| | | The Zen Slap, in whatever form, shakes together preexisting knowledge in the recipient's head, so they see what they (in principle) already know but didn't see. A right slap can bring two thoughts together that had been sitting next to each other, but unconnected, for a long time... or a set of thoughts needing only one more to make a set. At the wrong time, the slap (finding only the one thought) only hurts. The art of the master is to recognize when the thoughts are there.
Might be done with a Ridiculous Question, or Brutal Sarcasm, or a stick. (See also Far East Quote.)
Also noted in Rolled Up Newspaper...
There is an old story from India, which I only vaguely recall. It may have both Hindu and Buddhist versions. The gist is that a guru treated his chela with the utmost contempt, making him do all the work, cook all the meals, and carry both their possessions wherever they went. The chela bore all this with equanimity. Finally one day the master took off his sandle and hit his student in the face with it--at that moment the student attained enlightenment. There are many zen stories in which people attain enlightenment upon receiving a slap or a blow from their master. -- Ed Buffaloe
An example story is here
Those examples are fairly esoteric. For a modern example of a Zen Slap, watch Pushing Tin. Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) Zen Slaps Nick Calzone (John Cusack) with a 747. Yes, a big, big plane.
A totally mundane example... my friend, staring at his crossword puzzle, asked me to help him answer this one he was stuck on. It was surely simple, he already had one letter, but for the life of him he couldn't see it.
I looked, and merely read the clues out loud (with Brutal Sarcasm, to achieve the "slap"), "Come on, Ken, what is a domesticated animal, THREE letters, and the middle one is an 'O'!!!?" "Oh. 'Dog'.", he says. "Got it. Thanks."
He and I still tell this story, because I added no "real" information to the situation except the sarcasm, and established between us the look and feel of a Zen Slap.
[When I first read your story, I thought, "Oh Cow."]
Sometimes you get stuck in a rut without really realising it. A slap, or any interruption, can jerk you out of it.
I have trouble with anti-slaps. I see something new, and I think, "That's just like this old thing I already know" and so I think I already understand it. A slap should be so unlike business as usual that it demands fresh attention. That is why pain sometimes works.
Example: XP. Many people respond to XP by supposing it is like a bunch of techniques they have been using all along. I suspect the "extreme" naming is a kind of attempted slap.
See also Boiled Frogs - those frogs needed a good slapping.
The English soccer hooligans seem to particularly adept at carrying out Zen slaps - especially with baseball bats, sticks, brocken bottle, etc.... -- Kev Kev
Category Eastern Thought
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