Magdalena Herreshoff,  Su Terry and Johana Sand are exploring the use of Koans in this episode, focusing on the new book from Roshi Joan Sutherland.  Joan's new book on koans, Through Forests of Every Color, from Shambhala Publications is an amazing read about how koans can help us take a different perspective on our life issues. “A clearer path or a better guide would be hard to find," says Red Pine, translator of Chinese texts, primarily Taoists and Buddhist poetry and sutras. Joan is a teacher in the koan tradition and the first woman teacher in her lineage in the Americas. She is one of the founders of the Pacific Zen School, an innovative contemporary koan school that also includes Pacific Zen Institute.

Koans short circuit the conceptual mind with a problem it cannot resolve, causing it to exhaust itself and release its claim on the primary way of knowing.  The ordinary mind loses its grip and one's true nature can be revealed and/or a deeper intuitive response.