The Wisdom of Koans

(mouse clicking) (soft music) Headspace Studios. (gentle music) Hi, it's Sam here. Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Wednesday. So a dear friend of mine introduced me to koans a while ago, and I have loved working with them ever since. If you've never heard of koans, they're questions or statements meant to elicit thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. They're questions not meant to be answered, at least not definitively. Instead, we focus on how we relate to those questions, inviting curiosity and openness, and letting go of certainty. Koans allow you to peel back layers of meaning that unfold slowly over time. One example of a well known koan is what is the sound of one hand clapping? Joan Sutherland, a Buddhist scholar, recently wrote a book on koans called "Through Forests of Every Color, Awakening with Koans". In it, she offers new translations of these familiar phrases. For example, she reimagines, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" as "One pair of hands makes a sound, hear that sound." Instead of a puzzling riddle to be solved, the new interpretation offers a question that we're invited to explore. It's natural for us to be drawn to riddles as our brain gets a dopamine hit when we solve puzzles. The certainty of one true answer is satisfying, and we can put it to rest once it's solved. Koans can be frustrating as they offer no promise of a resolution, only a gateway to more introspection. Contemplating the sounds of hands may inspire you to notice your own hands, and others' hands, and everything that hands can do. What is the sound of a tender embrace? What is the sound of a clenched fist? Of a thumbs up? Each of these gestures carries a strong message, and this question may inspire you to communicate more gently or be more perceptive of others' body language. The beauty of koans is that they come alive through the lens of each unique individual and they evolve over time. What you see in a koan today may be very different from what you see in a year from now. So you can keep a koan as a companion for as long as you'd like, checking in with it to see what's alive in it for you. And if you're listening to me and thinking, "What the heck is she talking about?" And you don't feel a connection to a koan written centuries ago, don't worry because you can create your own. You can find a quote, a poem, or even song lyrics that resonate with you, and then check in with it every once in a while to see how the meaning has evolved. For example, I think about how love songs become so much more salient when we're feeling so heartbroken. It's helpful to see how a quote or a lyric remains unchanged while our perception, ever-shifting, extracts new meaning from it. You can check back in with a koan or quote throughout the...