of applause.

 

In the sun filled shallows, seaweed grows to the surface, shellfish will cling to the rock, and the swimming fish will make in the reef, their home.

 

Bears, fox an others will be drawn down from the mountain to feast on the nightly provision deposited by the swell. Seals will rest on the rock bearing off spring in the safety and abundance of the shore. Birds from the forest come to hunt, birds from the sea join in to nest.

 

The men and women will gather to throw their nets, their little ones will adorn each other with sea shells like the queens and kings who they are.

[Thunder_Gooch]

The sound of one hand clapping, would that be you hitting yourself in the head when you "get it"?

[Nungali]

,

(maybe one someone should tell him that if one closes their eyes ... it sounds like he is 'slapping around the unemployed' ... as they say

 

The little 'ego orgasm' at the end is quiet cute .

Edited October 16, 2013 by Nungali

[Tsunami_MAPUA]

This settles it once and for all!

 

,

(maybe one someone should tell him that if one closes their eyes ... it sounds like he is 'slapping around the unemployed' ... as they say

 

The little 'ego orgasm' at the end is quiet cute .

[SecretGrotto]

That guy would be a master at pulling sick Qi.

[Cheshire Cat]

Generations of zen masters saddened by that video..

 

[ion]

For some reason the video didn't show up for me, but that is actually perfect because the sound of one hand clapping expresses only one half of a relationship/dynamic being present in the act.

 

Ego is the sound of one hand clapping.

 

Two hands clapping represents how life springs from selfless relationships.

 

What should sadden generations of zen practitioners is that they were led to believe that koans were unanswerable, and that they were encouraged to take up house-holding and dronism. If they weren't a form of direct pointing then they should have been more chaotic, ridiculous an truly unanswerable.

 

If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

 

No. Accoring to the buddhist philosophy the koan is meant to shed light on, all things are empty and non-existant beyond their point of origination; every thing is consciousness and only the experienced is to be believed in.

 

Even the bible says that in the begining, there was no rain because there was no man to till the ground.

[9th]

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near the zen master, Hakuin. One day, without any warning, her parents discovered she was pregnant. This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the father was, but after much harassment, she at last named Hakuin.

 

In great anger the parents went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say.

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the child needed.

A year later the girl could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth - the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask forgiveness, and to get the child back. Hakuin willingly yielded the child, saying only: "Is that so?"

[Nungali]

For some reason the video didn't show up for me, but that is actually perfect because the sound of one hand clapping expresses only one half of a relationship/dynamic being present in the act.

 

Ego is the sound of one hand clapping.

 

Two hands clapping represents how life springs from selfless relationships.

Oh! So you actually got the joke about the wanking and ego orgasm at the end ... without watching ... hmmm.

 

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near the zen master, Hakuin. One day, without any warning, her parents discovered she was pregnant. This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the father was, but after much harassment, she at last named Hakuin.

 

In great anger the parents went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say.

 

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the child needed.

 

A year later the girl could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth - the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.

 

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask forgiveness, and to get the child back. Hakuin willingly yielded the child, saying only: "Is that so?"

I liked this because I lived a similar experience .

 

Except I had to end with "I told you so".

 

If a child has no father and no one else like that in their life ... and decides to call me "daddy" what am I supposed to say?

 

"No! I am not your father ... you have no father .. get out! " ???

 

NO appreciation ... not even from the now grown up child.

 

What do I care? In the moment of sharing it was a joy. Now is another moment ... with other joys.

[fluidity]

Two people each with one apple

Each eat the apple alone and meet each other.
"I am hungry", they say to each other


Two people each with one apple

One loses one apple
One gives one apple
One eats one apple

 

One loses one apple
One gives one apple

One eats one apple

"Thank you for feeding me when I hungered" said the first
"And likewise, thank you yourself for feeding me when I too hungered" said the second

"I am the only one who has not talked" concluded the third

[mYTHmAKER]

Many years ago I worked with the koan - What is the sound of one hand clapping?

I was focused on it when a car horn sounded and I knew the answer inside.

I actually heard the sound of one hand clapping. It is beyond words.

Something in me changed, people would ask my advice, be attracted to me and i knew the answers to alltheir questions.

After a while it faded and here i am on Tao Bums

[fluidity]

Thank you for the apple, here is another one

[TzuJanLi]

Greetings..

 

Each time the 'master' slaps you on the side of your head and tells you your answer is not the correct one, he answers the riddle.. next time, slap the 'master' so he can feel the sound of 'one hand clapping'..

 

Be well..

[Jetsun]

Greetings..

 

Each time the 'master' slaps you on the side of your head and tells you your answer is not the correct one, he answers the riddle.. next time, slap the 'master' so he can feel the sound of 'one hand clapping'..

 

Be well..

Sounds more like one hand slapping

 

One story I liked about Koans is that every day a Zen master would point at a painting he had on the wall of a circular swish of paint and ask his student what it was, the student would try to answer in all sorts of ways by saying things like it is his own mind or light bouncing off canvas but the master would always shake his head, then one day when asked the student suddenly started running around in circles, and the master nodded his head.

[Yulaw]

This settles it once and for all!

I prefer this one

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1tsCOkCoC8

[ion]

Oh! So you actually got the joke about the wanking and ego orgasm at the end ... without watching ... hmmm.

No, I din't get the joke, but in all of the universe, ego is the only thing outside of a relationship. Again, ego is the sound of one hand clapping. I could hear it in your post, your ego was the only one in that relationship/ sucspiscion, accusation etc.

 

For about a week now I cant watch vids, just a blank screen. My kids can't play video games either. Still cant see it, just blank and black.

 

 

Oh! So you actually got the joke about the wanking and ego orgasm at the end ... without watching ... hmmm.

 

I liked this because I lived a similar experience .

 

Except I had to end with "I told you so".

 

If a child has no father and no one else like that in their life ... and decides to call me "daddy" what am I supposed to say?

 

"No! I am not your father ... you have no father .. get out! " ???

 

NO appreciation ... not even from the now grown up child.

 

What do I care? In the moment of sharing it was a joy. Now is another moment ... with other joys.

Sounds like you hooked up with a chick with a baby and temporarily assumed a role til you guys broke up and now your pursuing other things. Not at all like the zen story which is about not assuming roles an non-attatchment. The ude in the story was accused of impregnating a women, he was called the father of the child by the mother and her parents who were demanding that he take responsibility for his child which he did with out getting laid or enjoying the mothers company, until the day they said " hey thats not your baby its ours", to which he had no sense of possesion or attatchment and said, "if you say so".

 

Its not that his girlfriends kid identified him as daddy because of the guys relation to the mom, and he say "oh how sweet" and felt an ego assertment until the day they broke up and he said, "hey this is your kid not mine" and then went on to pursue other pleasures.

Many years ago I worked with the koan - What is the sound of one hand clapping?

I was focused on it when a car horn sounded and I knew the answer inside.

I actually heard the sound of one hand clapping. It is beyond words.

Something in me changed, people would ask my advice, be attracted to me and i knew the answers to alltheir questions.

After a while it faded and here i am on Tao Bums

 

I dunno if its the same thing, but not long ago I was sitting in meditation. Often as Im doing so, I let my attention or what ever rest on the sound of crickets which is there day and night if you listen for them. At any rate, I was sitting and I dunno what the thought was that arose, but I wasn't really that involved in it but sort of was, and all of the sudden this really loud chirp from a cricket came out of the relative silence like a slap, and I got it.

 

It was almost like the cricket was listening to whatever dumb thought I was begining to pay attention to, and interupted with a loud chirp with utter seriousness. It felt like there was something serious like an emergency going on and I was goofing off and someone checked me. It didn't startle or alarm me, it brought right into the moment

Edited October 17, 2013 by ion

[ion]

Pride is the sound of one hand clapping. Blame is the sound of one hand clapping.

[mYTHmAKER]

And I thought it was the magneticism of your painterly abilities.

[9th]

A monk asked Yunmen, “So what about the discussion of ‘leaping over Buddha and stepping over the founders?’”

 

Men said, “Porridge cake.”