21 Facts About Hanam Jungwon

Hanam Jungwon was a Korean Buddhist monk and Seon master.

Hanam Jungwon was the spiritual head of what was to become the modern Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism.

Hanam Jungwon was the Dharma disciple of Gyeongheo Seongu, and the Dharma brother of Woelmyeon Mangong.

Hanam Jungwon entered Jangan Temple in the Diamond Mountains of present-day North Korea, and his guiding sunim was Haenglum Kumwol.

From 1899 to 1903, Hanam Jungwon Sunim spent the retreat seasons either studying under Kyongho Sunim or attending retreat seasons at other meditation halls in the region.

In 1904, at the age of 29, Hanam Jungwon Sunim became the head of the meditation hall at Tongdo Temple.

Hanam Jungwon stayed in that area until at least 1912.

One day, while starting a fire, Hanam Jungwon Sunim had his third enlightenment experience, and composed the following poems:.

Hanam Jungwon Sunim was in the Diamond Mountains, at Jangan Temple by 1922, and later just outside Seoul at Bongeun Temple in 1926.

Hanam Jungwon left then and, perhaps intending to return to the Diamond Mountains, wound up staying in the Odae Mountains, at Sangwon Temple.

Hanam Jungwon Sunim was famous for the diligence of his spiritual practice, and it is often said that during the last 25 years of his life he never once left his temple, Sangwon Temple, in the Odae Mountains.

Hanam Jungwon was elected as vice chairman of the meditation society, Son hakwon in 1934, and in 1936 he was elected as the Supreme Patriarch of the Jogye Order, and again in 1941, when it was reorganized.

Hanam Jungwon resigned in 1945, but was again elected in 1948 and asked to serve as Supreme Patriarch.

Hanam Jungwon Sunim is perhaps most popularly known for the events leading up to his death.

Hanam Jungwon Sunim died two months later, on March 21,1951, following a brief illness.

Hanam Jungwon Sunim was known for the diligence with which he upheld the traditional precepts for a Buddhist monk, along with the sincerity of his practice.

Hanam Jungwon said that monks should be adept at five things: Meditation, chanting, understanding the sutras, performing any needed ceremonies, and maintaining and protecting the temple.

Hanam Jungwon was quite flexible in his approach to hwadus and the meditation method known as silent illumination, emphasizing that neither method was inherently better or worse than the other.

Many of the monks who knew Hanam Jungwon Sunim commented on his strong faith in the teachings of cause and effect.

However, when Hanam Jungwon Sunim describes the fire to Kyongbong Sunim he didn't blame anyone specifically.

Hanam Jungwon Sunim alludes to these problems in his 23rd letter to Kyongbong Sunim:.