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A kōan (公案?)play /ˈkoʊ.ɑːn/; Chinese: 公案; pinyin: gōng'àn; Korean: 공안 (kong'an); Vietnamese: công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement, which is used in Zen-practice to provoke the "great doubt", and test a student's progress in Zen practice.


The Japanese term kōan is the on'yomi Sino-Japanese reading of Chinese gong'an (Chinese: 公案; pinyin: gōng'àn; Wade–Giles: kung-an; literally "public case"), which means "(complicated) legal case; table to hold documents of a case; (Buddhist) koan (knotty problem in Zen);

(traditional) detective stories; a much discussed issue; a sensational affair."

This word compounds gong () "public affairs; official duties; common; collective; fair; impartial; make public" and an () "(archeology) rectangular stand for supporting wine vessels; table; desk; (law) case; record; file."

According to the Yuan Dynasty Zen master Zhongfeng Mingben (中峰明本 1263–1323), gōng'àn abbreviates gōngfǔ zhī àndú (公府之案牘, Japanese kōfu no antoku

literally the andu "official correspondence; documents; files" of a gongfu "government post"), which referred to a "public record" or the "case records of a public law court" in Tang-dynasty China.



An article by T. Griffith Foulk claims


Gong'an was itself originally a metaphor — an article of furniture that came to denote legal precedents.


Similarly, Zen kōan collections are public records of the notable sayings and actions of Zen disciples and masters attempting to pass on their teachings.

Origins and development


Commenting on old cases

Gongans developed during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) from the recorded sayings collections of Chán-masters, which quoted many stories of "a famous past Chán figure's encounter with disciples or other interlocutors and then offering his own comment on it".


Those stories came to be known as gongan, "public cases".

Such a story was only considered a gongan when it was commented upon by another Chán-master.

This practice of commenting on the words and deeds of past masters confirmed the master's position as awakened master in a lineage of awakened masters of the past.

Literary practice ; Koan practice


There were dangers involved in such a literary approach, such as fixing specific meanings to the cases. Dahui Zonggao is even said to have burned the woodblocks of the Blue Cliff Record, for the hindrance it had become to study of Chán by his students Kōan literature was also influenced by the pre-Zen Chinese tradition of the "literary game" — a competition involving improvised poetry.


  1. Inventive wordplay based on the fact that kanji (Chinese characters) are homophonic and convey multiple, often complementary or contradictory meanings;

Observing the phrase - koan

During the Song Dynasty (960-1297) the use of gongans took a decisive turn.

Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163) introduced the use of k'an-hua, "observing the phrase".

In this practice students were to observe (k'an) or concentrate on a single word or phrase (hua-t'ou), such as the famous mu of the mu-koan.

In the eleventh century this practice had become common.



Ironically, this development became in effect silent illumination, a "[re-absorbing] of koan-study into the "silence" of meditation (ch'an)".

It lead to an rejection of Buddhist learning:

Some extent of Buddhist learning could easily have been recognized as a precondition for sudden awakening in Ch'an. Sung masters, however, tended to take the rejection literally and nondialectically.



This development left Chinese Chán vulnerable for criticisms by neo-Confucianism, which developed after the Sung Dynasty. Its anti-intellectual rhetoric was no match for the intellectual discourse of the neo-Confucianists.


The recorded encounter dialogues, and the koan collections which derived from this genre, mark a shift from solitary practice to interaction between master and student:


Whatever insight dhyana might bring, its verification was always interpersonal.






Contemporary koan-use

In China and Korea, "observing the phrase", still is the sole form of koan-practice, though Seung Sahn used the Rinzai-style of koan-practice in his Kwan Um School of Zen.


Japanese Zen, both Rinzai and Soto, took over the use of koan-study and -commenting.

In Soto-Zen, koan commentary was not linked to seated meditation.

Koan manuals

When the Chán-tradition was introduced in Japan Japanese monks had to master the Chinese language and specific expressions used in the koan-training.


Japanese Zen imitated the Chinese "syntax and stereotyped norms".


Senior monks were supposed to compose Chinese verse in a complex style of matched counterpoints known as bien-li wen.



These monasteries developed "more accessible methods of koan instruction". It had three features:

  1. A standardized koan-curriculum;
  1. A standardized set of answers based on stereotypes Chinese sayings;
  1. A standardized method of secretly guiding students through the curriculum of koan and answers.

By standardizing the koan-curriculum every generation of students proceeded to the same series of koans.

Students had to memorize a set number of stereotyped sayings, agyo, "appended words". The proper series of responses for each koan were taught by the master in private instruction-sessions to selected individual students who would inherit the dharma lineage.

Missanroku and missancho, "Records of secret instruction" have been preserved for various Rinzai-lineages.

They contain both the koan-curricula and the standardized answers.


The monsan follow a standard question-and-answer format.

A series of questions is give, to be asked by the master. The answers are also given by the master, to be memorized by the student.

Contemporary koan curriculum

In the eighteenth century the Rinzai-school became dominated by the legacy of Hakuin, who laid a strong emphasisd on koan-study as a means to gain kensho and further develop this primary insight.

There are two curricula being used within Rinzai, derived from the principal heirs of Rinzai: the Takuju curriculum, and the Inzan curriculum.

Suppression in the Soto-school

During the late eighteenth and nineteenth century the tradition of koan-commentary became suppressed in the Soto-school, due to a reform movement that sought to standardise the procedures for dharma transmission.

One reason for suppressing the koan-tradition in the Soto-school may have been to highlight the differences with the Rinzai-school, and create a clear identity.

This movement also started to venerate Dogen as the founding teacher of the Soto-school.

His teachings became the standard for the Soto-teachings, neglecting the fact that Dogen himself made extensive use of koan-commentary.

Doctrinal background of Koan

The popular western understanding sees kōan as referring to an unanswerable question or a meaningless statement.



Koans are also understood as pointers to an unmediated "Pure Consciousness", devoid of cognitive activity. Victor Hori criticizes this understanding:



Koan after koan explores the theme of nonduality.








Study of kōan literature is common to all schools of Zen, though with varying emphases and curriculae.


The Sanbo Kyodan, and it's western derivates of Taizan Maezumi and the White Plum Asanga, also use koan-curricula, but have omitted the use of capping phrases.


In Japanese Soto-Zen, the use of koans has been abandoned since the late eighteenth and nineteenth century.

Hua-tou or breakthrough-koan




In the Wumenguan (Mumonkan), public case #1 ("Zhaozhou's Dog"), Wumen (Mumon) wrote:



It builds up "strong internal pressure (gidan), never stopping knocking from within at the door of [the] mind, demanding to be resolved", To illustrate the enormous concentration required in kōan meditation, Zen Master Wumen commented,





The continuous pondering of the break-through koan (shokan) or Hua Tou, "word head", leads to kensho, an initial insight into "seeing the Buddha-nature.


The monk himself in his seeking is the koan.

Realization of this is the insight; the response to the koan [...] Subject and object - this is two hands clapping.




Mu! Nex breath: Mu, Mu! "Mu, a whole sequence of Mu! Croak, croak; meow, meow - these too are Mu! The bedding, the waal, the column, the sliding-door - these too are Mu! This, that and everything is Mu! Ha ha! Ha ha ha ha Ha! that roshi is a rascal! He's always tricking people with his 'Mu, Mu, Mu'!...

Testing insight

Demonstrating insight

Insight has to be demonstrated. A mere "answer" to a koan is not sufficient.

The teacher is not looking for a specific answer, but for evidence that the disciple has grasped the state of mind expressed by the kōan itself. Appropriate responses to a kōan vary, since different teachers may demand different responses to a given kōan, and the answers may vary by circumstance.

Sassho - Checking Questions


For the mu-koan and the clapping hand-koan there are twenty to hundred checking questions, depending on the teaching lineage.

The checking questions serve to deepen the insight of the student, but also to test his or her understanding.

Jakugo - Capping phrases



Post-satori practice



In Rinzai-Zen, this further practice is undertaken by further koan-study, for which elaborate curriculae exist. In Soto-Zen, Shikantaza is the main practice for deepening insight.

Varieties in koan-practice

Chinese Chán and Korean Seon

In Chinese Chán and Korean Seon, the primary form of Koan-study is k'an-hua, "reflection on the koan", also called Hua Tou, "word head".


Who is it who now repeats the Buddha's name?
Who is dragging this corpse about?
What is this?
What is it?
Who am I?


In contrast to the similar sounding "who am I?" question of Ramana Maharshi, hua-tou involves raising "great doubt":


Japanese Rinzai


Importance of koan-study

This importance is reflected in writings in te Rinzai-school on the koan-genre. Zhongfeng Mingben (中峰明本, Wade Giles:Chung-feng Ming-pen; Jpn. Chūhō Myōhon) (1263-1323), a Chinese Chán-master who lived at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, revitalized the Rinzai-tradition,

and put a strong emphasis on the use of koans.

He saw the kung-ans as "work of literature that] should be used as objective, universal standards to test the insight of monks who aspired to be recognized as Ch'an masters":






Musō Soseki (1275-1351), a Japanese contemporary of Zhongfeng Mingben, relativized the use of koans.



According to Musō Soseki, both are upaya, "skillfull means" meant to educate students.


Koan curricula

In Rinzai a gradual succession of koans is being studied. There are two curricula being used within Rinzai, derived from the principal heirs of Rinzai:

the [[Takuju curriculum, and the Inzan curriculum.





Hakuin's descendants developed a fivefold classification system


They reveal the dharmakaya, or Fundamental. They introduce "the undifferentitated and the unconditional".

  1. Kikan, dynamic action koans, help to understand the phenomenal world as seen from the awakened point of view; Where hosshin koans represent tai, substance, kikan koans represent yu, function.

They show how the Fundamental, though not depending on words, is nevertheless expressd in words, without getting stuck to words.

  1. Hachi Nanto, eight "difficult to pass" koans.



It is uncertain which are exactly those eight koans.


    • -Miura and Sasaki
    • -Shimano:
      • -The Old Woman Burns the Hut (Kattō-shō Case 162)
    • -Asahina Sōgen:
      • -Goso Hōen’s “Hakuun Said ‘Not Yet’” (Kattō-shō Case 269)
      • -Shuzan’s Main Cable (Kattō-shō Case 280).
    • -Akizuki:
      • -Nansen Has Died (Kattō-shō Case 282)
      • -Kenpō’s Three Illnesses (Kattō-shō Case 17).
  1. Goi jujukin koans, the Five Ranks of Tozan and the Ten Grave Precepts.




"The last barrier" when one leaved the training hall, for example "Sum up all of the records of Rinzai in one word!" It is not meant to be solved immediately, but to be carried around in order to keep practising. "the final confirmation" may be another word for the same kind of koan.

Post-satori practice

Completing the koan-curriculum in the Rinzai-schools asks for an extensive command of Chinese poetry and literary skills:

[D]isciples today are expected to spend a dozen pr more years with a master to complete a full course of training in koan commentary. Only when a master is satisfied that a disciple can comment appropriately on a wide range of old cases will he recognize the latter as a dharma heir and give him formal "proof of transmission" (J. inka shomei).











Breathing practices

Hakuin Ekaku recommended preparing for kōan practice by concentrating on qi breathing and its effect on the body's center of gravity, called the dantian or "hara" in Japanese — thereby associating kōan practice with pre-existing Taoist and Yogic chakra meditative practices.

Japanese Soto

Though few Soto practitioners concentrate on kōans during meditation, the Soto sect has a strong historical connection with kōans, since many kōan collections were compiled by Soto priests.

During the 13th century, Dōgen, founder of the Soto sect in Japan, quoted 580 kōans in his teachings.



However, according to Michel Mohr,

...kōan practice was largely expunged from the Soto school through the efforts of Gentō Sokuchū (1729–1807), the eleventh abbot of Entsuji, who in 1795 was nominated abbot of Eiheiji".

Sanbo Kyodan and White Plum Asanga

The Sanbo Kyodan school and the White Plum Asanga, which originated with the Soto-priest Hakuun Yasutani, incorporates koan-study.

The Sanbo kyodan places great emphasis on kensho, initial insight into one's true nature, as a start of real practice.


It is a shortened koan-curriculum, in which the socalled "capping phrases" are removed. The curriculum takes considerably less time to study than the Takuju-curriculum of Rinzai.


After breaking through, the student first studies twenty-two "in-house" koans, which are "unpublished and not for the general public", but are nevertheless published and commented upon.



Classical kōan collections


Kōan collections commonly referenced in English include:


The Blue Cliff Record


The Book of Equanimity

The Book of Equanimity or Book of Serenity (Chinese: 從容録; Japanese: 従容録 Shōyōroku) is a collection of 100 Kōans compiled in the 12th century by Hongzhi Zhengjue (Chinese: 宏智正覺; Japanese: Wanshi Shōgaku) (1091–1157).

The full title is The Record of the Temple of Equanimity With the Classic Odes of Venerable Tiantong Jue and the Responsive Commentary of Old Man Wansong萬松老評唱天童覺和尚 頌古從容庵錄》(Ch. Wansong Laoren Pingchang Tiantong Jue Heshang Songgu Congrong An Lu)(Taisho Tripitaka Vol. 48, No. 2004)

The Gateless Gate




The True Dharma Eye

The True Dharma Eye 300 (Shōbōgenzō Sanbyakusoku) is a collection of 300 kōans compiled by Eihei Dōgen.

Other kōan collections compiled and annotated by Soto priests include:

Examples of traditional kōans

Does a dog have Buddha-nature

A monk asked Zhàozhōu, "Does a dog have Buddha nature or not?" Zhaozhou said, "Wú".



This is a fragment of Case #1 of the Wúménguān.

However, another koan presents a longer version, in which Zhaozhou answered "yes" in response to the same question asked by a different monk: see Case #18 of the Book of Serenity.)

The sound of one hand clapping

Hakuin Ekaku





Original Face

Huìnéng asked Hui Ming, "Without thinking of good or evil, show me your original face before your mother and father were born." (This is a fragment of case #23 of the Wumenguan.)

Killing the Buddha

If you meet the Buddha, kill him. (逢佛殺佛，逢祖殺祖)

Thinking about Buddha is delusion, not awakening. One must destroy preconceptions of the Buddha.

Zen master Shunryu Suzuki wrote in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind during an introduction to Zazen,

Kill the Buddha if the Buddha exists somewhere else. Kill the Buddha, because you should resume your own Buddha nature.

One is only able to see a Buddha as he exists in separation from Buddha, the mind of the practitioner is thus still holding onto apparent duality.

Other koans




[\公案)\ ( Jpn; Chin kung-an ) koan (kung-sn): Words, phrases, questions, riddles, or statements used as objects of meditation. Essential to a koan is paradox, i.e. that which is beyond thinking, which transcends the logical or conceptual.

Through contemplation of the koan, the student is brought to great awareness of reality. Used by the Ch'an or Zen School, especially the Rinzai sub-sect.

Originally, in China, a government decree or public notice.

In the Zen (Chin Ch'an) school, it refers to a master's statements, including questions and answers directed at his disciples.

A famous example of koan is the statement "Listen to the sound of one hand clapping."

The purpose of koan is to help Zen practitioners transcend the rational intellect and develop intuition.

They are used as objects of meditation for developing insight and also as tests of whether a student has obtained a certain level of insight.

In China, the use of koan began in the T'ang dynasty (618-907).