zazen with koans

beyond the thinking mind

"what is the sound of one hand clapping?"

your first instinct is to think about it logically. that's exactly what koans are designed to prevent.

zazen — seated zen meditation — combined with koan practice is one of the most intense contemplative traditions in existence. it's not relaxation. it's not mindfulness. it's a deliberate assault on the limitations of rational thought.

what is zazen?

zazen is meditation stripped to its essence. you sit in a lotus or half-lotus position, spine straight, eyes slightly open and cast downward. the posture itself is the practice — embodying alertness and stillness simultaneously.

you begin with concentration practice, often focusing on counting breaths or following a mantra. this isn't the end goal — it's preparation. you're sharpening the mind into a tool precise enough for what comes next.

enter the koan

a koan is a paradoxical statement or question given by a zen teacher. classic examples:

"what was your original face before your parents were born?"
"does a dog have buddha-nature?"
"what is the meaning of bodhidharma's coming from the west?"

you don't solve a koan through logic. that's the point. the koan is designed to exhaust your intellectual mind — to push rational thought to its absolute limit until it collapses. what remains after that collapse is direct experience of reality, unfiltered by concepts.

the process

settle into zazen — stabilize your mind through breath focus
hold the koan — let it sit in your awareness, not as something to be solved but as something to be experienced
resist the urge to analyze — your mind will generate "clever" answers. let them go
stay with the discomfort — the frustration of not-knowing is part of the practice
wait — insight doesn't come on your schedule

why this matters in daily life

koan practice trains you to be comfortable with not-knowing. in a world that rewards quick answers and certainty, the ability to sit with ambiguity without anxiety is a genuine superpower.

sometimes the most honest answer is no answer at all.

if this resonated, share it with someone who needs to hear it.