Koans are dramas preserved for a thousand years from the golden age of Zen (7-9 AD) they are mini-dramas that put a monk's point of view (yours) against the master (the awakening mind). This is a drama or confrontation between the Egoic mind and the awakened mind. A koan is a nut with the sweet meat of awakening inside if you can crack it. But, these hard nuts cannot be cracked by the logical rational mind, like the question you asked, which is a logical question. The monks ask logical questions, and the master points beyond or upstream of logic to a new way of using the mind, the creative way. The koan unlocks your creativity...but you have to come to the realization that the koan cannot be cracked, yet, you stay with it...letting the koan chew you up.
So why did the monk ask the stupid question? Or did he want to test the master?
Koans are dramas preserved for a thousand years from the golden age of Zen (7-9 AD) they are mini-dramas that put a monk's point of view (yours) against the master (the awakening mind). This is a drama or confrontation between the Egoic mind and the awakened mind. A koan is a nut with the sweet meat of awakening inside if you can crack it.
But, these hard nuts cannot be cracked by the logical rational mind, like the question you asked, which is a logical question. The monks ask logical questions, and the master points beyond or upstream of logic to a new way of using the mind, the creative way. The koan unlocks your creativity...but you have to come to the realization that the koan cannot be cracked, yet, you stay with it...letting the koan chew you up.