Hanam Sunim was born to an upper-class family in 1876 and received a traditional education in the Confucian classics, but at the age of 20, he left home and became a monk.

He entered Jangan Temple(長安寺) in the Diamond Mountains of present-day North Korea, and his guiding sunim was Haenglŭm Kŭmwŏl.

After several years, he came across a passage by the Koryo Dynasty Seon Master, Bojo Jinul, in Secrets on Cultivating the Mind: If they aspire to the path of the Buddha while obstinately holding to their feelings that the Buddha is outside the mind or the Dharma outside the nature, then, even though they pass through kalpas as numerous as dust motes, burning their bodies, charring their arms, crushing their bones and exposing their marrow, or else copying sutras with their own blood, never laying down to sleep, eating only one offering a day at the hour of the Hare (5-7 a.m.), or even studying through the entire Tripitaka and cultivating all sorts of ascetic practices, all of this is like trying to make rice by boiling sand―it will only add to their tribulation (Buswell 1983: 140-141).This precipitated his first enlightenment experience, in 1899.

They spent the summer retreat season of 1903 together at Haein Temple, and later that fall, Kyŏnghŏ Sunim headed north by himself.

One day, while starting a fire, Hanam Sunim had his third enlightenment experience, and composed the following poems: Making a fire in the kitchen, suddenly my eyes became bright.It's clear that the path leading here was due to karmic affinity,if someone were to ask me why Bodhidharma came from the west,I'd say that the sound of a spring under a rock is never wet.The dogs in the village bark, suspicious of memagpies cry out, as if mocking me.Eternally shining, the bright moon that is mind,swept the wind out of the world in an instant (Pang 1996: 456-457).Very little is known about this time in Hanam Sunim's life.

As the Maeng-san district is only 70-80 kilometers south of the Myohyang Mountains, it is probable that Hanam Sunim spent time at different temples there.

Hanam Sunim repeatedly refused to go to Seoul, where he would have been at the bidding of the Japanese government, and it seems that people confused this as a desire to stay in the Odae Mountains.

In a conversation with the Japanese Superintendent of Police, Hanam Sunim plainly states that he'd gone to Seoul to visit a dentist, and south to see Bulguk Temple.

Chong Go 2007: 75) During this time, he was frequently elected to high leadership positions within Korean Buddhism, usually without his consent.

During the Korean War, a Chinese army offensive broke through the UN lines in January 1951 and was rapidly advancing south.

Instead, Hanam Sunim returned to the Dharma Hall, put on his formal robe, and, sitting down, told the lieutenant to go ahead and burn the buildings.

The lieutenant couldn't get Hanam Sunim to leave, and so at great risk to himself (for disobeying orders in wartime) he instead piled all of the wooden doors and window shutters in the courtyard and burned those instead.

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

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

For example, in an article titled "21 Seon Questions and Answers,"[8] he gave several examples of how great Seon masters of the past had used both Hwadus and Reflective Illumination to teach different disciples, and in "Five Things that Sunims Should Practice," he explained how reciting the name of Buddha could lead to the state that transcended the discriminating consciousness, and thus lead to awakening.

Zingmark[12] relates the following stories that convey a sense of Hanam Sunim's faith in cause and effect: On February 22, 1947, two junior monks were studying in a small building within the Sangwŏn Temple compound.