Jacob Perl was born in 1950 in Wroclaw, Poland, into a Jewish family. He has been the head teacher of the Kwan Um School of Zen of Europe. In 1963 Jacob Perl migrated from Poland to the US with his family, where he attended school and university, getting a degree in mathematics at Brown University. Before meeting Zen Master Seung Sahn, the founder of the Kwan Um School of Zen, and becoming his first American student in 1972, Jacob Perl practiced with some other important spiritual leaders: with the Japanese Suzuki Roshi at the the San Francisco Zen Center, and later with Tarthang Tulku at the Tibetan Nyingmapa Meditation Center in Berkeley, California. In 1978 Zen Master Wu Bong helped Zen Master Seung Sahn to establish the first Kwan Um School of Zen center in Poland. In 1984 he was given teaching authority (inka) and started teaching regularly in the USA, Europe, and Africa. In 1993 he was given Dharma Transmission and soon thereafter, together with his wife and children, moved to Paris, France, where they founded the Paris Zen Center. In 2008 he moved to Korea to prepare himself to become a monk. In order to keep a place in Europe he moved into the Berlin Zen Center, which from that time onward became his home in Europe. In 2009 he was ordained as a Buddhist monk in Korea. Wu Bong Sunim Seon Sa left his body after a cardiac arrest on Wednesday April 17th 2013 at 1 pm while leading a Zen Retreat at Paris Zen Center. He is greatly missed by his family and all his students and disciples in the Kwan Um School in Europe and worldwide.

The Kwan Um School of Zen

The Kwan Um School of Zen is an international organization of Zen centers and groups founded under the direction of the Korean monk and Zen Master Seung Sahn. The School began with the establishment of its international head temple, the Providence Zen Center, in 1972. Over the years, Zen Master Seung Sahn and his successors have established over 100 Zen centers and groups in more than 20 countries. The heart of the Kwan Um School of Zen is the practice. Zen Master Seung Sahn very simply taught “Don’t Know”. This means, in each moment to open unconditionally to all that presents itself to us. By doing this, our innate wisdom and compassion will naturally breathe and flow into our lives. The Zen centers of the Kwan Um School of Zen around the world offer training in Zen meditation through instruction, daily morning and evening meditation practice, public talks, teaching interviews, retreats, workshops, and community living.

Music

Links:

Website Kwan Um Zen Schule