Ven. Hyunoong Sunim

Master Sunim was born in South Korea and entered Songkwang-sa Buddhist Monastery at the age of twenty, where he became a disciple of Zen Master Ku San Sunim. After ten years of training in Zen Meditation halls, he spent six more years in rigorous practice alone in hermitages in remote mountain areas. There he followed a raw food diet, eating what the mountains made available. One early spring day while sitting in the Zen hall suddenly all his doubts were resolved and he wrote the following song of enlightenment:

While Sunim's primary teaching focus is Zen, he also stresses the importance of protecting and balancing one's physical health and energy through Taoist practices. He teaches that through consistent training in Zen and Sun-do, one can personally experience results, and emphasizes that one should practice for oneself and obtain this personal experience. Only then can one directly understand this path to awakening.

During his years in the hermitage Sunim met and trained for ten years under Taoist Master Chong San. In 1982 Sunim was given sanction as a Taoist master. He later taught in Switzerland and throughout North America. Acknowledged as one of the great zen masters of his generation, he is the Abbot of the Sixth Patriarch Temple in Seoul, Korea, and the Sixth Patriarch Zen Center in Berkeley, CA. He is the author of "The Unasked Question," which was published in Korea in 2003, and is currently being translated into English.


		Even existing dharmas must be discarded, So how can we cling to Dharmas which don't exist! Ah ha! Futilely the Ancients busily pursued enlightenment, then departed. The countenance, existing of its own accord I wonder who named it buddha or sentient being? Even one true Dharma cannot survive. Outside the window, the cherry tree is singing this news.