Daehaeng Kun Sunim (1927–2012) was a Korean Buddhist nun and Seon (禪) master. She taught monks as well as nuns, and helped to increase the participation of young people in Korean Buddhism. She made laypeople a particular focus of her efforts, and broke out of traditional models of spiritual practice, teaching so that anyone could practice, regardless of monastic status or gender. She was also a major force for the advancement of Bhikkunis (nuns), heavily supporting traditional nuns’ colleges as well as the modern Bhikkuni Council of Korea. The temple she founded, Hanmaum Seon Center, grew to have 15 branches in Korea, with another 10 branches in other countries.
Life
Daehaeng Kun Sunim was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1927. Her family was originally quite wealthy, and owned large pieces of land stretching from what is now Itaewon down to the Han River. Her father was from an old Korean military family, and had continued to secretly support resistance to the Japanese Occupation of Korea. As a result, in 1932 or 1933, the Japanese secret police, the Kempeitai, came to arrest him. He was warned a few minutes before their arrival and escaped out the back of his home with his family. They fled south across the Han River, and lived in the mountains there in a dugout hut. Unable to safely contact friends or family, they lived in poverty, having to glean fields for leftover grains of rice or vegetables.Daehaeng Sunim. No River to Cross: Trusting the Englightenment That's Always Right Here, page xiii. Wisdom Publications, 2007
During this time, Daehaeng Kun Sunim wandered the forest and often slept outdoors in order to avoid her increasingly angry and abusive father. After two years of extreme neglect and deprivation in the wilderness, her fear of sleeping alone in the mountains vanished one night when she awoke to a warm and comforting presence which she called appa, "daddy," taking this to be her true father and parent. Daehaeng would eventually identify this appa with buddha-nature, which she also described as one's inner juingong, or "master who is void".Daehaeng Sunim. No River to Cross: Trusting the Englightenment That's Always Right Here, pages xiv-xv. Wisdom Publications, 2007
Following the end of the second world war, Daehaeng had her head shaved as a postulant (Korean: haengja) by Hanam Kun Sunim at mount Odaesan. However, shunning the routine and formal practices of the monastery, she took to a life of intense meditation in neighboring forests, as in her youth. In 1950, Daehaeng formally ordained as a novice (Korean: samini), and after the death of Hanam Sunim, and having personally witnessed the chaos of the Korean War, she vowed to intensify her practice. She spent many of the years that followed wandering the mountains of Korea, wearing ragged clothes and eating only what was at hand. Though later, she explained that she hadn't been pursuing some type of asceticism or physical hardship; rather, she was just completely absorbed in entrusting everything to her fundamental Buddha-essence and observing how that affected her life.Daehaeng Sunim. No River to Cross: Trusting the Englightenment That's Always Right Here, page xix. Wisdom Publications, 2007
Daehaeng experienced a series of awakenings during this period of extreme practice in the wilderness. In the last of these, she was surrounded by a vast brightness that extended in all directions, leaving her with an indescribable sense of fulfillment and comfort. After this awakening, Daehaeng experienced a permanent state of oneness with all things. She was said to have gained certain abilities as well, such as the power to speak with the dead and animals. At this time, Daehaeng also began experimenting with the power of mind to cure diseases, manifesting her first miracle when she reportedly cured a woman of an epileptic fit.
Around 1959, she settled in a hut below Sangwon Temple in the Chiak Mountains, and in 1961 she received full bhikṣuṇī ordination under a Ven. Ujin and the renowned scholar-monk Ven. Tanho, who were fellow students of Hanam Sunim. Throughout the sixties, she became well known for her powers as a healer, with purported cases of her having cured people of diseases including cancer, leukemia, polio, tuberculosis, as well as mental illness. However, Daehaeng was unlike traditional Korean shamans (mansin), as she attributed her powers to the "one mind" (hanmaum), or universal buddha-nature in all sentient beings. Receiving hundreds of visitors each day, she eventually began teaching people to rely on their own juingong within themselves.
In 1964, Daehaeng moved to the Wonju area to become more accessible to the public before again moving to Anyang, where in 1972 she established the Korean Buddhist Center (Daehan Bulgyo Hoegwan), which was later renamed the Hanmaum Seon Center (Hanmaum Seonwan). The early period of Daehaeng's teaching career was marked by strong iconoclasm. Echoing Zen masters of legend, she removed Buddha images from her organization's dharma halls and publicly burned introductory books on Buddhism. Later, when the Hanmaum Seon Center was officially registered with the Jogye Order, she enshrined a single statue of Buddha Śākyamuni. Also, in 1981, at the urging of Ven. Tanho, Daehaeng restored her bhikṣuṇī status, recovering her monastic registration with the order, which had been lost.Pori Park (2017) Uplifting Spiritual Cultivation for Lay People: Bhikṣuṇī Master Daehaeng (1927–2012) of the Hanmaum Seonwon (One Mind Sŏn Center) in South Korea, Contemporary Buddhism, 18:2, 419-436, DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2017.1377336
In 1984, she began giving public Dharma talks, becoming the first master in post-war Korea to popularize and make accessible Zen teachings among the laity. She eschewed formal ganhwa meditation, teaching instead a flexible and simple method of letting go and entrusting to juingong. For this, no cultivation was necessary. Rather, all that was required was faith in one's buddha-nature which is functioning throughout all one's daily life.Pori Park (2017) Uplifting Spiritual Cultivation for Lay People: Bhikṣuṇī Master Daehaeng (1927–2012) of the Hanmaum Seonwon (One Mind Sŏn Center) in South Korea, Contemporary Buddhism, 18:2, 419-436, DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2017.1377336 At the time of her death on May 22, 2012, she was the guiding teacher of over one hundred nuns, and the Dharma teacher of over fifty monks. The center she founded has a lay membership of over one hundred fifty thousand people, and has grown to twenty five branches around the world.
Daehaeng has been compared to a pratyekabuddha, or solitary buddha, who "awakened herself through many years of ascetic practices rather than through teachers or going through formal Buddhist training."Pori Park (2017) Uplifting Spiritual Cultivation for Lay People: Bhikṣuṇī Master Daehaeng (1927–2012) of the Hanmaum Seonwon (One Mind Sŏn Center) in South Korea, Contemporary Buddhism, 18:2, 419-436, DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2017.1377336 Kyungrae Kim and Cheonghwan Park also observe that Daehaeng never received dharma transmission, but rather bypassed "traditional routes of monastic training and mentorship," with the Hanmaum Seon Center presenting her as a solitary buddha "who attained enlightenment independently without the help of a teacher." In spite of the importance of dharma transmission within the Jogye Order, it has not questioned Daehaeng's lack of transmission, with Daehaeng receiving praise from senior members of the order's administration.
Teachings
Hanmaum A core concept in Daehaeng's teaching is Hanmaum, or the "One Mind." Han means "one," "combined," or "infinite," while maum means "mind." Thus, for Daehaeng, Hanmaum refers to the infinite and combined interconnected whole, in which all lives and things function together as one. It can also be understood as the fundamental mind, which is intangible and invisible, without beginning or end. As such, Hanmaum transcends time and space. According to Daehaeng, the entire universe and all beings in it are embraced by Hanmaum. As she explains, since buddha-nature is one, all lives and minds are inherently one, even though they appear with different physical bodies, similar to the way in which many different light bulbs may all be lit up by a single electricity. As Daehaeng says, "Hanmaum connects all things as one, just as the same electricity brightens this light bulb and that one."Daehaeng Sunim. No River to Cross: Trusting the Englightenment That's Always Right Here, pages 9-10. Wisdom Publications, 2007
Juingong Another central concept of Daehaeng's is Juingong, one's true foundation. According to Daehaeng's teaching, where one's body and thoughts are like branches and leaves, Juingong is their root. It is the essence upon which one's existence is based. Daehaeng explains Juingong as the true doer which sustains and takes care of everything. Doing everything, it is empty and lacks any fixed shape, while changing and manifesting ceaselessly. Juingong is also "Buddha," having bright wisdom, while guiding and leading all beings forward. Daehaeng likens Juingong to a vast furnace which can dissolve and transform all painful circumstances. As she explains, "Any kind of disaster or painful karma is just a snowflake in front of it." Juingong is the power of buddha-nature, possessed by each and every life.Daehaeng Sunim. No River to Cross: Trusting the Englightenment That's Always Right Here, pages 10-12. Wisdom Publications, 2007
In traditional Chan sources, Juingong (Ch. Zhurengong) is written 主人公 and means "master" or "owner."See, for example: A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace: The Zen Teachings of Huangbo with a Modern Commentary by Seon Master Subul, translated by Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Seong-Uk Kim, page 48, Wisdom Publications, 2019 However, Daehaeng's Juingong replaces the last character with the character for emptiness, and is thus written 主人空 in order to emphasize the Mahāyāna notion of the emptiness of the Dharma realm (which is also paradoxically a fullness).Middlebrooks, Marcie. A Brief Imaginative History of the Birth and Conception of Master Daehaeng's Juingong, in 2004 International Conference: Korean Nuns within the Context of East Asian Buddhist Traditions, Vol. 2 English, page 434, Hanmaum Seonwon.
Faith Daehaeng taught that one must be able to let go and entrust all things to Juingong. According to Daehaeng, this letting go and entrusting requires faith, for as she explains, "without faith, you can't let go."Daehaeng Sunim. No River to Cross: Trusting the Englightenment That's Always Right Here, page 47. Wisdom Publications, 2007. On the other hand, with faith, entrusting happens in an instant, leaving one without anything further to worry about.Daehaeng Sunim. No River to Cross: Trusting the Englightenment That's Always Right Here, page 40. Wisdom Publications, 2007. In this way, Daehaeng explained that faith is meditation. She likened belief in one's foundation to a tree's reliance upon its root. As she explained, "The only thing you need to do is believe in your root. Completely rely upon it. All those trees [pointing outside] live by relying upon their root. To ask them if they believe in their root is like asking a person if they have a head. Absurd."Daehaeng. Sharing the Same Heart: Parents, Children, and Our Inherent Essence, pages 54-55. Hanmaum Seonwon Foundation, 2017. Entrusting Daehaeng taught that we should have faith and leave everything to our foundation, Juingong, without worrying about anything. She likened Juingong to a skillful servant that knows how to execute its tasks well. However, the more we try to intervene or meddle in its duties, the more it steps back, leaving us to rely on our own devices. So, instead, we should just entrust everything to Juingong and let go. This entrusting is not something we need to force. She said: