English Dictionary

koan

/ˈkəʊ.ɑːn/

noun

(Zen Buddhism) A story about a Zen master and his student, sometimes like a riddle, other times like a fable, which has become an object of Zen study, and which, when meditated upon, may unlock mechanisms in the Zen student’s mind leading to satori.

The koan is a paradoxical riddle used in Zen Buddhism to provoke enlightenment.

意味（1）

(Zen Buddhism) A story about a Zen master and his student, sometimes like a riddle, other times like a fable, which has become an object of Zen study, and which, when meditated upon, may unlock mechanisms in the Zen student’s mind leading to satori.

Zen, with its absurdist koan, laughs at life much the way the Marx brothers did. What exactly can you make of a philosophical system whose teacher answers the question, How do you see things so clearly? with the seeming one-liner, I close my eyes?

意味（2）

A riddle with no solution, used to provoke reflection on the inadequacy of logical reasoning, and to lead to enlightenment.

Gibberish. Or else a koan that Achtfaden isn’t equipped to master, a transcendent puzzle that could lead him to some moment of light.