Usually means: Paradoxical anecdotes for spiritual insight.
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We found 9 dictionaries that define the word koans:

General (8 matching dictionaries)
  1. koans: Merriam-Webster
  2. koans: Collins English Dictionary
  3. koans: Vocabulary.com
  4. koans: Wordnik
  5. koans: Wiktionary
  6. koans: Dictionary.com
  7. Koans: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
  8. koans: TheFreeDictionary.com

Computing (1 matching dictionary)
  1. koans: Encyclopedia

(Note: See koan as well.)

Definitions from Wiktionary (koan)

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.
noun:  A riddle with no solution, used to provoke reflection on the inadequacy of logical reasoning, and to lead to enlightenment.
noun:  A therapy technique used by Traditional Chinese medicinal physicians or medical practitioners to break a presenting patients habitual pattern of thinking that has been diagnosed as the primary cause of an illness or disease.
▸ Also see koan


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