Catepillars and Butterflies

A student sat down in front of their teacher and asked, "How do caterpillars become butterflies?"  The teacher replied, "They don't, only butterflies can become butterflies."

This koan comes from my new book, "A Year of Zen Mindfulness".  I like it because it describes my approach to teaching the Dharma along with the primary focus of my book, which is to help people transform their daily life experiences into spiritual practice.

The koan is based on Hongaku or original enlightenment, which is at ...