Questions.
The mind is programmed to answer questions. The answer to simple everyday questions comes in the form of practical do-able answers.
The Zen koan (USA link) on the other hand, forces the questioner to transcend his/her mind and the answer comes in an abstract spiritual form. An experience, that cannot really be explained by words but is a direct spiritual experience.
Take forgiveness for example. We can know when we have forgiven but the way we get to feel liberated from our negative feelings. It is something that we experience. We have “done” forgiveness without knowing or being able to explain intellectually, how we have done it. We have the experience of having forgiven by the way we feel detached from the issue we had felt previously hostile towards
