noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
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"Zen, with its absurdist koan, laughs at life much the way the Marx brothers did. What exactly can you make of a philosophical system whose teacher answers the question, "How do you see things so clearly?" with the seeming one-liner, "I close my eyes"?"
"Gibberish. Or else a koan that Achtfaden isn’t equipped to master, a transcendent puzzle that could lead him to some moment of light."
"The Traveling Salesman Problem is a pertinent koan among computer scientists."
A story about a Zen master and his student, sometimes like a riddle, other times like a fable or parable, which has become an object of Zen study, and which, when meditated upon, may unlock mechanisms in the Zen student’s mind leading to satori.
Common synonyms include: enigma, paradox, puzzle, riddle.
The Traveling Salesman Problem is a pertinent koan among computer scientists.
Pronounced /ˈkoʊ.ɑn/.
From Japanese 公案 (kōan), which was from Chinese 公案 (gōng'àn, “official business”).