The story
- Japanese · borrowed from公案
- English todaykoan
From Japanese 公案 (kōan), derived from Chinese 公案 (gōng'àn, “official business”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
koan
Today it means: A story about a Zen master and his student, sometimes like a riddle, other times like a fable or parable, which has become an object of Zen study, and which, when meditated upon, may unlock mechanisms in the Zen student’s mind leading to satori. Full definition →
Japanese 公案