January 5th 2009

Probably the most annoying thing about Buddhism for most people is its enigmatic character. Take koans for example. Koans are basically riddles. Serious students are given koans to think about for the rest of their lives. A famous koan asks: 'Who is the master?' Apparently it is possible to spend a lifetime plumbing the depths of this question.
Having been born and bred a contrary, my immediate answer would be 'no-one is the master'. I suppose this is an unsatisfactory answer because it leaves the question 'who is no-one' unanswered. I could then say 'I am no-one, you are no-one'. Then the question is 'which no-one are you?' etc. True, this is wordplay, but if one is sincerely interested in Buddhism, it does require one to think seriously about what at first seem very silly matters.
Can a person learn wisdom? I don't think anyone is born wise. I'm not sure that mulling over koans produces wisdom, but it might help. Is it easy to recognize wisdom in another being? No. You have to be wise to recognize wisdom. Not me.