You want to understand. You want to transform. It is like when you are struck by an arrow, and you carry with you the arrow in your flesh. Standing or sitting, being awake or sleeping, you still carry the arrow. The koan, the kung an should be something like that. Your daily life is fully focused on that. And if you are, the kung an should be something that can draw all your energy, your interest, your mindfulness, your concentration on it. And you are holding it day and night, embracing it, looking deeply into it. And one day, insight will come, and you understand, and you will be liberated. So kung an, is something that should have the capacity of bringing all your concentration, all your energy into it. Because without that, there cannot be a breakthrough. The suffering in the Middle East, for instance, is a kung an for the whole mankind. Not only for the Israelis or the Palestinians. But as a human family, we are so busy. We are not a Sangha. We don't have enough mindfulness, concentration. We cannot make it into a kung an.

We pay some attention. And then we remove attention. We focus our attention on other matters. And that is why it is not a kung an for the human family yet. When the teacher understands the difficulties and the suffering of the disciple, he or she will offer a kung an. Like, "Tell me, dear one, what is the sound made by just one hand?" Usually we need two hands in order to make a sound. "Tell me. How can you produce sound with one hand?" So that is a kind of skillful device in order to help the disciple to find out, to understand his or her situation. And the disciple cannot just use his or her intellect in order to work on the kung an. Because the intellect is only part of us, underneath there is the whole subconsciousness, unconsciousness. Underneath there is your body, all the mental formations, your store consciousness. That is why the kung an that has been offered by the teacher should not be entertained only by the intellect. It should be buried deeply in the soil, in the flesh of your being. And during your daily life, you have to carry the kung an with you day and night. Eating, sleeping, doing things, you are embracing it. That is the full time embrace.