In this tradition, a kōan is not treated as a puzzle to be solved but as a means of cutting through conceptual thought and revealing one’s true nature. A specific kōan is formally assigned by a teacher, who may offer a brief indication of direction but does not explain its meaning. From that point, the practitioner is expected to live with the kōan, allowing it to become a kind of existential question that cannot be answered by ordinary reasoning. The aim is to exhaust the habitual, discursive mind and to cultivate a state sometimes described as “great doubt,” where familiar certainties fall away.

The actual engagement with the kōan is intensive and whole-bodied. During seated meditation, walking, and daily activities, the practitioner holds the kōan steadily, sometimes repeating its key phrase and coordinating it with the breath so that it is felt not only as a thought but as something permeating the body. Rather than analyzing or interpreting, one strives to “become one” with the kōan, letting the distinction between observer and object gradually dissolve. This sustained, non-analytical attention can generate considerable inner tension and frustration, which is not regarded as a problem but as part of the process by which conceptual strategies are worn out.

Regular private interviews (dokusan) with the teacher are essential to this way of practice. In these encounters, the practitioner presents a response to the kōan, which may be verbal, non-verbal, or expressed through a simple action. The teacher scrutinizes this presentation closely, rejecting anything that relies on logic, preconception, or mere cleverness. Through pointed questions and challenges, the teacher tests whether any emerging understanding is genuinely embodied insight rather than an intellectual construction.

When conditions are ripe, the accumulated pressure around the kōan may break open in a sudden, intuitive realization known as kenshō, a direct seeing into one’s true nature that transcends the original question-and-answer framework. This is not regarded as a final attainment but as an initial opening that must be examined and confirmed. The teacher verifies the authenticity of this breakthrough and, if it is genuine, guides the practitioner into further training. Subsequent kōans are then taken up to deepen, refine, and integrate this insight into every aspect of conduct and understanding, so that awakening is continually tested and clarified in the midst of ordinary life.