This reminds me of something I had read about how advanced Buddhist monks dealt with their disciple's questions...sometimes the master would just give an absolutely irrelevant answer or just make a pun joke...this was actually to discourage students from using their intellect too hard...their idea was that, questions are simply fallacious at times because of incorrect beliefs about who the disciple thinks he is...usually after reaching a level of realization the disciple himself will know the answer for almost all of his initial questions.
There is also this concept known as a 'koan' that is given to disciples for gaining insight...they are asked to contemplate a question that cannot be answered by logic...For e.g.: What is the sound of silence? OR What is the sound of a clap with just one hand?....the answer the master expects is something that shows the insight level of the student...if the answer is not satisfactory the student is asked to continue contemplation.
This reminds me of something I had read about how advanced Buddhist monks dealt with their disciple's questions...sometimes the master would just give an absolutely irrelevant answer or just make a pun joke...this was actually to discourage students from using their intellect too hard...their idea was that, questions are simply fallacious at times because of incorrect beliefs about who the disciple thinks he is...usually after reaching a level of realization the disciple himself will know the answer for almost all of his initial questions.
ReplyDeleteThere is also this concept known as a 'koan' that is given to disciples for gaining insight...they are asked to contemplate a question that cannot be answered by logic...For e.g.: What is the sound of silence? OR What is the sound of a clap with just one hand?....the answer the master expects is something that shows the insight level of the student...if the answer is not satisfactory the student is asked to continue contemplation.
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