A SMALL YOUNG MASTER WANTED A SMALL WHITE GNARLED BOWL. "HOW CAN WE LEARN AND UNDERSTAND WITHOUT STUDY?" THE YOUNG MASTER ASKED A LARGE CONFUSED MASTER. THE CONFUSED MASTER WALKED FROM A BROWN HARD MOUNTAIN TO A WHITE SOFT MOUNTAIN WITH A SMALL RED STONY BOWL. THE CONFUSED MASTER SAW A RED SOFT HUT. THE CONFUSED MASTER WANTED THE HUT. "WHY DID BODHIDHARMA COME INTO CHINA?" THE CONFUSED MASTER ASKED A LARGE ENLIGHTENED STUDENT. "THE PEACHES ARE LARGE", THE STUDENT ANSWERED THE CONFUSED MASTER. HOW CAN WE LEARN AND UNDERSTAND WITHOUT STUDY?" THE CONFUSED MASTER ASKED A LARGE OLD MASTER. THE OLD MASTER WALKED FROM A WHITE STONY G0025. THE OLD MASTER GOT LOST
This is a koan written by a computer program. It's quoted from Douglas Hofstadter's "Godel, Escher Bach". Can I say it demonstrates Zen? Maybe not. It's humorous, nonetheless. I think I've lost the way, because I'm conflicted: the koan seems phony, only using common phrases found in zen teachings to only appear koan-like, but I also see the lack of intention from the program as a great demonstration of zen. The computer has no concept of what it's doing -no concepts at all! Maybe after enough iterations of the program, we can get a koan that could have come from the Mumonkan!
Submitted July 30, 2017 at 06:53AM by PatheticPterodactyl http://ift.tt/2tNdqmR
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