Zen master Wu Bong

Our revered Zen Master Wu Bong Sunim Dae Seon Sa was born into a Jewish family in Wroclaw (Breslau) on June 22, 1950. The family suffered greatly during the German occupation of Poland in the Second World War. In 1964, they decided to leave Europe and emigrate to the USA.
Jacob Perl, as he was known at the time, finished high school in the USA in 1968. In 1970, at the age of 20, he began practicing Zen with the famous Soto Zen teacher Suzuki Roshi at the San Francisco Zen Center. The questions of life and death were very urgent for him. On his further search for a teacher, he met Tarthang Tulku and practiced Tibetan Buddhism with him for a year.
During his studies at Brown University in Providence, he trained in Shim Gum Do and became a master in this martial art. During his time as a student at Brown University, he also met Zen master Seung Sahn in 1972 and became one of his first students. In the same year, he completed his first individual retreat, which lasted 100 days. He was 22 years old at the time. He took the five vows and received his Buddhist name Peop Mu, which means “Empty Dharma” or “No Dharma”.

In 1973, he graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Pure Arts (Mathematics). After graduating from university, he took part in many more Zen retreats and returned to Europe for the first time in 1978 with Seung Sahn Dae Seon Sa Nim in his home country of Poland. From then on, a Sangha developed in Poland, which grew steadily and became the largest in the European school.
In 1978, he completed his second 100-day individual retreat in the USA, during which his health was damaged due to a very strict diet and hard practice.
In 1984, he received Inka (teaching authorization) from Dae Seon Sa Nim and became an official supporter of the Polish Sangha, although he continued to live in the USA. From then on, he traveled to Poland very often.

In 1988, he married Grazyna and shortly afterwards adopted her son Nicholas, who was born in 1979. Their son Matthew was born in 1989. In 1992, the founder of the Kwan Um Zen School, Zen Master Seung Sahn, officially appointed him as the European main teacher of the Kwan Um Zen School.

In 1993, he received the Dharma transmission from Zen master Seung Sahn and was given the enlightenment name Wu Bong, “Universal Peak”. At that time, he lived with his family at the Providence Zen Center, where he served as abbot for many years. Shortly afterwards, he moved to Paris with his family and set up the Zen Center Paris with his wife. As he was still working a lot in the USA, he regularly commuted between the continents.
Since receiving his Inka (teaching license) in 1984, he has taught a lot in Asia, South Africa and America, but mainly in Europe.
In 2000, he taught Inka for the first time to his student Mukyong. In 2006, he gave his first Dharma transmission to Zen master Bon Shim. In 2012, he gave his second Dharma transmission, this time to Zen master Ji Kwang. He gave a total of two Dharma transmissions and seven of his students received Inka (teaching authorization).
In 2008 he moved to Korea to prepare for monk ordination. In order to continue to have a place to live in Europe, he moved to the Zen Center Berlin, which from then on became his European residence. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk in Korea in 2009.
He led and taught the European Sangha alongside his teaching activities in Korea until the end of his life. He led Kyol Che’s in the Korean temples Mu Sang Sa, Hyang Chung Sa, Hwa Gye Sa and Boep-hwa Doryang. He had also lived in Boep-hwa Doryang since 2011 when he was in Korea. It is the temple of his Korean friend and student Deok Hyeon Sunim.
Wu Bong Sunim left his body after a cardiac arrest on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 1 p.m. while leading a Zen retreat at the Zen Center Paris.