Kwan Um Zen Online Podcast – The Way of Don’t Know.
Jul 21, 2026 · 45 min · 12 segments
In this episode, with Knud Rosenmayr, JDPSN, guiding teacher of the Vienna Zen Center, we explore Zen in modern life through different angles: what “meditation” means in today’s Western culture; the…
Knud RosenmayrGuest
Viviane CasimirHost
Some people meditate for well-being and we can even find different styles like holistic meditation, new age meditation, etc.
Then Master Sung San actually talked about it in a book, The Compass of Zen, and he called them, those different styles, the outer path meditation.
Other people meditate for spiritual practice to help them see through their suffering, move out of survival mode, and become more in oneness with who they truly are.
So, generally speaking, meditation nowadays is seen as healing and empowering in that sense.
What is your view on meditation now? Do you see any changes in why people join like a long time ago when you started and now when people join? Do you see any difference? And what is meditation for you?
Back then, you know, people came with a big question, maybe something hadn't worked out so much in their lives.
And nowadays, like you said, many people want like calmness, listress, sleep better, maybe empty their heads, you know, and that's totally fine, that's all good.
But when we sit down, you know, and start sitting, then there is no calm there.
Soon you'll experience there is this monkey jumping from one branch to the other branch, you know, holding and letting go.
But when we see that holding and letting go, something underneath, something really deep, may open and then this first question also may quietly dissolve you know today everything goes fast phone is lightening up you know it may be five times a minute and then there is constant comparing social media fear of missing out but actually that's only the outside packaging that's new The real suffering is the same as a thousand years ago.
I like that, what you said about the outer and inside is the same as the 100 years ago.
And through the years of practice and understanding, our understanding may shift.
Some people meditate for well-being and we can even find different styles like holistic meditation, new age meditation, etc.
Then Master Sung San actually talked about it in a book, The Compass of Zen, and he called them, those different styles, the outer path meditation.
Other people meditate for spiritual practice to help them see through their suffering, move out of survival mode, and become more in oneness with who they truly are.
So, generally speaking, meditation nowadays is seen as healing and empowering in that sense.
What is your view on meditation now? Do you see any changes in why people join like a long time ago when you started and now when people join? Do you see any difference? And what is meditation for you?
Back then, you know, people came with a big question, maybe something hadn't worked out so much in their lives.
And nowadays, like you said, many people want like calmness, listress, sleep better, maybe empty their heads, you know, and that's totally fine, that's all good.
But when we sit down, you know, and start sitting, then there is no calm there.
Soon you'll experience there is this monkey jumping from one branch to the other branch, you know, holding and letting go.
But when we see that holding and letting go, something underneath, something really deep, may open and then this first question also may quietly dissolve you know today everything goes fast phone is lightening up you know it may be five times a minute and then there is constant comparing social media fear of missing out but actually that's only the outside packaging that's new The real suffering is the same as a thousand years ago.
I like that, what you said about the outer and inside is the same as the 100 years ago.
And through the years of practice and understanding, our understanding may shift.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.