| Dae Gak | |
|---|---|
| Religion | Seon |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | American |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Furnace Mountain |
| Title | Zen master |
| Predecessor | Dae Soen Sa Nim |
| Religious career | |
| Students | Sen Shin |
| Website | www.furnacemountain.org |
Dae Gak (born 1947), born Robert Genthner, is a Zen master and the guiding teacher of Furnace Mountain in Clay City, Kentucky, a Korean Buddhist temple and retreat center co-founded in 1986 with Seung Sahn (Dae Soen Sa Nim). He received Dharma transmission from Seung Sahn in 1994. He also holds a Ph.D. in psychology and is currently a licensed psychologist in the state of Kentucky. He is no longer a teacher in Seung Sahn's Kwan Um school. He has founded his own school, with groups in North America, Germany and England.
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Dae Gak was born as Robert Genther in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1947. He first developed an interest in Zen Buddhism in 1969, the same year he graduated from American International College in Springfield. While doing graduate work at Kent State University, two of his students were killed during the shootings at Kent State University.
Dae Gak graduated from Kent State in 1973 with his Ph.D. in clinical psychology, later that year teaching psychology at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. He stopped teaching in 1979 [1], afterward practicing as a licensed psychologist.[2]
Throughout the 1970s he practiced under various teachers, including Eido Tai Shimano, Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Taizan Maezumi and Maurine Stuart. These were all teachers in the Rinzai school, with the exception of Maezumi, who taught a combination of Rinzai and Sōtō Zen.
In 1979, Dae Gak met Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim during a retreat at the Providence Zen Center. In the early 1980s, he and several other individuals founded the Lexington Zen Center in his home, with retreats sometimes taking place at the homes of other practitioners. The "center" later became affiliated with Seung Sahn's Kwan Um School of Zen that was founded in July 1983; in 1988 he received "inka," or authorization to teach koans and lead retreats.[3] In 1986, he co-founded a Zen temple at Furnace Mountain with Seung Sahn. The temple, Kwan Se Um San Ji Sah, was completed in 1994. Also that year, Dae Gak received Dharma transmission from Seung Sahn, making him one of his earliest Dharma heirs;[1][2] he also founded the Cincinnati Zen Center.
During the 1980s, Dae Gak befriended Cambodian monk Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda, who became a frequent visitor to Furnace Mountain. Dae Gak also attended retreats with the Vietnamese monk and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.
In 2000 Dae Gak left the Kwan Um school.[3] He has since established groups in North America, Germany and England.[4][5][6]
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