Daehaeng Kunsunim

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daehaeng Kunsunim


"Great Nun" Dae-haeng
Hangeul 대행 큰스님
Revised
Romanization 		Dae-haeng Keun-seunim
McCune-
Reischauer 		Taehaeng K'ŭnsŭnim

Daehaeng Kunsunim (older spelling: Dae-haeng Keun Sunim, born February 3, 1927 in Seoul , † May 22, 2012 in Anyang , South Korea) was a Korean Seon master. She was counted as one of the few women among the most important Buddhist masters of her time.

Life

Daehaeng Keunsunim was born on the second day of the first month according to the Chinese calendar used in Korea at that time , which corresponds to February 3, 1927 in the Gregorian calendar . She was the first daughter of a high-ranking officer in the Imperial Korean Army during the Japanese occupation of Korea . Under Japanese rule, the family lost all of their property and was evicted from their home. She then lived in extreme poverty in a mud hut near Seoul.

Her family only managed to keep themselves alive by using all their strength. Although Daehaeng Kunsunim was still a child at the time, it was during this time that she began to grapple with the fundamental questions of life.

“I couldn't understand that there are rich and poor people in the world. My own situation was sad enough, but when I noticed that many others were leading just as miserable lives as I was, the thought persisted. I wondered why there are more poor, hungry and sick people than rich. Why are we born in this world and cry or laugh because of the money? What is the meaning of life since we suffer from illness and die when the time comes? These questions took away my courage to face life. Nevertheless, I continued to ask: Who put me in this position? Who made me and made me so suddenly poor as a beggar? Wouldn't it be better not to have been born at all? Who is the one who created me like this and who is now starving and suffering? "

Daehaeng Kunsunim later said about this time:

“I never intended to become a master or understand the teachings of the Buddha in order to one day teach myself. In unconditional trust in the True Self, such thoughts never crossed my mind. After realizing the Dharma, the cosmic law, I knew that Buddha's compassion and love could reach someone like me, and I cried with gratitude. In response to such care and compassion, even if I had to give my life for it, I wish every person enlightenment - that everyone may find the True Self. "

After twelve years of extreme asceticism in nature, she decided to return to the world in order to devote her life entirely to the suffering people, to instruct and help them. First she settled in a tiny hut not far from the remote and half-ruined mountain monastery Sang-Won. Although she lived very secluded there, her reputation for being a person with exceptionally deep knowledge spread quickly, so that more and more people with a wide variety of problems sought her help. From their offerings, the Sang-Won Monastery could be rebuilt after a few years.

Daehaeng Kunsunim later moved to Anyang, where she founded the Hanmaum Seon Center in 1972. She lived in Anyang until her death, where she died on May 22, 2012 at the age of 85.

Teaching

In Daehaeng Kunsunim's teaching there is no difference between everyday reality and spiritual experience, the highest wisdom and energetic life practice. To put it in her own words: "The gateway to liberation is to be found in our everyday life and nowhere else".

Of central importance is the term juingong , formed from the Korean juin (literally master, lord) and the Sino- Korean gong (emptiness). Juin stands for the “inner master” and Gong (Sanskrit Sunyata) for the emptiness from which all appearances emerge and to which all appearances return. The term Juingong , coined by Daehaeng Kunsunim, describes the deepest ground of all living beings: a ceaselessly manifesting creative energy, which in Buddhist tradition is also called the true self or Buddha nature . At the level of the true self , every single living being is connected to all others and to the whole universe. Hence, all life and all appearances manifest as "One Heart, One Spirit".

For this fundamental unity of all being, Daehaeng Kunsunim often uses the term Hanmaum , composed of Han (literally: one, great) and Maum (literally: heart, mind, consciousness, mind; chin .: Hsin; Japanese Shin ). Hanmaum stands for the universal, all-producing, all-connected, eternal spiritual consciousness. Everything is connected in Hanmaum . In Hanmaum , the material and spiritual world, past, future and present are not separate from each other, but revolve in unity.

The core of the spiritual practice taught by Daehaeng Kunsunim is the deep trust in Juingong , which makes it possible to let go of all problems, worries, sufferings and joys in Juingong , one's own Buddha nature. Through this process of letting go, an approach to the infinite clarity of Hanmaum can be experienced in the midst of everyday life , to that sphere that transcends space and time, which constitutes the true essence of human beings.

According to Daehaeng Kunsunim, however, this search for truth does not take place in the context of a "truth search" or any other kind of self-exaggeration that is detached from everyday reality. Its sole purpose is to turn towards Hanmaum , the unity of mind and body of all beings. Daehaeng Kunsunim conveys a modern Buddhism, not because it follows any fashionable zeitgeist without hesitation, but because it revives the core of the Buddha's teaching beyond rigid rituals or spiritualized exaggeration as an unselfish willingness to help in connection with all beings that unfolds in the midst of everyday life.

Hanmaum Zen Center

In 1972 Daehaeng Kunsunim founded the Hanmaum Zen Center (Hanmaum Seon Won) in the city of Anyang near Seoul . Currently more than 150 ordained nuns and monks (Kor. Sunim) live and practice in the mother center or in one of the daughter monasteries. The Hanmaum Zen Center is a member of the Korean Chogye Order. There are now 15 daughter temples within Korea. Outside Korea there are nine, seven of them in North and South America, one in Thailand and one in Europe, in Kaarst near Düsseldorf.

Hanmaum Center in Germany Kaarst

In October 1996, the center in Kaarst was inaugurated by Daehaeng Kunsunim in a festive opening ceremony. It is the only Hanmaum Zen center in Europe and is currently run by Hae-jin Sunim together with Hae-baek Sunim and Hae-you Sunim. The three Buddhist nuns ordained in the Korean Hanmaum Zen Order are direct students of Zen master Daehaeng Kunsunim.

The Hanmaum Center in Kaarst is a member of the German Buddhist Union .

Hanmaum Institute for Mind Science

In order to take into account the paramount importance of science for the modern world, Daehaeng Kunsunim founded the “Hanmaum Institute for Mind Science” (HIMS) in 1996, which now has 128 university professors and scientists. The spectrum of subject areas represented ranges from humanities, through traditional Asian medicine and conventional medicine, to natural and engineering sciences. Current interdisciplinary research projects include: a. with alternative healing methods for diseases that could not be successfully treated by conventional medicine and with connections between modern science and Buddhist teaching.

“Only with theories of the material world without the eye of the spiritual world, we cannot generate energy, because the material world arises from the spiritual world. Only when we are aware of this fact can we go over to the spiritual world "

(Daehaeng Kunsunim on the occasion of the founding of the HIMS on December 7, 1996)

literature

  • "Like flowing water" Goldmann ISBN 978-3-442-21819-6
  • "Hugging mountains and all living beings", the career of the Korean Zen master Dae-Haeng Keun Sunim
  • "Wherever you are, there is Buddha" Hanmaum Sonwon ISBN 3-935460-07-4
  • “Harmony” Dharma instruction from Zen master Daehaeng Kunsunim Hanmaum Seon Germany ISBN 3-935460-02-3
  • “The Gate to Liberation” Excerpts from the biography and teaching of Zen master Dae-Haeng Keun Sunim, Hanmaum Seon Center

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Daehaeng Kun Sunim, Korean Seon (Zen) teacher, dies at 85 . In: Sweeping Zen from May 23, 2012 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Daehaeng Kunsunim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 대행 (Korean, Hangeul); Dae-haeng (Revised Romanization); Taehaeng (McCune-Reischauer)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South Korean Zen Master
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Seoul
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 2012
Place of death Anyang (South Korea)