An Experimental Podcast

Pandemic Zen is an experimental podcast exploring the healing and life-sustaining potential of Zen insight, meditation and mindfulness in a modern world of existential challenges to health, happiness and our very survival.

Paul Gerstein, MD

Paul Gerstein, MD has 35 years of experience in Emergency Medicine, presently working with patients in the medication-assisted treatment of opiate and related addictions.

Dr. Gerstein has been practicing zazen (Zen Buddhist-style meditation) since 1970 beginning at the age of 19. With a one-year residency in a Zen monastic setting at the age of 22, he received ongoing extensive training in the koan curriculum of Rinzai Zen. He is a successor to Roshi Richard Clarke, founder of The Living Dharma Center in Northampton, Massachusetts, and is the author of Form Is Emptiness: An Insider’s Guide to the Heart of Zen Buddhism. Dr. Gerstein has recorded hundreds of lectures (teishos) on Zen practice since 2013. Some of these archived recordings may appear in Pandemic Zen in future episodes.