How does a Koan help to free the mind?

Question

Peace and Love

For the Seeker:
http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/ jchiaromonte/koan.htm

Answer 1

It doesn't.

The mind cannot be freed, for if it could, how would you know when it achieved this state?...and if you suddenly were aware of such a thing, then that awareness in and of itself would be proof enough that your mind was still not truly freed yet at all.

Peace,

-S

Answer 2

I would say that its closest Christian counterpart would be the parable. The difference would be that the parable's answer is relatively clear while the koan's is relatively obscure. They are designed to make you think which can lead the mind off the narrow track upon which it sometimes becomes stuck.

Are you sure the Buddha isn't three pounds of flax?

P.S. I am truly amazed a the number of tards who thought you misspelled Koran.

Answer 3

The Koran consist of bits and pieces of Jesus's teaching and is a direct attempt to bring order to the Arab world under the guise of God. In order to acheive this, The writters of the Koran, Men hired by Muhammed found a simple scheme to grab power. They insisted Jesus was a prophet, not the son of God and used the moon as their official symbol, which was a mystic and unknown force to all of those times. By adding Jews to the Koran as being "People of the Book" This in turn turned the Disenfranchised Arabs to a unifying factor which would spread Islam throughout the Middle East , Southern Europe and Asia like wildfire, giving hope to millions of poor, uneducated people of all walks of life a glimmer of hope. Today, Islam is the second Religion in the world, second only to Christianity, The following of Jesus Christ. Today, no documentation has been found to support otherwise that Jesus did not proclaim he was the son of god, except the Koran. In fact, Extreme elements of the Islamic world and generally speaking a majority of Islamic Arabs have a Hatred for any other civilization or religion other than their own. Its hard enough to imagine the peace and love of the Koran in a world today. Needless to say, Christianity forms a more similiar tone to peace and love than Islam does. Christianity, which is Blasphemed against everyday by the presence of Islam, which denies Christ as the Savior of believers, has shown more peace, love and tolerance then Islam 10 fold. in the past 1,000 years

P.S. To the poster before me... I didnt think the question was mispelled. I simply didnt pay enough attention to the spelling until after my response... therefore YOU are a retard and an Idiot as well for assuming instead of knowing. I didnt see one reference as to anyone pointing out a spelling mistake, besides yourself. Labeling yourself leads to mental disorders if not treated appropriately!

Answer 4

They're nifty little things, those koans. They're little tools to pop your mind outside of the box and make you think more analytically about what you commonly perceive as reality.

_()_

Answer 5

Koan - that's the holy book of the Haiwaiians! Aloha!

Answer 6

To Muslims, Quran is a holy book, revealed directly to Mohammed through the angel Gibrael. To them, it the absolute truth, the last message to mankind from the Creator of this Universe.
In reality, Quran is a creation of Mohammed's mind and includes collections of stories, brainwashing techniques, general common sense and morals, and some "scientific" statements.
All these elements were either common sense, were borrowed from other religions and sources, or were invented by Mohammed.

The reason why Quran is not divine, is that, it contains many defects, contradictions, wrong morals and incorrect science, and on top of it, all this has been copied from other sources.

Had "Allah" been a true God, He would have made the Quran infinitely strong in such a way that any human being, no matter how hard he/she tried, would never be able to point out any defect in it.
Instead, today, Islam is the World's most hatred and criticised religion, and Quran is being called the "manual of Terrorism".
So, could Quran truely be the "last" message to mankind by the Creator of this wonderful Universe?
Common sense replies with a firm negative.
As a summary of what the Quran actually is all about:
- In most of the verses, Quran keeps praising Allah the non-existent God. When you read the Quran, almost every now and then you'll see familiar verses like 'And Allah is merciful, forgiving' (SURE he is).
- It gives many threats of Hellfire, as well as gives promises of Heaven- this is to entice the believer into action, using this simple push/pull strategy which is used by other religions as well but not to the extent which is used in Islam.

- Quran contains orders for Muslims, how they should live their lives. Not all aspects of life are covered.
- Quran contains events and stories of the past. They were mostly copied from other religions. Check here for detailed information on this.
- Quran contains a sprinking of 'scientific' statements, which tried to impress the illiterate reader 1400 years ago. That was the era in which the Sun and the Moon were thought to go around the Earth. Today we know these 'scientific statements' to actually contain wrong science, as well as stuff copied from other religions and scientists of those time. An example is the idea of sperm being generated in the Backbone[Quran 86:6]. This idea was proposed by Greek scientists, and copied by Mohammed. If we had copyright laws 1400 years ago, Mohammed would have been jailed for copyright infringement and there would be no Islam today. Sadly, it was the era in which people buried their infant daughters and thus he took advantage of the fact that people around him were inhuman Arabs with *no* moral sense. Thus, Quran has *little* moral sense, when comparing to universal standards.
If the Quran was 100% bad, it would die out quickly. For this reason, Mohammed included some good things in Quran, so good people would support the Quran and keep Islam alive.
At the same, terrorists act out on the bad teachings of Quran, resulting in global terrorism whose painful effects have been and are being experienced by everyone.
It is these bad teachings of Quran that have jeapordized the Global peace process.
Islamic terrorism will continue to injure mankind and create misery on Earth, until Islam ceases to exist.

Answer 7

By keeping it busy, I guess....

"Two hands clap and there is a sound; what is the sound of one hand?"

Makes my head hurt!!

Answer 8

It does not do that to me. The Bible is my source of freedom.

Answer 9

it confuses the mind. have you tried to read it?

Answer 10

decapitation?