Observation vs Belief

Paul takes us on a deep dive into the 22nd koan in the Hekigan Roku: "Seppo's Turtle-Nosed Snake". Dealing with living, dying and Reality, this abstruse yet powerful koan can be penetrated by a close and careful look at the code-language and strange events depicted therein. Through this process, we learn how to work with the more puzzling Zen teaching stories and uncover their profound implications. This talk was presented by Paul Gerstein at the September 14, 2025 Living Dharma Center virtual zazenkai.

How can Zen practice precisely meet the moment when things go "wrong"? We place the election of Trump in a larger context with the help of a shocking koan from the Mumonkan collection. 

Lecture (teisho) to a Zen retreat by Paul Gerstein on 10/27/2024 in which he presents the 7th koan from the Hekigan Roku (Blue Cliff Record): "You Are Eh-Cho!" To help elucidate this terse and penetrating koan, Paul discusses a famous line from The Diamond Sutra and goes on to explore an incorrect approach to mindfulness practice that can contribute to a kind of meditation illness or "Zen sickness". Paul describes a video presentation on the origins of the universe entitled, "Everything and Nothing" and how a specific understanding of cosmology points to a profound truth at the core of what we call, "Me".  

Zen talk given to a morning Zen retreat (Zazenkai) on August 11, 2024. We start with a poem titled, "My Catastrophe", highlighting the doneness of each present moment and the freedom to shine one's truth. We go on to discuss the importance of "attentive desisting"; then read and comment on an excerpt on Zen practice, Easiness for Beginners, from the great 20th century Ch'an master, Hsu Yun. We finish with the initial parts of a song by U2 performed live at Slane Castle, Ireland: Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of [released 2000].

Talk to Zen retreat group on how to approach the "end" of everything. We discuss koan #29 from the Hekigan Roku: "It will be gone with the other."

This is a Zen lecture (teisho) to a virtual retreat group. We start with a TV commercial from the 1950s and progress to the strange "preliminary koan" called, The Duck in the Bottle.

In this episode, Paul gives a teisho (Zen lecture) on a koan from The Blue Cliff Record (a Tang and Sung dynasty collection of 100 teaching stories). Recorded by: Paul Gerstein, MD Intro music: Dancing for the Answers by Nick Mulvey Ending music: Kerosene Hat by Cracker  

In this episode, we discuss the rapidly worsening pandemic in the U.S. and the troubling opposition by many to proven mitigation efforts. We examine the famous statement by Milarepa, an 11th century Tibetan master: “Abandon hope and fear.” Finally, a teaching story from The Blue Cliff Record points to a way out of struggling against painful difficulties of everyday life. Recorded by Paul Gerstein, MD Intro music: Dancing for the Answers, Nick Mulvey Ending music: Fearless, The Neville Brothers

In this episode, Paul starts with a brief bio of his training in both medicine and Zen followed by a deep dive into facts and fictions regarding COVID-19. The contrast between blind beliefs and careful observation highlights how the scientific method and mindfulness practice counters the false narratives of anti-science, political propaganda in the setting of an alarmingly worsening pandemic. Recorded by: Paul Gerstein, MD Podcast channel creation and website design: James Kieffer – Kieffer Consulting, LLC Intro music: Dancing for the Answers, Nick Mulvey Ending music: Look At Miss Ohio, Gillian Welch

The release of a cellphone video of the killing of an African American jogger, followed by one of a Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, leads to a world-wide explosion of outrage over racism and police brutality. Added to the trauma of the pandemic and its associated economic collapse, we connect the failure of president Donald Trump to inspire and lead Americans and the world to a higher moral ground against an array of unprecedented challenges. The role of mindfulness is further explored as a prime coping mechanism when the whole world seems to be falling apart. How ‘noticing’ is a stepping-back without withdrawing. Zen master Rinzai’s famous quote regarding the Dharmakaya (the ‘body’ of absolute Truth) gets a close look. We investigate developing the facility and appreciation of noticing that things, most fundamentally, appear (before any other meaning we might ascribe to them). Dharmakaya koans are presented and placed into context with today’s global crises. Paul Gerstein, MD Website:  pandemic-zen.com In print:  Form Is Emptiness: An Insider’s Guide to the Heart of Zen Buddhism, P. Gerstein, 2013,  www.levellerspress.com/?s=form+is+emptiness Recorded by: Paul Gerstein Channel and website design: James Kieffer – kiefferconsulting.com Intro music: Dancing for the Answers, Nick Mulvey Ending music: For What It’s Worth, Buffalo Springfield