Seung Sahn

Seung Sahn (1927–2004) was the first Korean Zen master to build a major international teaching organization and the figure most responsible for bringing Korean Seon practice to the Western world. Born in Suncheon, South Pyongan Province (now North Korea), he was active in the Korean independence movement as a young man. After the end of Japanese colonial rule, he ordained as a monk and undertook an intense hundred-day solo retreat on Mount Wonjeok, practicing with the hwadu "What am I?" After breakthrough, he sought out Gobong Gyeonguk, one of the fiercest Seon masters alive, who confirmed his awakening after rigorous testing.

In 1972, Seung Sahn arrived in the United States with virtually no English and no institutional support, working in a Providence, Rhode Island laundromat while beginning to attract students. From this improbable beginning, he founded the Kwan Um School of Zen, which grew to encompass over a hundred centers in more than thirty countries. His teaching was characterized by extraordinary directness and simplicity: he emphasized "don't know mind" — the cultivation of an open, questioning awareness prior to all conceptual knowledge — as the essence of Zen practice. His style was accessible and often humorous, employing simple kong-an (koan) interviews and everyday language rather than elaborate philosophical frameworks. His books, including "Dropping Ashes on the Buddha" and "The Compass of Zen," introduced a distinctively Korean voice into the Western Zen conversation that had previously been dominated by Japanese traditions.