Mark Epstein before the Buddha-Bar Restaurant Prague

Mark Epstein (born 1953) is an American author and psychotherapist who integrates

Shakyamuni Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

's teachings with

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

's approaches to trauma. He often writes about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy.Mark Epstein
''Freud and Buddha''
, '' Network of Spiritual Progressives''

Personal life

Epstein said he has experienced

transgenerational trauma Transgenerational trauma is the psychological and physiological effects that the trauma experienced by people has on subsequent generations in that group. The primary modes of transmission are the uterine environment during pregnancy causing epigen ...

.The Trauma of Being Alive, p.2
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 3 August 2013 He is married to the artist Arlene Shechet and has two children.

Career

Epstein is a graduate of

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

and

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. After completing his psychiatry residency at what is now

New York-Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...

Weill Cornell Medical Center Weill Cornell Medical Center (previously known as New York Hospital or Old New York Hospital or City Hospital) is a research hospital in New York City. It is part of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the teaching hospital for Cornell University. ...

, he entered the private practice of psychiatry in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at

New York University School of Medicine NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island School of ...

. He was interviewed for segments of the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary ''The Buddha''.

Meditation practitioner and author

Epstein went to a Buddhist summer camp in Boulder, Colorado, where he met his first Buddhist teachers, Joseph Goldstein and

Jack Kornfield Jack Kornfield (born 1945) is an American writer and teacher in the Vipassana movement in American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, first as a student of the Thai forest master Ajahn Chah and Maha ...

. In his early 20s, he traveled to

Ajahn Chah Chah Subhaddo ( th, ชา สุภัทโท, known in English as Ajahn Chah, occasionally with honorific titles '' Luang Por'' and ''Phra'') also known by his honorific name "Phra Bodhiñāṇathera" ( th, พระโพธิญาณเ� ...

's forest Buddhist monastery near

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, together with these teachers as well as with

Richard Alpert Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert; April 6, 1931 – December 22, 2019), also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and author. His best-selling 1971 book '' Be Here Now'', which has been d ...

. He has practiced insight meditation since 1974. He is a contributing editor to '' Tricycle: The Buddhist Review'' and his books include ''Thoughts Without a Thinker'' and ''Going to Pieces without Falling Apart''. Both books deal with the Eastern teachings of non-self.

Quotes

Works

*2022 ''The Zen of Therapy: Uncovering a Hidden Kindness in Life'',

The Penguin Press Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initially ...

, New York, NY., *2018 ''Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself'',

,New York, NY., *2013 ''The Trauma of Everyday Life'',

,New York, NY., *2008 ''Going on Being: Life at the Crossroads of Buddhism and Psychotherapy'',

Wisdom Publications The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) was founded in 1975 by Lamas Thubten Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, who began teaching Mahayana Buddhism to Western students in Nepal. The FPMT has grown to encompass over ...

, Somerville, Mass., *2008 ''Psychotherapy Without the Self: A Buddhist Perspective'',

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, New Haven, CT, *2005 ''Open to Desire: The Truth about What the Buddha Taught'',

Gotham Books Avery Publishing is a book publishing imprint of the Penguin Group Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created ...

, New York, *1998 ''Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart'',

Broadway Books Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a Division of Random House, Inc., released its first list in Fall, 1996. Broadway was founded in 1995 as a unit of Bantam Doubleday Dell a unit of Bertelsmann. Bertelsmann acquired Rand ...

, New York, *1995 ''Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective'', Basic Books, New York,

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, Mark 1953 births Living people 21st-century American psychologists American psychotherapists American self-help writers American spiritual writers Harvard College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni American Buddhists American writers American scholars of Buddhism 21st-century American Buddhists 20th-century American psychologists