Question

This questions asks about how to work with koans.
How useful is it to work with a koan anyway?
How useful is it to work with a koan and not having the chance, not
the possibility to spend more time for meditation than getting up
early every morning for zazen resp. to participate
at one or two sesshins a year?
How can I get any kind of feedback when my zen master (so to say)
refuses my answer during the sesshins because in his opinion,
it's more or less useless to work with koans
when one isn't living in a monastery?
I would be very thankful to get some advice.

Answer from Master Kosen

I already answered this kind of question about koans (see the list).
You say " to work on koans", and precisely it is by stopping to do
something like working on it that the answer to your question appears.

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