Samu (sunim)

He was ordained as a disciple of Tongsan (1890–1965) and he completed his Zen training under Solbong at Beomeosa (범어사) in Busan, South Korea in 1956 at the age of 15.

[2][3] It was here that he was married to Marianne Bluger (whom he met at McGill University through the Religious Studies Department) and where his two children were born.

After moving with his wife Marianne and two small children to Toronto, Canada in 1971 Samu renounced his family, choosing to identify as a Buddhist teacher and focus on that.

Samu reactivated the Zen Lotus Society from a basement apartment on Markham Street in Toronto serving the Korean-Canadian community and gave meditation instruction during the week.

Samu and a small group of his students moved the Zen Lotus Society into a former synagogue on Vaughan Road, in Toronto.

In 1988 the Zen Lotus Society in Toronto moved to larger premises in the former Ukrainian Credit Union and Community Centre on College Street, where in 1989 Samu organized A Day of Celebration in Honor of the Dalai Lama receiving the Nobel Prize for Peace.

On the day when I finished my retreat I held a service in which I invited the spirit of Solbong Sunim and asked his Dharma be transmitted.

I offered the following gatha for the occasion: Having grown trees without root;Having built gates with no pillarsYou have allowed all beings to come in and outAnd to enjoy joy and sorrow!Larger than heaven and smaller than a grain of sandThe meritorious acts of the Buddhas and Patriarchs are,           I now realize.Ah-ah, Oh-oh, uh-uh, Ih-ih, Eh-eh, Bodhi Svaha.”[1] Samu claimed to have received a more traditional authorization as a Zen master from Weolha in 1983.

[5][6] The Zen Lotus society was founded as a non-profit religious organization and North American Buddhist Order.

The experience of more than twenty years of Seon-Zen Lotus Society paved the way for making the necessary transition from Asian forms of monastic Buddhism to salvation and enlightenment for all.

During the daytime he would make posters and put them up in Washington Square Park and Greenwich Village.

The Zen Lotus Society became established in a second floor apartment at 3628 Park Avenue in Montreal, where Samu finally settled with his wife Marianne and where his son Michael (Maji b.

In the summer of '69 the Society acquired a piece of land near Brockville, Ontario, in an attempt to develop a rural spiritual community and to provide a site for holding countryside retreats.

After a few attempts to establish a practicing community in a rented house, the Society purchased and old, run down flophouse in Parkdale in 1979.