> The "meaning" of a Zen koan is implicitly opaque, and thus never revealed > in the _Nine_, but Salinger cleverly alludes to it in "Teddy" when Teddy > "clapped his hand against his ear" to get the water out of it. Ah ha! Very well spotted! You may be the first person who's been able to answer that unanswerable question `what is the sound of one hand clapping' (: Proceed to the level of Salinger Yogi! And then on to ... > The action described in the Zen koan is shown in the first story, when > Seymour's wife, while drying her freshly-polished nails, passes her hand back > and forth in the air, much like one hand clapping. I think we may be on to something special here ! Camille verona_beach@geocities.com @ THE ARTS HOLE www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442 @ THE INVERTED FOREST www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest Charles Cohen