It includes an inspiring commentary. Ask for a free catalog. Two selections we like a lot are Patchouli Gold and Golden Aura. In Zen , a koan is a sort of word puzzle, assigned to students by their master. Strictly speaking, koans are not riddles, in that a riddle is a word puzzle which can, however tortuously, be solved rationally.
Koans are intentionally beyond the power of the mind to solve.
Their purpose is to force an intuitive leap which carries the student beyond the rational plane to an enlightened state, even if initially only for a moment. Although answers to some koans are publicly available, they are useless to a student, because the correct answer is not so much a particular set of words as it is the enlightened position from which they are delivered, and that cannot be faked, copied, or borrowed. What is the sound of one hand clapping. For a discussion of these two words, and repetitive prayer, please click here . Most dictionaries and encyclopedias dissect the word, and then discuss the esoteric relationship and meaning among the resulting parts.