Posted
February 15th, 2010
by
The Zen Master had asked once:
“What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
The pupils bowed low, scratching their heads.
Today, I read a blog of a woman who calls herself Dawn, living in Rangoon:
“At 2:00pm, I heard that buses have stopped running on Sule Pagoda Road.
Someone from the office went out to there,
and came running back when there were shots being fired.
I heard the gunshots too, but it sounded a lot like clapping.”
*
The Master wanted to know the sound of one hand clapping.
The soldiers have two hands.
One holds the rifle, the other pulls the trigger.
So they used both – and Dawn heard the sound of two hands clapping.
The Master is silent, like the monks.
And in that stillness, I heard the sound of one hand clapping.
(c) Salil Tripathi, 2007.
Originally posted with the url: www.englishpen.org/writersinprison/campaigns/campaignforburmesewriters/thesoundofonehandclapping/
