Buddhism A kōan (/ˈkoʊæn, -ɑːn/ KOH-a(h)n;[1] Japanese: 公案; Chinese: 公案; pinyin: gōng'àn [kʊ́ŋ ân]; Korean: 화두, romanized: hwadu; Vietnamese: công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term kōan is the Sino-Japanese reading of the Chinese word gong'an..