Zen Master Daehaeng

Seon Master Daehaeng was born in Seoul, in 1927, and was widely regarded as one of Korea’s foremost seon(zen) masters. She awakened at a young age and spent the decades afterwards applying what she experienced.

For many years she had struggled with the question of why people suffer. Seon Master Daehaeng realized that ultimately the answer was ignorance. People were unaware of the non-dual foundation that connects all existence. Unaware of this inherent connection, people lived as if they were disconnected from everyone else. Unaware of the ever-changing nature of reality, people tried to grip and immobilize that which is ever flowing. Unaware that their foundation is endowed with all of the ability of the universe, people thought themselves weak and helpless, limited to the kindness of others or the ability of their intellect.

Thus, people suffered because their behaviors and thoughts were not in harmony with the underlying truth of our world. And because people didn’t know about this inherent foundation, with its infinite ability, they also didn’t know how to free themselves from the suffering they had made.

So Seon Master Daehaeng began teaching people to entrust, to let go of, everything that confronts them to their inherent foundation, and then to go forward while observing. By continuing to apply and experiment with what we understand, a small grain of faith can grow into a great ball of flame that burns up all attachments and habits of the body and mind. Once this cloud of habits and discriminations has lifted, our inherently bright foundation, our true nature, can shine through.