hyon gak sunim

is a modern Zen Master ordained more than thirty-five years ago by the legendary Korean teacher Zen Master Seung Sahn, one of the pioneers in the transmission of Korean Zen to the West.

After years of intensive training in Korea—including long silent retreats and three solitary 100-day retreats—Sunim received inka, formal teaching authorization, from Zen Master Seung Sahn in 2001. He later became Guiding Teacher at Hwa Gye Sah, Seung Sahn’s principal temple in Seoul.

Sunim became widely known throughout Korea through his teaching and writing. His autobiographical book, Man Haeng: From Harvard to Hwa Gye Sah Temple, sold approximately one million copies, an extraordinary achievement for a Buddhist book. Faced with overwhelming public and teaching demands, and increasingly weary of institutional Buddhist politics, he left Korea for Europe in 2009–10 and established his work in Germany.

He is now based in Bavaria, where he is establishing a major residential Zen centre within a historic former seminar and retreat complex.

Forms change. Transmission continues.