You may well have been asked: What is The Sound of One Hand?

This is a famed koan partly because it seems so odd. It doesn’t seem to have an answer, particularly if we find ourselves thinking of koans as forms of riddles with right answers.

The use of a koan here is to open up space. It is a dark forest of a question, a high cliff, something that looks impossible to navigate. One hand, after all, produces no sound.

Yet we might think of sound as a call. Nothing in nature should need to call out in vain. There is always someone, some path or way, waiting and listening. What does the world look like if it becomes filled with unheard calls?

One hand can only be silent. So we could enter into vast stillness, holding ourselves closer to life itself.

One hand in a tai chi move carries energy, transferring it outwards. Yet all is silent.

One hand opens a path into this world. It moves air. We could look behind, or underneath. This one hand opens a way into a new life. Not good, not bad, just as it is.

A new life awaits. That is the sound of one hand.