Our Abbot, Hwalson Sunim
Hwalson Sunim founded the Detroit Zen Center in 1990. Hwalson is his ordination name; Sunim is the title given a monk in the Korean tradition.
Sunim was born in Detroit in 1941. He worked as a public school teacher in the City, and later as a sociologist at Penn State, & McMaster University in Toronto, Canada. There, he met his first Zen teacher, Samu Sunim, under whom he became a monk,
as well as a carpenter.
He went on to train and live in the monasteries of South Korea, as a student of Master Wondam, at Sudeoksa Temple. In 1989 he was directed back to the US by Wondam, to begin teaching on his home soil.
He arrived in Detroit with $50 and a backpack.
With his incredible heart and work ethic, he propelled this grassroots Zen Center into existence.
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Sunim offers apprenticeship and teaching to those who take up serious practice at the Center.
Our Vice-Abbot,
Myungju
Myungju Sunim took up Zen study as a teenager, and was ordained in 2004 at Sudeoksa Temple, Korea. (Myungju is her ordination name, Sunim is the title given an ordained monk in the Korean tradition).
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She became the Director in 2012, and launched Living Zen Organics.
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Myungju became the Vice-Abbot in 2018, and teaches new students who come to the Center.
About Us
"To Shine One Corner of the World..."
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The Detroit Zen Center community is composed of monks, students, members & friends. We act as caretakers of the buildings & grounds, teach meditation, mentor students, & provide
public green space for our neighborhood.
Our aim is to model sustainable community & lifestyle. Center residents follow a daily schedule of meditation, work & plant-based meals, which members can join.
Outside of pandemics, we serve the public through 'First Sundays', Meditation Classes & Retreats, Temple Stay, Plant-Based Meals (Living Zen Organics),
Public Gardens & a Green Roof.
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The Detroit Zen Center was founded in 1990 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Membership & study is open to the public. Donations are tax-deductible. We have no paid staff, and are led by resident monks.
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If you are interested in Zen study, please register for a ZOOM Tuesday night beginners meditation & talk.
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During Covid our offerings are limited, but we welcome anyone to become a supporting member.
Members have access to a full schedule of meditation, apprenticeship in Zen, and volunteer stewardships.
Our Community
We are a diverse group of individuals. The aim of our Zen community is to foster spiritual insight through Zen meditation, cultivate a mindset & lifestyle that is service-based, and help people evolve into true human beings -- caretakers of ourselves, one another, and our one world.