The following quote is taken from Ding-Hwa Evelyn Hsieh’s paper, Yuan-wu K'o-ch'in's (1063-1135) Teaching of Ch'an Kung-an Practice (emphasis is mine).
The compilation of Ch'an kung-an (public case) texts during the Sung dynasty (960-1279) was aimed at producing literati literature. Once the iconoclastic styles of Ch'an pedagogy had been written down as texts annotated with elusive poetry and polished prose, only people with substantial literary credentials—dominantly male—could approach them. This delimitation is further reflected by the fact that Ch'an monks of the Sung had close associations with Sung literati (shih-ta-fu). Ch'an Buddhism in the Sung may thus be generally labeled as a type of "literati Buddhism."
Looking backwards to the beginnings of the Chan tradition, it didn't employ koans. The was no Blue Cliff Records or the Mumonkan to name just two of the popular koan compilations.
In the history of Chan, the popularity of koans comes on the heels of Chan's flowering in the Song as somewhat of a concession to the literati of that time who were very powerful and not all Buddhists.
An obvious contradiction of Chan's slogan of "do not depend on written words" 不立文字 the practice of the Chan koan grew into a kind of literary study in which enlightenment, or seeing one's nature (the last slogan), was either modified or entirely ignored.
Chan, itself, is the means—Chan being the direct intuition of the hidden vital principle that animates us. The Agamas and the Mahayana discourses together with their commentaries were all the literature a Zen adept might require. The adept could also receive help from their teacher who was like a college professor who knew in what direction to turn the student. That is the way I learned with the help of Bishop Nippo who was a professor at the California Institute of Asian Studies which was located on 3494 21st Street, San Francisco.
Koans are not really necessary in Zen. What is necessary is understanding that the path is inside of our own heads. If we awaken, it will take place in our mind; in a split second we will transcend the subject/object duality of consciousness (vijñāna), entering into the One Mind (ekacitta).
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