What is the meaning of Koan?

A story about a Zen master and his student, sometimes like a riddle, other times like a fable, which has become an object of Zen study, and which, when meditated upon, may unlock mechanisms in the Zen student’s mind leading to satori.

A riddle with no solution, used to provoke reflection on the inadequacy of logical reasoning, and to lead to enlightenment.

A therapy technique used by Traditional Chinese medicinal physicians or medical practitioners to break a presenting patients habitual pattern of thinking that has been diagnosed as the primary cause of an illness or disease.

koan

koan

shell, seashell

Alternative form of cooan

Source: wiktionary.org