koan
:koan: /koh'an/ n. 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 Some AI Koans
, has the X nature
, hacker humor
Jargon File Version 4.3.1, 29 JUN 2001 =
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