Read andreflect, consider, revisit, returnreflectconsiderrevisitreturn

A kōan can look like a puzzle that asks for a clever answer. In Zen practice, it is approached as part of training rather than as a riddle contest.

That does not mean reason is useless. It means that explaining a sentence and undertaking the practice around it are different activities. A verbal solution may leave the inquiry untouched.

Some questions expose the limits of the mode of thinking we bring to them. The urge to produce a neat answer can itself become something to notice.

A kōan is not valuable because it is meaningless. Its value lies partly in what happens when we stop assuming that the first familiar way of answering must complete the work.