koan

American  

[koh-ahn] / ˈkoʊ ɑn /

noun

Zen.

• koans,
  plural
• koan
  plural

1. a nonsensical or paradoxical question to a student for which an answer is demanded, the stress of meditation on the question often being illuminating.

---

koan British  

/ ˈkəʊæn /

noun

1. (in Zen Buddhism) a problem or riddle that admits no logical solution

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• koan
  plural
• koans
  plural

Etymology

Origin of koan

1945–50; < Japanese kōan, earlier koũ-an < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese gōngàn public proposal

Explanation

In Zen Buddhism, a koan is a surprising and often perplexing phrase that's used as a meditation tool. A well-known koan is "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" It's common in Zen Buddhist training for a teacher to present a koan to a student, often in the form of a question. Because of their paradoxical nature, koans are nearly impossible to answer, and students are expected to "sit with" them while meditating. Ideally, the koan eventually leads to enlightenment — and at the very least, it challenges the mind. The Japanese koān means "public matter for thought."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

koan koans

In Qatar, he addressed human rights concerns with a bizarre first-person koan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Disentangling the way we perceive silence is like a Zen koan for neuroscientists—they must literally confront the sound of one hand clapping.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 10, 2023

Altman's early question to Kornfield, akin to a Zen koan, served as a meditation for the two techno-spiritualists on stage, transcending rational thought to confront the central paradox of AI: How will we know?

From Salon ● May 21, 2023

Call it a koan to contain the ambivalence of enjoying an often-awful world.

From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2022

We had one that Wednesday morning: Share an example of a Buddhist koan.

From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green

But the best of them, when you really turn them over, are as profound as Zen koans: “If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.”

From New York Times ● May 11, 2023

Most of those vibes emanate from the company’s affable, Zen-minded CEO, Phil Knight, a wearer of track suits and spouter of Buddhist koans played by Affleck himself as the risk-averse yin to Sonny’s reckless yang.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2023

He parses both enigmatic Buddhist koans and the put-downs used in playing the Dozens, the African American game of competitive insults: “You’re so dumb you think the Supreme Court is where Diana Ross plays tennis.”

From Washington Post ● Dec. 12, 2018

Shorter has only got more oblique over the years, seemingly content to treat interviews as excuses to spontaneously invent Zen koans and review films.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 25, 2018

Hackers are very fond of the koan form and compose their own koans for humororous and/or enlightening effect.

From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Guy L. Steele