Posted inHenry's Messages, Koans

Message from Henry: Koan Exchange

December 21, 2022

If I truly talked about Zen, then there wouldn’t be a single companion at your side.

~ Kyozan

Koans are not riddles. They are not talking points for discussion. They are not devices to be used for psychodrama. Nor are they checklists to be knocked off in some deluded idea of progress.

They are opportunities to change the way we experience our very lives. They grant us the chance to change our experience from something shallow, two-dimensional, paper-dry, to something of limitless depth and unbounded dimension, and infinite potential. They ask only one thing in return.

As Kyozan said, “If you want to exchange something we can make a deal. If you don’t want to exchange anything then we can’t.” And by way of clarification he added: “If I truly talked about Zen, then there wouldn’t be a single companion at your side.”

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