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January 10, 2026 Meditative Inquiry In Zen koan practice, one focuses on a single question aimed at breaking down ordinary understanding and developing experiential wisdom. According to Korean Zen monk Haemin Sunim, who is leading our annual Meditation Month challenge this month, koans offer a pathway to realizing our true nature—one that is already boundless and luminous. “The koan ‘What was I before my parents gave birth to me?’ is a call back to the innocent time,” says Haemin Sunim. “It’s a call back to our fundamental, undefined, free, true nature. Whatever the identity that you claim, that identity becomes a prison. What if you are more than those identities? What if you are undefined freedom?” Access the full teaching from week 1 of Meditation Month here, and if you haven’t already, sign up for the challenge to receive meditation prompts, supporting articles, and more. Join Meditation Month » Also this week: Are We One, a film that traces the transmission of Zen meditation through the life’s work of 90-year-old Irish-American Jesuit Zen Master Robert Kennedy, is available to subscribers now through the end of the month. Stream it today!   Check out the latest winning poems from Tricycle’s haiku challenge. If you’re inspired, submit your own haiku for a chance to be featured online and in print! This month’s season words are “The Old Year.” Submit your haiku here.   The global Buddhist philanthropist Robert H. N. Ho has died at 93. Read more about his contributions to the fields of Buddhist studies and Chinese cultural education.