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Introduction
Welcome to This Is Seon
Seon is directly pointing to your mind. If you encounter words like this for the first time, they can seem confusing, even though they are not meant to be. In fact, Seon does not require words at all.
If you are new here, please watch this introductory video from a recent retreat.
When you feel like you've listened to this video so many times there's nothing left to get from there, you can get access to more recordings by subscribing to the White or Black membership. You can do this in the Member Area, which is accessible by clicking your name in the upper right corner.
In the begining, if you'd like, you can send a simple email to Nim. Just send a . as a subject and a message. In Seon way, this is enough. The email address is info@thisisseon.com.
Enlightenment
Buddhism, Seon & Enlightenment
Enlightenment was the goal of the Buddha, and it's also the ultimate goal of Buddhism.
Before, and after his enlightenment, the Buddha preached solely for the purpose of enlightenment, and that continued until the day he died.
There is no path to enlightenment, because we are all already enlightened.
That's why the unspeakable cannot be explained in words or writing, and why it's called enlightenment, which confirms itself by direct experience in life or through mysterious hints of Seon (Zen).
However, after the Buddha's death, the word enlightenment became a symbolic word, and the Buddha's wisdom teachings were perverted and transformed into tools of usefulness in life.
I, too, have traveled the world in search of the truth since childhood and have met many Buddhist disciples and their teachers, but the misguided teachings of the majority of unenlightened people and even famous teachers have defined enlightenment as a word made up by their own ideas and thin knowledge, and now the word enlightenment has become a word that ordinary people do not even dare to utter.
In doing so, they either escape from the compulsion of enlightenment or postpone it to the next life, and spend their entire lives simply relying on the words of the Buddha, studying them, adding their own interpretations to them, creating and selling false knowledge in books, and living as if they were enlightened saints with the Buddha as a backdrop, deceiving the world and even themselves.
Since ancient times, Seon (Zen) has been a powerful prescription to defeat these ills and fake masters in one fell swoop, and this is the essence of Seon (Zen): straightforward teaching, straightforward realization.
Once again, Buddhism means "the religion of enlightenment", and Buddha means "the enlightened one".
How much clearer do we need to be about what Buddha is and what Buddhism is?
Buddhism without enlightenment is not Buddhism, and anyone who sets up a statue of a Buddha and brings people together to talk about anything other than enlightenment is a false master.
The 2500-year history of Buddhism and the life story of the Buddha can be studied and taught, but finding the true self can never be understood through knowledge, and enlightenment is the right and mission of each of us.
Therefore, when a person who believes in the Buddha and lives by his virtues speaks of anything other than enlightenment, he violates the Buddha's will, blinds himself and others, and hinders enlightenment.
Please forgive me for stating the obvious, as I am sure there are many monks and people who are already on the right path to enlightenment.
Seon = Zen = Mind
The Korean name for Zen as we commonly know it is Seon.
To clear up some of the misconceptions about the original name, Zen, we'll refer to it by its Korean name, Seon.
For example, Zen has been mistakenly perceived as something that belongs to hard-working ascetics who have given up their lives and is far removed from the daily lives of ordinary people, and Seon's purpose, enlightenment, has been reduced to a difficult task that is beyond the reach of ordinary people, and its meaning has been greatly altered by unenlightened Buddhist monks and their intellectual followers, who have mistaken it for a mere discipline.
Let me be clear, our nature is not something to be learnt, begged from special powers or sought from outside, it is our birthright.
Enlightenment is not found, nor can it be earned, by meditation or any form of practice.
If anyone says they can give you enlightenment, or that they have a secret formula, they are leading everyone around them down a slippery slope, not just themselves.
All Buddhist practices, including meditation, are like medicines, providing comfort for a limited time and allowing us to go on with our lives, but not solving the problems of our nature.
What is so clear is that Buddha means 'awakened one' and Buddhism is the 'religion of awakening'.
Historically, the founder of Seon (Zen) is Bodhi-Dharma of the Shaolin Temple in China.
Bodhi-Dharma is the 28th Patriarch of Buddhism who received the Dharma from the Buddha and is the founder of Seon (Zen).
That's why I went to Shaolin Temple in China in 1994 on a whim to find a teacher of Seon.
Seon (Zen) Buddhism differentiates itself from Buddhism by calling itself Seon (Zen), whereas traditional Buddhism is called Dharma.
Therefore, it is said that Gyo (religion) is the Buddha's words and Seon is the Buddha's mind.
If Buddhism is the creation and study of sutras, the collection of the Buddha's words that lead to enlightenment, Seon is the transmission of the Buddha's enlightenment from mind to mind, as it has been passed down through many Seon masters throughout history to the present day.
When we speak of the characteristics of Seon in this sense, we usually refer to unstructured texts, unstructured transmission, heart-to-heart transmission, straight pointing, and straight seeing.
What is it that is transmitted completely from heart to heart?
It is the enlightenment of the Buddha, the enlightened mind.
The ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to free the mind from suffering by seeing our true nature.
No path, that's the path
Enlightenment is so obvious and simple that people approach it in a difficult and profound way.
Even for those who don't go down the right path after realization, this can lead to many years of wandering in second thoughts.
I often say that whatever it is you want to realize, you have to be 100%, without 0.01% doubt.
Bcause if everything is "one", including you, whatever you are, then it's impossible to think of anything other than one.
For example, if the world is all "sky blue", there can't be any other color, so there can't even be the word "sky blue", let alone any other color.
In awakening, there is no such thing as discernment, which is why many people who have had awakening experiences have said that they experienced the void.
So if we were to use a ball as an example, we would say that it came from a place where we don't even have a body.
But this understanding is only knowledge, not wisdom.
There are no stages of enlightenment, so someone who listens to a dharma talk for five minutes or someone who listens for 50 years is on the same starting line if they haven't awakened.
Even people who claim to have had an experience of enlightenment often have the delusion that there are stages of enlightenment, which is why we say that it's important to have an experience of enlightenment, but it's also important to find a teacher who can guide you on the right path and listen to the right dharma talks after enlightenment.
This doesn't mean that you need to do anything different before or after enlightenment.
The difference, if there is one, is that before enlightenment you need to listen to dharmatalk until you suddenly see that all the things you believed to be there were not there in the first place, and after enlightenment you need to listen to dharmatalk until the whole becomes clear to yourself, including the things that are still visible, audible, and present in the world.
These subtle words of truth, which seem to be the same but different, different but the same, are not the object of study by unenlightened Buddhist monks and scholars, but their vain efforts to discover them through inquiry and make them instruments of knowledge continue through the centuries, but in the end, until one experiences enlightenment, the words of the Buddha cannot be understood, and even if they are understood, they cannot be correct.
Truth can never be understood through words or writing.
For example, when we hear the word "apple", we see a picture of an apple in our head or heart.
The words written on a white piece of paper are not the real apple, nor are the words exhaled through the breath, or the picture drawn in the heart or mind.
As the founder of Zen, Master Dharma, said, "Everything in the world comes from the mind".
So the more concise and clear the question of enlightenment becomes, the closer it is to being answered.
If that one question (Who am I) is always steadfast in our lives, it won't be hard to see the answer.
The Buddha was not the founder of enlightenment; he was one of many people who identified the enlightenment or self that has always been there.
He didn't say that enlightenment was something that only specially selected Buddhist monks who endured years of rigorous training could achieve.
Enlightenment, in the sense of identifying the real you, is the birthright of all of us, regardless of religion.
There is no one specific way to reach enlightenment.
Rather, you don't have to do anything, but you shouldn't do nothing either.
Because even doing nothing is doing something (trying to do nothing).
If there is a way, it's simply to let go of your own thoughts and opinions and listen to dharma talk.
Dharma talk is best listened to like rain.
Then, when the time is right, like a flower blooming, you'll find your mind opening up when you least expect it.
Dharmatalk
In the eyes of society, I'm just an ordinary middle-aged guy you can find anywhere in the world.
In the Korean Buddhist tradition, this kind of person is called a "Gersa".
A small spark from a boy in India 2500 years ago was passed on to the Dharma Master, and from there, the history of Seon began, passing through six Seon ancestral teachers, to the last ancestral teacher of Seon (Sixth Patriarch Hui-neng), who could not use his own name and was looked down upon, who showed the hints of enlightenment that had been passed down like Buddhist temple secrets, not in writing and speech, but directly through Dharmatalk, so that, like the prophecy of the Dharma Master, it was not limited to any religion, but bore fruit in our ordinary lives.
As I mentioned in the introduction, the word "Gersa" literally means a lay person who studies the Buddha's enlightenment, not a Buddhist monk.
In Seon's history, "gersa" have played an important role in the development of Seon, as they were ordinary people who realized the Buddha's enlightenment by chance and spread the Dharma to everyone in the world, including Buddhist monks.
The secrets that have been passed down in this way are so easy and ordinary that they cannot be put out and bragged about, but they have been distorted by the wrong teachings of unenlightened people, and enlightenment has been tabooed as something that cannot be easily attained.
But fortunately, Seon's tradition of pointing straight to the point and realizing straight away has been carried on.
Dharma Talk is not a place of scholarship where we get the knowledge we need to live.
It is only about showing and pointing to enlightenment, not teaching, not knowing and understanding, but realizing.
There are two main ways that Dharma Talk works.
One is to say "there is", which destroys the idea of "there is not".
The other is to say "no" to the idea of "is", so that it can't stay in either place.
Only if you are always clear on why you are listening to dharma talk will you see the moon (essence) I am pointing to.
If you just follow my words (fingers), you will only see my fingers, and there is no reason for that.
If the desire to realize arises on its own, I recommend listening to Dharma talks for at least six months to a year, basically with a clear mind and no questions.
But in the meantime, if you have a question that you can't bear to leave unanswered, you can ask it over and over again, refining it to be concise and clear, and email me.
As I mentioned at the beginning, Dharma talk uses words as a tool for communication, but no one is talking - it's all about enlightenment, and I can tell you that the words you hear in Dharmatalk are like an alarm clock to wake you up.
Traditional Korean Dharma talks begin with the sound of a bamboo-stick, also ends with that sound.
The sound of the bamboo-stick is no different from my sound, and the sound of the Buddha is no different from all the sounds of the world.
That's why Seon master's superior knowledge and eloquence of speech will help him attract many people who understand it and seek knowledge, but it will not lead to the ultimate goal of enlightenment.
Knowledge that comes from outside cannot be yours, and wisdom (enlightenment) is something that exists within you from the beginning, not something that can be acquired, so the first step is to find your true self and not chase after the knowledge of others.
In the Seon tradition, there is a method of teaching called "Bang and Hal", where "Bang" refers to beating with a stick, and "Hal" refers to shouting (sajahu), which means to use any means necessary to clearly point out the goal (enlightenment) for those who are blinded to the truth by false teachings or ideas and prejudices.
During Seon master's (Nim) Dharma talk, sometimes unexpected expletives or behaviors may occur, such as situations that we can easily encounter only with people close to us in our daily lives, but not in a formal setting, but they are expressed without ambiguity by the straightforward tradition of Zen, so please listen without misunderstanding, and do not take Seon master's words lightly to cloud the essence of Dharma Talk.
True Dharma talk is not only the sounds that come out of my mouth with air, but all the sounds of the world.
When the day comes when you are able to hear all the sounds of the world, even the ones that are not sounds, then you will enjoy true great freedom, not only from me but also from the Buddha's words.
Rules
Whenever two or more people get together, there are certain etiquette rules that come with the territory.
The Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, set strict rules to prevent possible conflicts between people in advance, but he also said that following them is for the benefit of everyone, and that it helps each person's own practice.
I would say that manners are a basic skill for all of us, even in different cultures, but sometimes we get biased by our own thoughts and feelings and lose our balance.
Anyone who listens to Dharma talks to identify their true self will realize that their body, their thoughts, emotions, and feelings are not their true self, they are just a breeze that is perceived moment to moment through the true self.
Please be considerate of everyone at all times, be polite to the Zen Master, and refrain from expressing personal questions and thoughts that come to mind while listening to the Dharma talk.
The biggest obstacle to enlightenment is "thoughts" and the Dharma talk by the Zen Master is to stop them and see the truth.
One of the traditional Zen practices is called "Hashim and Silence" in Korean.
First, “Hashim” means "to lower the mind".
It's about humbly placing your mind, or yourself, in a low place so that you can hear everything in the world, and it's a basic Buddhist practice of bowing (Bao).
Bao is not something we do to avoid being disadvantaged in our everyday, class-divided society, but rather a way of showing respect to a teacher by respectfully placing the bottoms of our hands together in front of our chests and lowering our head, the highest part of our body, to the ground in order to ask for instruction from a teacher because we are insufficient in our own search for truth.
There are also two types of bows: half-bao, where you stand with your hands together and only bow your head and waist down, and full-bao, where you prostrate yourself on the floor with your hands on the ground.
Another word is "silence", which means "to stop talking".
Since words come from thoughts, and the essence of dharma talk is to stop those thoughts (views) so that we can encounter the one truth, it is important to refrain from speaking, thinking, and opinions during dharma talk and listen to the teacher for at least six months.
In traditional Buddhism, there are practitioners who practice "silence" and live without speaking for months or even years, but this is a misunderstanding of the nature of the practice.
As I mentioned in the beginning, the goal is not just to stop talking, but to stop the thoughts that control you, because the root of words are thoughts.
The most important thing is to find your true self, and manners are a great help in finding it.
In the end, the precepts you need to follow are all in your mind, and on the day that moment happens, when all thoughts stop, you will see for yourself that it was all in your mind.
Retreat 2026
This year, there will be two retreats, one in Romania (27.-31. 8. 2026) and one in Slovenia (4.-6. 9. 2026).
Please send an email to one of the addresses listed below if you'd like to join.
About Nim
Seon Master Nim
The true me never changes, and it is not me that changes.
So there is only one unchanging principle in the world, and that is that it "changes".
The most important point here is not that it "changes", it is that it is the "only principle" and that is our unchanging nature, which is enlightenment.
Our bodies and our lives change over time, and we think we've accomplished something with them, and we live our lives believing that our bodies are us until the end of our lives, and then one day our bodies reach the end of their lifespan and we die, and then we die with them.
It reminds me of the foolishness of the king of a country who mistook his body for the only thing he had, and when he died, he wanted to bury his many subjects and possessions in his tomb so that he could enjoy eternal life.
In our normal lives, where we firmly believe that our bodies are us, we want to know the history of each other's bodies, like when we buy salami at the supermarket, we want to know the date it was made, etc.
If you ask me what my true nature is, I'll hold up a finger, and if you ask me again, I'll say "this" out loud.
This is to show you that my nature and yours are not different, as pouring water on water to be came one instead of two, so that the answer to your question is one.
Nevertheless, if you are interested in my body and its history, I will give you a brief introduction.
I don't know exactly why I came across this body or what motivated me to manufacture it, but I do know that the country of manufacture is Seoul, South Korea, and the year of manufacture is 1970, which I was told by my parents.
I don't remember exactly how I first learned about the use of this body.
However, just like when we first encountered a car, I gradually got used to it over time, and as it was upgraded, I gradually developed precise senses such as navigation, and dreamed of the future, and the functions of the body got better and better, so by the time I was 18 years old, I became a movie star according to the flow of life, and I studied abroad in Japan and had the experience and thought that the world was wide.
But at a certain point in my life, I realized that I was attached to this body, which is not the real me, although I keep it close to me and use it according to my connections, like my house, my car, and I don't even know where it came from or where it's going, and I started to doubt the things that I thought were me all my life, so I went on the path of Seon (Zen) study to find the real me.
In order to follow in the footsteps of the founder of Zen (Dharma Master), I traveled to Shaolin Temple in China in the winter of 1994, where I met many monks and friends, but never met my true teacher, and spent many hours in zazen at the place where the Bodih Dharma was staying.
Then I met Rainer Deyhel from Germany in Shaolin and we became sworn brothers, and he opened the German Shaolin Temple in Berlin in the early 2000s, and I was teaching zazen to people in there and living as a 'Zen Master without enlightenment', but one-day the German Shaolin Temple, which had a European license, learned the expensive lesson that "Buddhism without enlightenment is not Buddhism" and eventually closed its doors, and we both left Germany for Cambodia, leaving all memories behind.
I practiced for a long time, as most practitioners do, in a vague and complacent way, thinking that one day I would realize, but I never resolved the question of "Who am I?" and wandered around Hong Kong, Thailand, Cambodia, and other countries as fate would have it, before returning to Korea permanently around 2014.
In the winter of 2015, he stumbled upon a book by an ordinary 90-year-old Korean man called "Even the Buddha Can't Go There", which became the catalyst for the enlightenment, and I spent the next six months listening to his teachings day and night, even in my sleep, without removing my earphones.
Then one day, the experience of everything crashing down around me, including myself, with the very ordinary and mundane sound of wood knocking outside my house is a 'moment' that cannot be measured in time, but it clarified the nature of not only me, but of everything in the world, and all the questions that had been bothering me were extinguished in a single moment.
With the help of the Korean Seon (Zen) masters who guided me through that liberating experience, I became even clearer and have been living a life of sharing and validating valuable experiences with those who connect with me ever since.
I would say that the Buddha's enlightenment, or the enlightenment of any great man, is only another person's experience, so don't be fooled by stories, and verify it for yourself.
In the end, all I am talking about is "this" and nothing else.
Before you were born
In Korea, Seon's meaning of teacher is greater than that of a parent, so calling someone a teacher and following them is something to be taken with a grain of salt.
In my Dharma talks, I refer to my teacher as "Nim" instead of calling him/her by name, which is a basic courtesy in both the East and West.
The bigger reason is that the Korean word "nim" has many different meanings.
In Korea, "nim" has the same meaning as "Dear" in English, and is used to address God, saints like Buddha, Jesus, or anyone else you respect, and it can also be used after any pronoun in the world as a sign of respect, but it is rarely used in colloquial speech because its meaning is uncertain when used alone.
As explained above, it is rarely used in isolation, but in "The Silence of Nim" by Korean Seon monk and poet Man Hae, he describes it as a loved one whom he misses dearly, but whose true meaning is someone he should meet but cannot.
Whenever you address me as "Nim", you are not calling me, you are calling your true self, and one day, when the whole of you answers that fervent call, you will prove to yourself the enlightenment of all Buddhas and Seon Masters.
In that sense, Nim is only a mirror reflecting you, a finger pointing to the moon.
Live Dharmatalk
Please be respectful to Master Nim by entering the Zoom-Meeting minimum 10 minutes before the Dharmatalk begins.
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Weekly Schedule
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Run Seon
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Run Seon is a modern form of Zen running inspired by the Japanese practice of Slow Jogging. It combines mindful breathing, natural movement, and awareness to bring both physical and mental balance. This method is gentle enough for older practitioners, yet deep enough for true meditation in motion.
- Breathing — The Foundation of Life Energy Breathing is the core of Run Seon. Start with deep and calm breathing: inhale through the nose, exhale slowly through the mouth. Focus on exhaling fully. The rhythm follows a cadence of 180 to 200 BPM. When the body adapts to this rhythm, you can run while chanting naturally, feeling the unity of body, breath, and awareness.
- Arm Movement — The 'Palm Strike' Technique Lightly close your fists, keeping your arms relaxed in a natural V-shape. The key is in the backward motion — imagine striking gently backward with the tip of the elbow. This movement activates the shoulders and spine, encouraging better rhythm and preventing stiffness.
- Leg Movement — Gentle Steps, Natural Flow Lift your knees softly, keeping steps light as if touching the ground with the outer arches of your feet. Avoid pushing or forcing movement; let the body flow naturally. This style minimizes impact on joints and is suitable for all ages.
- Rhythm — 180-200 BPM, the Heartbeat of Life The ideal cadence for Run Seon is between 180 and 200 BPM. This rhythm keeps your body balanced and breathing synchronized. With time, you may find yourself running effortlessly — running without running, breathing without trying. In this natural flow, the mind becomes silent, and the true self appears.
- The Effect — Harmony of Body and Mind Run Seon improves blood circulation, strengthens muscles, and refreshes the brain. More importantly, it reconnects you with your inner stillness. Through gentle motion and steady breathing, you can experience meditation in everyday movement.
Message from NIM:
Do not force. Do not chase. Breathe and let the rhythm guide you. In that simple act, you will find
the stillness that was never lost.
Dharmatalks of Master Nim
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- SMTP email provider: all transactional and newsletter emails are delivered via an external SMTP service. Email content, which may include your name and membership information, passes through this provider.
- Cloudflare: the site may use Cloudflare as a reverse proxy and content delivery network. All traffic to this site may pass through Cloudflare's infrastructure. Subject to Cloudflare's Privacy Policy.
10. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or our data practices, please contact us:
Email: info@thisisseon.com
Address: Zimo Jun, 12-31 Saseumbeolle-ro 73beon-gil, Tanhyeon-myeon, Paju-si, 10861 Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
11. Changes to This Privacy Notice
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by posting the updated notice on this page. Please check back periodically.
Effective Date: April 26, 2026