Background
In the early 1930’s, the small group of monks who comprised the Zazen Manufacturing Company decided to move beyond their core business of meditation bells. They found inspiration in an early film-viewing device called a Kinetoscope. Kinetoscopes pre-dated film projectors, and were designed to be viewed by one person, who advanced the film manually to watch it. The engineers at Zazen wondered if this technology could be adapted to create a device to enhance buddhist practice.
The result was the Koan-O-Scope, a device which — like the kinetoscope — contained short reels of film which the viewer could advance at their own speed. Clever engineering allowed the Koan-O-Scope to display up to thirty different films, which the company promoted as visual koans designed for contemplation during meditation.
Three different models of the Koan-O-Scope were produced and marketed, with the KS-100 being the most popular. Each device was assembled by hand, and fewer than 3000 were ever produced. Nonetheless, it was a big financial success for the company.
Recently, I came into possession of an old Koan-O-Scope model KS-100 and decided to see if I could restore it.
After months of research, fabrication, and invention, I’m happy to say this may now be the only working Zazen model KS-100 Koan-O-Scope currently in existence.
