The Human Route

Coming empty-handed, going empty-handed -- that is human.
When you are born, where do you come from?
When you die, where do you go?
Life is like a floating cloud which appears.
Death is like a floating cloud which disappears.
The floating cloud itself originally does not exist.
Life and death, coming and going, are also like that.
But there is one thing which always remains clear.
It is pure and clear, not depending on life and death.

Then what is the one pure and clear thing?

The Kwan Um School

The Kwan Um School of Zen is an international organization of more than a hundred centers and groups founded by Zen Master Seung Sahn, the first Korean Zen Master to live and teach in the West. The School's purpose is to make this practice of Zen Buddhism available to an ever-growing number of students throughout the world.

The heart of the Kwan Um School of Zen is the daily practice which goes on in its Zen centers and groups. Students and visitors eat together, work together, and meditate together -- gradually attaining a clear compassionate mind which moment to moment is able to help all beings.

We offer training in Zen meditation through meditation instruction, daily morning and evening practice, public talks, teaching interviews, sittings, retreats and workshops. Our programs are open to anyone regardless of previous experience and are often offered at no cost.

Our listing of Zen Centers and groups can help you locate the one nearest you.

Our School's Teachers

The founding teacher of our School is Zen Master Seung Sahn, the 78th Patriarch in his line of transmission in the Chogye order of Korean Buddhism. In 1972 he came to the United States and started the Providence Zen Center, the first center in what is now the Kwan Um School. He and his students have founded over a hundred temples, centers, and groups around the world. His books include Ten Gates, The Compass of Zen, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha, Only Don't Know and The Whole World is a Single Flower -- 365 Kong-ans for Everyday Life.

Zen Master Seung Sahn has given transmission to Zen Masters and "inka" -- teaching authority -- to senior students called Ji Do Poep Sa Nims (Dharma Masters).

More on Zen Master Seung Sahn
Biographies of our Zen Masters and Ji Do Poep Sa Nims

Primary Point Press

Our Primary Point Press offers books, videos, and audio on the teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahn and the Kwan Um School of Zen.

Visit our on-line catalog

About Membership

Membership entitles one to reduced rates for retreats and other Zen Center events, as well as subscriptions to our newsletters and Primary Point, the journal of the Kwan Um School. Dues help support your Center, the School and the transmission of Zen teaching.