Dae Gak

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.

Biography

From left to right: Su Bong, Seung Sahn, and Dae Gak

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 of 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]

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

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)

Affiliates

• Mansfield Zen Center (Mansfield, OH)
• Queensland Zen Centre (Queensland, AU)
• Zen Society of Wooster (Wooster, OH)

Bibliography

• Going Beyond Buddha: The Awakening Practice of Listening. Charles E. Tuttle. 1997. pp. 256. ISBN 0804831165. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36386263&tab=editions. 

See also

• George Bowman (resident hermit at Furnace Mountain)
• Furnace Mountain
• Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States

Notes

1. ^ Morreale, 151
2. ^ Kwon, 257
3. ^ Ford, 106
4. ^ Rinaldi
5. ^ Galveston County News
6. ^ Prebish, 34

References

• "Zen workshop coming in April". Galveston County Daily News. 2006-03-13. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=8f0745b19877f006. Retrieved 2008-01-02. 
• Ford, James Ishmael (2006). Zen Master Who? The Guide to the People and Stories of Zen. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0861715098. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70174891&referer=one_hit. 
• 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. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/43845570&referer=one_hit. 
• Strecker, Zoe Ayn (2007). Kentucky Off the Beaten Path, 8th Edition. Globe Pequot. ISBN 0762742011. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/85373568&referer=one_hit. 
• Prebish, Charles S (1999). Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. University of California Press. pp. 34. ISBN 0520216970. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/39299808&referer=one_hit. 
• Rinaldi, Joshua (2003-10-15). "Everything Zen: Center in Cincinnati teaches art of meditation". The News Records. http://media.www.newsrecord.org/media/storage/paper693/news/2003/10/15/Spotlight/Everything.Zen-695242.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-02. 
• "Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology License Verification". Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology. https://web1.ky.gov/OnPPub/Verification.aspx. 

External links

• Official site for Furnace Mountain
• Kwan Um transmission speech

Persondata
Name	Gak, Dae
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth	Springfield, Massachusetts, United States
Date of death
Place of death