How to read or tell a Chan story?
There are no strict rules.
But I find some of things listed below helpful.
1) The purpose: is to know what, why, how, when, where, who about a subject, usually something in your life.
In short, you want to know.
2) Positivity: you have to think in a positive way to approach your answer. eg. love, kindness, compassion.
3) Singleness: you try to find the source from myriads of questions or examples at hand.
4) Commoness: you try to find similarity among all the examples listed.
5) Universal: the answer derived should be applied to all similar quests.
You basically integrate all your information into a relevant answer that applies to all. That answer then has the characteristic of the truth.
The main thing is motivation. That is from your heart.
If your heart is unjust or not positive, it will be difficult to understand Koan.
With time and practice, and with a right mind and a just heart, we can gradually appreciate the Chan story.
How do you study Chan story?