What's the point of Zen koans?

tomorrow never arrives=tomorrow is always right here, zengeek. 👍🙂

Austin Hayes66 said:tomorrow never arrives=tomorrow is always right here, zengeek. 👍🙂

Honestly, screw tomorrow! Those emojis you used are just fantastic.👍

electricdrifter68 said:Honestly, screw tomorrow! Those emojis you used are just fantastic.👍

Totally. 😍

Rinzai had this way of keeping his students on their toes: right in the middle of a lecture, he’d just hold up a finger and ask, "What’s missing right now?"
The students would scan the room, totally locked in, and that was it—they’d hit that moment of presence.
Pretty slick, right? And naturally, they’d realize that in the present moment, everything is exactly as it should be. It's only when you're dwelling on the past or tripping over the future that things start feeling like they're missing, don't you think?

Arthur Grant4 said:Rinzai had this way of keeping his students on their toes: right in the middle of a lecture, he’d just hold up a finger and ask, "What’s missing right now?"
The students would scan the room, totally locked in, and that was it—they’d hit that moment of presence.
Pretty slick, right? And naturally, they’d realize that in the present moment, everything is exactly as it should be. It's only when you're dwelling on the past or tripping over the future that things start feeling like they're missing, don't you think?

If he tried that today at the European House, he’d probably just be seen as some mediocre, dim-witted spiritual guru. It's basically the whole science of how to live in the present.
Fine. We've mastered it: the present matters. We can handle this "truth" on our own. If there's anything else on the agenda, I'd say...

Arthur Grant4 said:Rinzai had this way of keeping his students on their toes: right in the middle of a lecture, he’d just hold up a finger and ask, "What’s missing right now?"
The students would scan the room, totally locked in, and that was it—they’d hit that moment of presence.
Pretty slick, right? And naturally, they’d realize that in the present moment, everything is exactly as it should be. It's only when you're dwelling on the past or tripping over the future that things start feeling like they're missing, don't you think?

👍

Sean Martinez4 said:👍

Unless the student is just being difficult, has a migraine, a nosebleed, or hemorrhoids.
Otherwise, these targeted Eastern spiritual tales are quite lovely. They seem very sterile, though, stripped of anything that doesn't fit the specific theory some guru wants to push.
It’s an example from everyday life, meant for everyday life, yet it lacks any actual elements of reality. I suppose it's just selectivity and censorship. That's my take on it.
So, what's wrong if a student has a knife in their gut right now? Nothing, really, besides the fact that it hurts.