Won Buddhism Meditation Centre

Won Meditation Centre of Gosford is an Open Circle of teachers and students, neighbors and visitors, young and old, from any faith to no faith. We gather to make our commitment to reduce and eliminate suffering in the world and to provide a safe and friendly space for nurturing holistic well-being and spiritual growth. Connectedness is important for our life. The more connected we are, the more resonate with others. If you feel a connection with others, it means you are not alone, but part of everything. Here at Won Meditation Centre we try to strengthen our connections with one another, with you and with everything in our world. Let us share our experience, our wisdom, our practice and our compassion.

Won Buddhism, as a reformed Buddhism and as a new religion, transforms the traditional Buddhist teaching. It makes the Buddhadharma more practical, more relevant, and more suitable to contemporary society so that the many people in the secular world can utilize it to enrich their actual lives.

Won Buddhism, although embracing the Buddha’s teachings, revitalizes and modernizes traditional Buddhadharma in order to realize Sotaesan’s ideal: ‘Buddhadharma is daily life and daily life is Buddhadharma.’ According to Sotaesan, a living religion is one where spiritual practice is not separate from real life. To one student’s question, “What is the great way?” The Master replied, “What all people can follow is the great way. What only a few can follow is the small way.”

The goal of Won Buddhism is to lead all sentient beings to be free from suffering and distress. Won Buddhism embraces and accepts those of other faiths, and seeks to work together to create One World Community. With its open teaching, Won Buddhism has worked to realize a vision of a United Religions (UR), a counterpart of the United Nations (UN), because in these modern times all problems are fundamentally world problems and the cooperation of all religions and religious leaders is vital to build a lasting peace in the world.

Won Buddhism leads a movement for inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. Won Buddhists have participated in and promoted local, national, regional and international inter-religious dialogue since 1970 and have been actively engaged in the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP), the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB), and the Asian Conference of Religions for Peace (ACRP).