Our Teachers
Zen Masters and Dharma Masters of the Kwan Um School
Bon Shim, Soen Sa Nim
Bon Shim Soen Sa Nim (Zen Master Aleksandra Porter) received inka in 1992 from Zen Master Seung Sahn and transmission in 2006 from Zen Master Wu Bong. Bon Shim SSN is the Guiding Teacher of Kwan Um School of Zen centers and groups in Poland, the Czech Republic and Spain… Read More
Ji Kwang, Soen Sa Nim
Ji Kwang Soen Sa Nim (Zen Master Roland Wöhrle-Chon) received Inka in February 2000 and Dharma Transmission in April 2012 from Zen Master Wu Bong. Ji Kwang SSN is the guiding teacher of Zen groups in Germany and Israel... Read More
Joeng Hye, Soen Sa Nim
Joeng Hye Soen Sa Nim (Zen Master Andrzej Piotrowski) received Inka in March 2000 and Dharma Transmission in March 2016 from Zen Master Dae Kwang. Joeng Hye SSN is the guiding teacher of Kwan Um Zen groups in Poland and Lithuania… Read More
Gu Ja, Soen Sa Nim
Gu Ja Soen Sa Nim (Zen Master Namhee Chon) received Inka in May 2008 and Dharma Transmission in April 2017 from Zen Master Bon Shim. Gu Ja SSN is Guiding Teacher for the Berlin Zen Center (ZZB) and the Abbess of the Kwan Um School of Zen in Germany… Read More
Hyon Ja, Soen Sa Nim
Alma Potter SSN received Inka in May 2008 at the Berlin Zen Center from Zen Master Wu Bong. She is Guiding Teacher for centers and groups in Austria, Spain, Hungary and Mexico… Read More
Chon Mun Sunim, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Chon Mun Sunim JDPSN (Dharma Master) received Inka in April 2002 In Providence Zen Center. He began studying with Zen Master Seung Sahn in his native Poland in 1980. In 1986… Read More
Ja An, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Ja An JDPSN (Dharma Master Bogumila Malinowska) is the Guiding Teacher of the Kwan Um School of Zen in London. She received Inka from Zen Master Wu Bong in September 2009 at the Warsaw Zen Center. Read More
Arne Schaefer, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Arne Schaefer JDPSN received Inka in April 2010 from Zen Master Wu Bong and is the Guiding Teacher of the Dresden Zen Center and the Zen groups in Hamburg and Bad Bramstedt… Read More
Koen Vermeulen, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Koen Vermeulen JDPSN received Inka from Zen Master Wu Bong in Poland on March 9, 2013. He lives with his family below the Brussels Zen Center and is the resident teacher in Brussels… Read More
Igor Piniński, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Igor Piniński JDPSN received Inka from Zen Master Bon Shim at Wu Bong Sa in Poland on March 9, 2013. He was the abbot of the Łódź Zen Center for 14 years and is now the resident teacher there… Read More
George Hazlbauer, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
George Hazlbauer JDPSN received Inka from from Zen Master Dae Kwang In 2016, he was the abbot in the american school’s main temple in Providence. Currently he serves as abbot in Vrazne Zen Center, Czech Republic … Read More
Yuval Gill, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Yuval Gill JDPSN received Inka from Zen Master Ji Kwang in 2016 at Wu Bong Sa, Poland on 2016. Yuval co-founded the first Kwan Um Zen Center in Tel Aviv. Today, he is the Abbot of Kwan Um Israel … Read More
Knud Rosenmayr, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Knud Rosenmayr JDPSN received Inka from Zen Master Ji Kwang in 2016 at Wu Bong Sa, Poland on 2016. Since 1999 he is the group director of the Viennese Kwan Um Zen group and became the abbot of the Vienna Zen Center in 2013. … Read More
Lizzie Coombs, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Lizzie Coombs JDPSN received inka from Zen Master Seong Hyang in 2018 at Providence Zen Center, U.S.A. She started practicing with the Kwan Um School of Zen in 1987 in the U.S.A and trained with Zen Master Soeng Hyang and Zen Master Dae Kwang Sunim, mostly at Providence Zen Center… Read More
Barbara Pardo, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Barbara Pardo JDPSN received inka from Zen Master Bon Shim in 2019. Barbara’s father, Fernando, was one of Zen Master Seung Sahn’s first students in Spain, and has been the abbot of Bori Sa Temple in Barcelona since the 1980s. Read More
Tolo Cantarellas, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Bartolomé Cantarellas Socías JDPSN received inka from Zen Master Bon Shim in September 2019. He met Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1981 at a retreat that was held in a monastery in Palma de Mallorca. In 1983 Bartolomé moved to Girona, in Catalonia, where he lived at Ahabah, a community that organized retreats and therapies for groups. Read More
Jan Sendzimir, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Jan Sendzimir JDPSN received Inka from Zen Master Ji Kwang September 2022. Jan was born in the USA to a Polish father and a French mother. He began practicing with Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1975 in Providence Rhode Island. Since then he has been practicing and living in different Kwan Um Zen Centers in the US and Europe. He works as a scientist and focuses on climate change, resilience and sustainability. His work has taken him across the globe. Additionally, he is a passionate photographer in his free time. He lives in Vienna Austria with his life-partner and is the abbot of the Vienna Zen Center. He has two daughters.
Dušan Silváši, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Dušan Silváši JDPSN received inka from Zen Master Gu Ja in September 2022. He was born in Košice, Slovakia. In 1992 he started practicing with the Kwan Um School of Zen, first with Zen Master Wu Bong and Zen Master Dae Kwang and later with Oleg Šuk JDPSN. He works as an IT specialist and has also been a teacher of Karate for many years. He has been the abbot of Košice Zen Center for 17 years. He has 2 children with his wife Olga (also a longtime Zen practitioner) and together with her he has been working on spreading the teaching of Zen to a much wider audience with projects involving Yoga, Karate and recently also with IT professionals.
Tonda Horåk, Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Tonda Horåk JDPSN received Inka from Zen Master Bon Shim in September 2022. He was born in Czech Republic and started practicing Zen in 1999, and he was a novice and monk in Korea in Musang Sah from 2002 till 2010. When he met Barbara Pardo JDPSN, he fell in love, left monkhood and they got married. Since 2010 they have been living in Spain and together with Zen Master Bon Shim they founded the Retreat Center Bori Sa in the Pyrenees where they live and organize many retreats.
In Memoriam
Wu Bong, Soen Sa Nim
Wu Bong Soen Sa Nim (Zen Master Jacob Perl) was the Head Teacher of the European Kwan Um School of Zen from 1995 to 2013… Read More
Oleg Šuk, Ji Do Poep Sa Nim
Oleg Šuk JDPSN (Dharma Master Shim Jeom) received Inka from Zen Master Wu Bong in September 2009. He was the Guiding Teacher for Kwan Um School of Zen groups in Slovakia, Russia, Latvia and the Czech Republic… Read More
Myong Hae Sunim JDPS
Myong Hae Sunim JDPS was the first Buddhist nun in Lithuania. After becoming a nun in Korea in 1997, she moved to Hong Kong and was trained by Zen Master Dae Kwan. In 2016, she received “inka”, or permission to teach, and became a “Ji Do Poep Sa Nim” in the International Kwan Um School and the second guiding teacher of Su Bong Zen Monastery Read More
Our teachers attend annual meetings to discuss Sangha matters.
“Zen Master Seung Sahn gave transmission to Zen Masters and inka (teaching authority) to senior students called Ji Do Poep Sa Nims or Dharma Masters.”
Seon Sa Nim is a Korean title meaning “Honored Zen Master”, abbreviated SSN. Ji Do Peop Sa Nim means “Honored Dharma Master Guide, abbreviated JDPSN.
