Zen koans are stories of exchanges between Zen masters and their disciplesat the moment of enlightenment or near-enlightenment. These stories have longfascinated Western readers because of their wisdom, humor, and enigmatic quality.Drawing on over thirty years of practice and teaching, Richard Shrobe (himself arecognized Zen Master) has selected twenty-two cases from The Blue Cliff Recordand Wu-men-kuan that he finds deeply meaningful and helpful for meditation practice.In Elegant Failure, he provides a wealth of background information and personalanecdotes for each koan that help to illuminate its meaning without detracting fromits paradoxical nature. As Shrobe reminds us, "The main core of Zen  teaching is thebare bones of what is there. In a certain sense, embellishing a story takes away fromthe central teaching: Don't embellish anything, just be with it as it is."