Pohwa Sunim (born July 15, 1955) is the head monk of the Young Pyung Sa International Zen Center in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

Biography

Sunim is the disciple of Myo Vong who is the Dharma successor of Hye Am. Pohwa Sunim founded the World Zen Fellowship in 1994 which includes the Potomac Zen Sangha, the Patriarchal Zen Society and the Baltimore Zen Center. He is known for his teaching and direct presentation style. He pioneered the use of “Cyber Zen” (

information age The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, Silicon Age, or New Media Age) is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during ...

technology) to propagate his teachings in the West, including the early use of web sites, user groups, and video tele-conferencing. He produced a series of teaching videos in 2004 called “Zen Dharma Exchange”, which are widely available on the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. He is a frequent speaker at American universities ( Columbia, Georgetown, Naropa University,

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

) and religious gatherings. (1)

Teaching

The focus of his teaching is to learn

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 L ...

's enlightened mind through the practice of the

koan A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-J ...

, a story or question that cannot be understood by

logical thinking Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

but only through intuitive thinking. The focus is on attaining the true nature of all beings directly through intuitive thinking. This mind-to-mind teaching is the core teaching of the Korean Buddhist

Chogye Order The Jogye Order, officially the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism (대한불교조계종, 大韓佛敎曹溪宗), is the representative order of traditional Korean Buddhism with roots that date back 1200 years to the Later Silla National Master Dou ...

and is now being spread throughout the world by lineage masters such as Pohwa Sunim. “If you want to know the answer, you must see your ‘original mind’ which is the ‘original mind’ of all sages and all beings.” (2)(3) Some of his more frequently employed phrases include, “Dogs chase mudballs. A lion bites the thrower”, and “ An apple is an apple. An orange is an orange. They are not the same. They are not different.” (4)

References

{{Reflist 1. World Zen Fellowship http://www.worldzen.org. Retrieved 2010-11-02 and Rocky Mountain News 9/27/2002, and Korean American Buddhist Times June 28, 2003 and http://www.youngpyungsa.org/temple/community/community_04_view.html?id=4330 Young Pyung Sa (YPS) International Zenn Center and http://www.rappnews.com/2010/10/21/sperryville-column-for-oct-21/8547/ Rappahanock News, October 21, 2010 2. Hwagyesa International Zen Center http://www.seoulzen.org/information.html Retrieved 2010-11-02 3. Pohwa Sunim quoted from Zen Dharma Exchange #1 “Dualistic Thinking” 4. Pohwa Sunim quoted from Zen Dharma Exchange #2 “Enlightenment” 1955 births Living people