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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>koan</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../K.html" title="K"/><link rel="previous" href="Knuth.html" title="Knuth"/><link rel="next" href="kook.html" title="kook"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">koan</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="Knuth.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">K</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="kook.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="koan"/><dt xmlns="" id="koan"><b>koan</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/koh<6F>an/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> A Zen teaching riddle. Classically, koans are attractive paradoxes
to be meditated on; their purpose is to help one to enlightenment by
temporarily jamming normal cognitive processing so that something more
interesting can happen (this practice is associated with Rinzai Zen
Buddhism). Defined here because hackers are very fond of the koan form and
compose their own koans for humorous and/or enlightening effect. See
<a href="../koans.html" title="Some AI Koans">Some AI Koans</a>,
<a href="../H/has-the-X-nature.html"><i class="glossterm">has the X nature</i></a>, <a href="../H/hacker-humor.html"><i class="glossterm">hacker humor</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="Knuth.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../K.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="kook.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Knuth<EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>kook</td></tr></table></div></body></html>