thomblake comments on Beware of Other-Optimizing - Less Wrong

79 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 10 April 2009 01:58AM

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Comment author: thomblake 14 April 2009 02:39:43PM *  1 point [-]

Perhaps you are confusing mantras and koans?

No, I am not. A mantra is a prepared thought that is used as a successor to unwanted thoughts, in order to force them out.

Um, no. That's a koan.

A mantra is a sequence of sounds that is considered capable of causing transformation - it's often a meaningful expression relating to spirituality.

A koan is intended to be inaccessible to rational thought - meditating upon a koan sufficiently should cause you to stop thinking and instead 'become one with the koan', arriving at its meaning entirely through intuition.

Some schools regard koans as actually containing teachings, while others regard them as meaningless statements to be repeated over and over to remove thoughts from the mind.

Comment author: jimrandomh 14 April 2009 07:13:30PM 5 points [-]

I'm not sure whether my use of the word 'mantra' is correct, but I am reasonably certain that koans are not suitable for the purpose I described.