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Reader question: What is an "aha moment"? My comments: An "Aha moment" is a time when you say "Aha! Now I see." In other words, Aha moments are times when you realize something, something that's been bothering you for a long time, such as a philosophical question for lack of a good choice – sane people like yourself with errands to run and money to make have no time for philosophical questions, I know(^-^). Anyways, it's an answer you've been seeking but couldn't get. Then all of a sudden, bang! You get it. It's there. Yes, as though someone gave you a thump in the head and woke you up. Or as if the lights were turned on in a dark room, as Americans say, and you saw it. Or as if the scales finally fell from your eyes according to the British and you were able to see. Or in idiomatic Chinese, an Aha moment is one of sudden realization or awareness, enlightenment as it was described in Zen teachings. And in the hay day of Zen in this country – a long time ago to be sure, so don't bother with that – there were once two contradicting Zen schools co-existing, peacefully I may add, around the same time. One was called the sudden school, for lack of a better word, and the other, the gradual school. The sudden school TAUGHT, as it were, pupils to PRACTISE "sudden realization" – total understanding of the fundamental principles of Buddhism and Taoism. | 
