full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Puqun Li: Zen kōans unsolvable enigmas designed to break your brain

Unscramble the Blue Letters


One interpretation of this kōan plays on the supposed wisdom of the arguing monks – the first asserting the importance of the observable world, the second favoring deeper knowledge we can ifenr from that world. But each monk’s cnomtmeimt to his own “answer” blinds him to the other’s insight, and in doing so, defies an essential bshduidt ideal: abolishing binary tkininhg. The third monk identifies their conflict as a perceptual one – both arguing monks fail to see the larger picture.

Of course, all these interpretations only hint at how to wrestle with these kōans. Neither the wisdom from pitciancrg monks before us, nor the sldoespupy wise characters in these stories can resolve them for you. That’s because the pspuore of these kōans isn’t rcnheiag a simple solution. It’s the very act of snrglgtuig with these paradoxical puzzles which challenge our desire for resolution, and our understanding of understanding itself.

Open Cloze


One interpretation of this kōan plays on the supposed wisdom of the arguing monks – the first asserting the importance of the observable world, the second favoring deeper knowledge we can _____ from that world. But each monk’s __________ to his own “answer” blinds him to the other’s insight, and in doing so, defies an essential ________ ideal: abolishing binary ________. The third monk identifies their conflict as a perceptual one – both arguing monks fail to see the larger picture.

Of course, all these interpretations only hint at how to wrestle with these kōans. Neither the wisdom from __________ monks before us, nor the __________ wise characters in these stories can resolve them for you. That’s because the _______ of these kōans isn’t ________ a simple solution. It’s the very act of __________ with these paradoxical puzzles which challenge our desire for resolution, and our understanding of understanding itself.

Solution


  1. struggling
  2. buddhist
  3. infer
  4. supposedly
  5. reaching
  6. practicing
  7. purpose
  8. commitment
  9. thinking

Original Text


One interpretation of this kōan plays on the supposed wisdom of the arguing monks – the first asserting the importance of the observable world, the second favoring deeper knowledge we can infer from that world. But each monk’s commitment to his own “answer” blinds him to the other’s insight, and in doing so, defies an essential Buddhist ideal: abolishing binary thinking. The third monk identifies their conflict as a perceptual one – both arguing monks fail to see the larger picture.

Of course, all these interpretations only hint at how to wrestle with these kōans. Neither the wisdom from practicing monks before us, nor the supposedly wise characters in these stories can resolve them for you. That’s because the purpose of these kōans isn’t reaching a simple solution. It’s the very act of struggling with these paradoxical puzzles which challenge our desire for resolution, and our understanding of understanding itself.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
meditating monks 2
practicing monks 2
arguing monks 2


Important Words


  1. abolishing
  2. act
  3. arguing
  4. asserting
  5. binary
  6. blinds
  7. buddhist
  8. challenge
  9. characters
  10. commitment
  11. conflict
  12. deeper
  13. defies
  14. desire
  15. essential
  16. fail
  17. favoring
  18. hint
  19. identifies
  20. importance
  21. infer
  22. insight
  23. interpretation
  24. interpretations
  25. knowledge
  26. kōan
  27. kōans
  28. larger
  29. monk
  30. monks
  31. observable
  32. paradoxical
  33. perceptual
  34. picture
  35. plays
  36. practicing
  37. purpose
  38. puzzles
  39. reaching
  40. resolution
  41. resolve
  42. simple
  43. solution
  44. stories
  45. struggling
  46. supposed
  47. supposedly
  48. thinking
  49. understanding
  50. wisdom
  51. wise
  52. world
  53. wrestle