The sound of one hand clapping

According to my understanding is that the sound of one handing clapping is an action which is demonstrated by an artist after run out of ideas. There are actually two very logical explanations to this bizarre statement. One clarification is figurative and the other literal.

The origin of this question is from a traditional Zen koan. It is a question asked by a Zen master to his student and is meant to ponder the student until the “answer opens the true heart of the question”. A koan can only be answered from your own personal experiences, and thus the answer must be formed by your own life’s journey.

The answer is not supposed to come from our logical thoughts. There is no wrong answer to this question and no one else can tell you your answer. You must find your own answer to this question and once you do, the answer should bring about a life changing experience.

In other words the meaning of one hand clapping means that there are no limits, which implies that everything is in a relationship to everything else, and that implies that if you change one side of a relationship you change both sides. However if you change one side of that relationship and the other side has to change because the relationship has changed.

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