: a paradox to be meditated upon that is used to train Zen Buddhist monks to abandon ultimate dependence on reason and to force them into gaining sudden intuitive enlightenment
Examples of koan in a Sentence
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That could be a Zen koan about the human condition or just a tidy summary of how the sad-sack characters in his songs view the world.
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Chris Stanton, Vulture, 12 Sep. 2024
The simple question is like a Zen koan that can get the rusty gears in your head to start turning.
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024
And the main thing to understand about it, in the context of Fridman’s nerdy koan, is this: For any self-respecting programmer, admitting to actually liking JavaScript is something of a faux pas—much like an art-house filmmaker confessing to Marvel fandom.
—Sheon Han, WIRED, 4 Mar. 2024
Olin and her father speak in poems and whatever the Norwegian equivalent of a zen koan is.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Nov. 2023
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Chris Stanton, Vulture, 12 Sep. 2024
The simple question is like a Zen koan that can get the rusty gears in your head to start turning.
—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024
And the main thing to understand about it, in the context of Fridman’s nerdy koan, is this: For any self-respecting programmer, admitting to actually liking JavaScript is something of a faux pas—much like an art-house filmmaker confessing to Marvel fandom.
—Sheon Han, WIRED, 4 Mar. 2024
Olin and her father speak in poems and whatever the Norwegian equivalent of a zen koan is.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Nov. 2023
See all Example Sentences for koan
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Cite this Entry
“Koan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/koan. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
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