Why are Zen public cases compared with legal precedents?

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Zen Soto monk meditating while begging, Kyoto, Japan.

The term koan, which refers to the paradoxical statements or questions used in Zen Buddhism, is derived from the Chinese term kung-an, literally meaning "public notice" or "public announcement."1

These cases are compared to legal precedents because they function as established records of interactions between past Zen masters and their students. Just as a legal precedent serves as a foundational reference point in law, a koan serves as a record of a specific Zen experience or realization. By studying these anecdotes, novices engage with the historical "case law" of the tradition to test their own spiritual competence and exhaust the analytic intellect, ultimately aiming to reach an intuitive understanding that aligns with the insights of the masters who came before them.1