What is your favorite Zen Koan?

Answer 1

This one.

Answer 2

Honestly, I don't put a lot of stock in Koans. Master Dogen didn't either, and he and I vibe pretty well.

Edit:

Thumbs up for Somewhat Enlightened for doing a Koan about Koans.

Answer 3

the one where the monk and his acolyte are on their way to another town, and they meet this person who is moving, and who asks them: "What are the people like in the town you've just come from?"

"Well," says the old one, "What are the people like in your town?"

"Oh, they are wonderful," and he goes on to tell them how much he would miss them.

"Well," says the old monk finally, "those are the kind of people you will find in that town back there."

They part ways, and by and by, the monk and his young acolyte again meet a traveller who is looking to move from his town.

"What kind of people live in that town," he asks, same as the other.

"Well," says the old one, asking the same question, "What are the people like in the town you've just come from?"

"Oh, they are the most miserable people I've ever had to live with," and he goes on for several minutes about how terrible the people are in the town he is moving from.

"Well," says the old monk at last, "Those are the kind of people in the town I've just been in."

The parties part ways, and finally, the young monk can no longer contain himself. "Master, why did you tell that man the opposite of the other?"

That's as much of the koan I can remember.

Answer 4

in case you meet the Buddha on the line - kill him! i think of the source replaced into Lin Chi who lived ~ 810 to 866 CE. enable no longer something stop us from attaining Enlightment, enable us to mistake no longer something for no longer something, no longer even each and all of the precepts or disciplines or analyze we do, or appreciate or earnest longing.