Zen koan practice
Subject in Buddhism
Zen koan practice has come up in 2 episodes across 2 podcasts in TMT, including Mayim Bialik's Breakdown, The Tim Ferriss Show. 2 people have made recorded remarks about it.
What people said
Neil TheiseAdjunct professor of pathology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and co-discoverer of the interstitium
Theise recounts a meditation experience in which watching incense become smoke resolved his 'body or cells' koan into a both-and realization of Buddhist emptiness.
“I looked up and saw the stick of incense on the altar becoming smoke. And I thought, oh, stick or smoke, body or cells. It isn't one or the other. It's both and, not either or”
Mayim Bialik's Breakdown: Re-Air: What is Energy? And Can Energy Therapy Heal?| Phenomena Podcast (Sep 12, 2026) · Listen from 20:43
Kevin RoseAmerican technology entrepreneur and investor, founder of Digg and co-host of The Random Show
Rose described a brief retreat insight in which nothing felt lacking and nothing could be added or removed.
“I had a sense of nothing lacking”
The Tim Ferriss Show: #875: The Random Show — Tim and Kevin Talk Retreats, Mortality, AI Predictions, Supplements, Rock Climbing at (Almost) 50, and Not Waiting for “Someday” (Jul 16, 2026) · Listen from 17:23
Coverage over time
Podcasts
- Mayim Bialik's Breakdown · 1 episode
- The Tim Ferriss Show · 1 episode
Episodes
Re-Air: What is Energy? And Can Energy Therapy Heal?| Phenomena PodcastMayim Bialik's Breakdown · Sep 12, 2026 · 1 h 18 min
A re-aired Phenomena episode in which Ivy Ross, Martin Picard, Richard Hammerschlag, Neil Theise, Meredith Sprengel and Jonathan Cohen ask what energy is in healing.
#875: The Random Show — Tim and Kevin Talk Retreats, Mortality, AI Predictions, Supplements, Rock Climbing at (Almost) 50, and Not Waiting for “Someday”The Tim Ferriss Show · Jul 16, 2026 · 1 h 58 min
Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose discuss Zen retreats, grief and mortality, rock climbing goals, supplements, psychedelic research, AI predictions and investing.