Dae Gak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dae Gak | |
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| Information | |
| Birth name: | Robert Genther |
| Born: | c. 1947 |
| Place of birth: | Springfield, Massachusetts, United States |
| Nationality: | American |
| Religion: | Seon |
| Title(s): | Zen master |
| Workplace: | Furnace Mountain |
| Education: | American International College Kent State University |
| Predecessor(s): | Dae Soen Sa Nim |
| Student(s): | Sen Shin |
| Children: | Maggie and Sam Genther |
| Website | |
| Website: | www.furnacemountain.org |
Dae Gak (b. 1947), born Robert Genther, is a Zen master and Guiding teacher of Furnace Mountain in Clay City, Kentucky, a Korean Buddhist temple and retreat center co-founded with him by Dae Soen Sa Nim in 1986. He received Dharma transmission from Seung Sahn in 1994—while practicing in the Kwan Um School of Zen—and has more than three decades of Zen training. He also holds a Ph.D. in psychology and conducts therapy in private practice. He has since left the Kwan Um lineage, founding his own groups in areas of North America, Germany and England. His departure was in accordance with Seung Sahn's own views on Zen in the United States, with Seung Sahn having stated, "As more Zen Masters appear, their individual styles will emerge. Perhaps some of them will make their own schools. So maybe, slowly, this Korean style will disappear and be replaced by an American style or American styles. But the main line does not change."[1]
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[edit] Biography
Dae Gak was born as Robert Genther in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1947. He first developed his interest in Zen Buddhism in 1969, the same year that he graduated from American International College in Springfield. While doing his graduate work that following year, two of his students were killed during the shootings at Kent State University. Throughout the 1970s he practiced under various teachers, including Eido Tai Shimano, Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Taizan Maezumi and Maurine Stuart. With the exception of Maezumi, these were all teachers in the Rinzai school. During the 1980s he befriended the late Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda and also did retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen master. Before his death in 2007, Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda had been a frequent visitor of Furnace Mountain. Dae Gak graduated from Kent State in 1973 with his Ph.D. in clinical psychology, which he taught to university students at Eastern Kentucky University later that year. He stayed on at Eastern Kentucky University until 1979, when he decided to open his private practice in Lexington, Kentucky.[2]
It was in 1979 that Dae Gak first met Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim during a retreat at the Providence Zen Center. In the early 1980s he opened the Lexington Zen Center in his home for the Kwan Um School of Zen, and in 1988 he received inka from Seung Sahn (making him a Ji Do Poep Sa Nim).[3] In 1986 he had co-founded Furnace Mountain with Seung Sahn—where the Meditation Hall was completed in 1990. In 1994 Kwan Se Um San Ji Sah (the temple at Furnace Mountain) was finished. Also that year, Dae Gak received Dharma transmission from Seung Sahn—making him one of his earliest Dharma heirs[1][2]—and opened the Cincinnati Zen Center, a non-profit Zen center which is located in the neighborhood of Price Hill. In 2000 Dae Gak had decided to establish his own lineage and left the Kwan Um School of Zen[3], and has since founded his own groups in areas of North America, Germany and England.[4][5][6]
[edit] Gallery
 Dae Gak, guiding teacher of Furnace Mountain |
 The road leading into Furnace Mountain—you can see the bluff above |
 George Bowman, resident hermit at Furnace Mountain |
 Individual retreat house for guests at Furnace Mountain |
[edit] Groups
- Cincinnati Zen Center (Cincinnati, OH)
- Dae Do Sah Zen Group (Washington, D.C.)
- Hamilton Zen Center (Hamilton, OH)
- Northern Kentucky Zen Center (Erlanger, KY)
- Still Water Zen Center (Richmond, VA)
- Zen Island Fellowship (Galveston, TX)
[edit] Affiliates
- Mansfield Zen Center (Mansfield, OH)
- Queensland Zen Centre (Queensland, AU)
- Zen Society of Wooster (Wooster, OH)
[edit] Bibliography
- (1997) Going Beyond Buddha: The Awakening Practice of Listening. Charles E. Tuttle, 256. ISBN 0804831165.
[edit] See also
- George Bowman (resident hermit at Furnace Mountain)
- Furnace Mountain
- Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Zen workshop coming in April. Galveston County Daily News (2006-03-13). Retrieved on 2008-01-02.
- Ford, James Ishmael (2006). Zen Master Who? The Guide to the People and Stories of Zen. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0861715098.
- Ho Youn Kwon; Kwang Chung Kim; Stephen R. Warner (2001). Korean Americans and Their Religions: Pilgrims and Missionaries from a Different Shore. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0271020733.
- Strecker, Zoe Ayn (2007). Kentucky Off the Beaten Path, 8th Edition. Globe Pequot. ISBN 0762742011.
- Prebish, Charles S (1999). Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. University of California Press, p. 34. ISBN 0520216970.
- Rinaldi, Joshua (2003-10-15). Everything Zen: Center in Cincinnati teaches art of meditation. The News Records. Retrieved on 2008-01-02.
[edit] External links
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