Koan

The Zen Koan is a written or verbal puzzle used in the teaching of Buddhism to bring the student to the level of satori or enlightenment. According to D T Suzuki in An Introduction To Zen Buddhism, the word Koan “…now denotes some anecdote of an ancient master, or a dialogue between master and monks, or a statement or question put forward by a teacher, all of which are used as the means for opening …

…exchanged for inner knowledge. This implies that, according to Zen, all humans have a natural core that “knows” all things are one whole. The Koan helps the student to pull this information to the surface, to live inside out. It tells the student to learn how to be undistracted by the events of the world outside the self. To live as if all events are happening outside as well as inside and are all interrelated.