Hello and welcome to another episode of the Secular Buddhism podcast.

I am your host, Noah Rusjeda.

And as I always say, you don't need to use what you learn from Buddhism to become a Buddhist.

You can use what you learn to simply to become a Buddhist. You can use what

you learn to simply be a better whatever you already are. Today I want to talk about something,

a topic that at times feels strange, it could feel frustrating, and even a little absurd. And that is

the topic of Zen koans. I'm thinking about this topic because recently

I added a new channel or space in our online community where members can discuss Zen koans together.

And as I was preparing for that, I realized this would probably make a good podcast episode because

co-ons are something I haven't talked about in a long time, or at least not in depth. Some of you

long-time listeners will probably recall that you have encountered co-ons through the podcast

over the years. At one point, I used to share a co-on in each episode

and allow you to kind of sit with it and then share my thoughts on it in the next episode.

But for others, this might be a completely new topic. Either way, I want to approach this topic

as if we were all beginners,

because honestly, that's the only way to approach Zen koans anyway.

Here's what's important to understand from the start.

Coons aren't riddles to solve.

They're not puzzles where someone has the right answer and someone else has the wrong

answer. There's something else entirely. And understanding what they actually are and what they're

for changes everything about how we work with them. So let's dive in. One thing I've noticed about being human is that we seem to be

absolutely addicted to certainty. We want answers. We want resolution. We want things to be

...