Rinzai focuses on the use of the Koan. A Koan is paradoxical statement or question used as a meditative tool. Rinzai disciples concentrate on a koan to discover their own nature and become Buddhas. Practitioners must realize himself as the answer to the koan; a koan cannot be answered by knowledge or thinking. If the practitioner focuses solely on the koan, he will forget both the passing of time and the outside world. This will allow the practitioner to unexpectedly “wake up” form their former self. This is the true enlightenment. Practitioners often look towards Zen masters to see enlightenment as attainable. Zen master Reiun reached enlightenment while looking at peach blossoms; Reiun let go of the disillusionment of life and through this
