koan

/kohan/ , n. A Zen teaching riddle. Classically, koans are attractive
paradoxes to be meditated on; their purpose is to help one to enlightenment
by temporarily jamming normal cognitive processing so that something more
interesting can happen (this practice is associated with Rinzai Zen
Buddhism). Defined here because hackers are very fond of the koan form and
compose their own koans for humorous and/or enlightening effect. See Some AI
Koans , has the X nature , hacker humor.

