For those who don't really know, a koan is a short story used in Zen
Buddhism to clear the mind and ready it for meditation.  I _really_ needed
to get some troubling thoughts out of my head, and I decided to look at a
few koans and some teaching stories to do this.  Here are a few I've found
most interesting:


The great Taoist master Chuang Tzu once dreamt that he was a butterfly
fluttering here and there. In the dream he had no awareness of his
individuality as a person. He was only a butterfly. Suddenly, he awoke and
found himself laying there, a person once again. But then he thought to
himself, "Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now
a butterfly who dreams about being a man?" 


A Sufi teaching story tells of a man who prayed continually for the
awareness to succeed in life.  Then one night he dreamed of going into the
forest to attain understanding. The next morning he went into the woods
and wandered for several hours looking for some sign that would provide
answers. When he finally stopped to rest, he saw a fox with no legs lying
between two rocks in a cool place. Curious as to how a legless fox could
survive, he waited until sunset when he
observed a lion come and lay meat before the fox. "Ah, I understand," the
man thought. "The secret to success in life is to trust that God will take
care of all my needs. I don't need to provide for myself. All I have to do
is totally surrender to my all-sustaining God." Two weeks later, weakened
and starving, the man had another dream. In it he heard a voice say,
"Fool. Be like the lion, not like the fox." 

--

When the spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening
meditation, the cat who lived in the monastery made such noise that it
distracted them. So the teacher ordered that the cat be tied up during the
evening practice. Years later, when the teacher died, the cat continued to
be tied up during the meditation session. And when the cat eventually
died, another cat was
brought to the monastery and tied up. Centuries later, learned descendants
of the spiritual teacher wrote scholarly treatises about the religious
significance of tying up a cat for meditation practice. 

--

Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a
scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it
upon the bank. In the process he was stung. He went back to washing his
bowl and again the scorpion fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was
again stung. The other monk asked him, "Friend, why do you continue to
save the scorpion when you know it's nature is to sting?"  
"Because," the monk replied, "to save it is my nature." 

--

One day Chuang Tzu and a friend were walking by a river. "Look at the fish
swimming about," said Chuang Tzu, "They are really enjoying themselves."  
"You are not a fish," replied the friend, "So you can't truly know that
they are enjoying themselves."  
"You are not me," said Chuang Tzu. "So how do you know that I do not know
that the fish are enjoying themselves?" 

--