Koans are the only Zen

A recent post mentioned some koans that directly reference the core of Zen culture:

Laughing at old Gautama, in a finger-snap go beyond Maitreya.

and

A [Zen student's] acrobatic pole accompanies him wherever he goes; he performs wherever he may be.

1. Zen enlightenment is sudden, like a finger snap or as Huangbo said, a knife thrust. There is no practice -to-earn or practice-to-attain "batting cage practice) as with 8fP or Zazen Buddhisms.

2. Zen practice (like doctor's medical practice) is public, everywhere, spontaneous. Zen recruits people through demonstration, not ideology or doctrine.

Why is there confusion?

Popular culture from Japan, mistranslation, evangelical Zazen preachers like Shunryu "No mind ", Suzuki, and new age religious gurus like Alan Watts, Joko Beck, Osho, have profited from religious propaganda.

Propaganda can be hard to shake:

https://www.reddit.com/r/zensangha/wiki/Belief_perseverance