What is the sound of one hand clapping?

It sounds like a moth passing gas, in church.

Hi, mtnmeaningless1!

One hand clapping against what, please?

Thanks!

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Hi mtnmeaningless1,

Eastern philosophy is definitely not my strength (along with many other things) but I will give it a rough go.

I do remember a couple of Zen stories and one of these was to do with the sound of one hand clapping. The Zen master asked his student this very question and each time the student came back believing that he worked out how to make a sound with just one hand clapping.In the end I think the master said the answer was the sound of silence.

In a similar theme there is the story of a chicken egg in a bottle. The egg hatched and the student fed the chicken until started to grow. It eventually became obvious that the chicken was going to be too big for the bottle.

The Zen master asked the student to get the chicken out of the bottle without breaking the bottle or hurting the chicken. The student devised some very clever and ingenious ways of achieving this. Unfortunately, in the end the student said it was impossible. The Zen master said that the solution was easy,"there it is out" was his reply.

The message seems to be that we spend too much time using the analytical mind.

You might be better off posting this problem in the Buddhism section of this site.

Regards

Tut

Thank you TUT317, that is the "correct" answer. I posted this question here to get people to think.

Well it's either CL or AP depending on which hand is clapping.
See there's more than one response to this question.

What's CL or AP, please?

Thanks!

Morn'/Evening Clough

CL - Left hand
AP - Right hand ;)

Put them together and you get one CLAP.

Best answer yet, Curly! I love it! Thinking out of the box now!

What is the sound of one hand clapping?Hello m:

One hand can't clap. All it'll do is wave in the air. What is the sound of one hand waving? Whooosh, whooosh.

excon

PS> Let me ask you this.. Does food taste good if you're looking at it?

Hello m:

One hand can't clap. All it'll do is wave in the air. What is the sound of one hand waving? Whooosh, whooosh.

excon

PS> Lemme ask you this.. Does food taste good if you're looking at it?

Excellent insight there, excon!