Zen tale: What is a Zen koan?
By emptychair
@innertalks (23492)
Australia
January 11, 2026 8:13pm CST
The old Zen master had been asked to create a new koan, for the 50th anniversary of his holding the mastership, there at his monastery.
He simply said quickly, without thinking about it.
"When is a koan a koan?
and everybody present could not answer him this koan.
He smiled, and said:
"A koan is not a koan when it is a koan."
Not many knew what he meant, but he meant that a koan cannot be described as being a koan, unless when it is a koan, as it takes away its koanness.
A real koan can never be called a koan, nor can it be called anything else either. It is a mere means to an end. It shifts you from one position of yourself to another deeper position, where you then feel a knowing, rather than just intellectually seeing a knowing.
A koan is not a koan to the mind, but it is not one to the heart either.
A koan is a key to open both the mind, and the heart, by connecting the two together. That is all.
A koan is nothing on its own. A person makes of the koan what it is.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
A koan is a lantern to both your heart, and your mind. It allows you to see in the dark from its light, lighting up both your heart, and your mind, when its switch is switched on in you.
3 people like this
1 response
@Shiva49 (27787)
• Singapore
12 Jan
The purpose of a koan seems to be to get the listener stumped for a while, rack their brains to understand the real import of the same.
The deeper meaning might never be revealed in totality to the listener leading to many interpretations to lead to enlightenment. Then again, enlightenment by itself is beyond the realm of common folks though they attribute that more by what is repeated over the years.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23492)
• Australia
17h
The permanent enlightenment state might be hard to obtain, but everybody from a poor beggar, to a college Professor, can have an immediate insight, momentarily at times, and so be enlightened in the moment of a moment.
Everybody can have a deep insight come into them at times then, where they see with a greater clarity than that what is normal for them too.
A koan, I think, is to keep the mind busy doing what it is best at, calculating, and then an insight will arise spontaneously from the heart, and overwhelm the person with its high degree of truth, and pristine levels of wisdom. Their mind's thoughts will be the pushed aside by this rising insight, and they will momentarily feel, see, and know, the real truth, then too.
This quote comes from the web site, that I referred to in another answer above.
A koan is a little healing story, a conversation, an image, a fragment of a song. It’s something to keep you company, whatever you are doing.
"There’s a tradition of koan study to transform your heart,and the way you move in the world. The path is about learning to love this life, the one you have. Then it’s easy to love others, which is the other thing a practice is about." John Tarrant.
https://www.pacificzen.org/koan-zen/what-is-a-koan/
@Shiva49 (27787)
• Singapore
18m
@innertalks I think it is more akin to a riddle for us to chew over to get to the deeper meaning.
In this superficial world/life for most, it is tough to get their attention to think deeper though.
Though we are lost in this physical world we find ourselves in, we need the nourishment for the soul too and koan comes from those who are deep thinkers who crystallise gems from an otherwise chaotic existence.
Koan can make us go bonkers too if we are led to chase those that do not make sense!
