One hand clapping.

A popular "Koan" goes...

"What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

In fact - this is actually a mis-quote. The original by Hakuin (1686 to 1769) goes...

"In clapping both hands a sound is heard. What is the sound of one hand?"

I know the answer

Does anyone else? If you DO then you will realise of course that it is impossible to give the answer here

 

that is really gona bug me now! can u tell me plzzzz?

 

is it..."cla...." ?

 

I can't tell you - that would be impossible.

The whole thing is an exercise in experiential analysis

 

It cannot be written

 

how long did it take u to work out?

 

ive been tryin to clap one hand and work it out but no luck yet

 

About 15 years

 

CAN the sound of one hand be described?

 

I suppose in a way it can yes - but that wouldn't be experiential - You'd need to have found it rather than read it to get the benefit from understanding it.

I'm not looking for someone to write what it is - just interested to see if anyone has the knowledge, or even more important the understanding to have gained the knowledge.

You see - if someone WERE to say yes- it is ---- "blah blah blah" - I wouldn't comment. I would require them to show me

 

I'm sure Yoda, upon meeting, it shall be the first thing i show you!

 

"In clapping both hands a sound is heard. What is the sound of one hand?"

depends what the hand is doing.

 

That would be nice

 

Sure it does

 

Surely 'clapping', by definition involves two hands, and there is no such thing as clapping with one hand?

Hope that's not the answer, cos it took less than 15 seconds to come up with that?

 

There is no sound ?

 

Hmm, I CAN clap with one hand, unusually, but the thing is I got a small confession to go along with it...figure it out

|Cain|

 

"In clapping both hands a sound is heard. What is the sound of one hand?"

 

The way of no way, the sound of no sound

|Cain|

 

i think i got it! but its quite hard to explain