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I would like to attend a 3 months "rains retreat" (Kyol-Che), in a Zen (Seon) temple in South Korea. I would have to go to a temple where they give instructions in English, though.

'Mu Sang Sa' Temple (which I hope is way cheaper for monks) seems to organize two 3 months retreat a year. Do you know other places?

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In his book, "Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist", Stephen Batchelor, Spiegel & Grau, Random House, 2010, describes his experience of doing just this in 1981. Batchelor's first Zen retreat was at Songgwangsa, under the guidance of Kusan Sunim, and he stayed until 1984, a year after Kusan Sunim's death.

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  • Thank you for answering. Beware that this article suggests that few people at the temple speak English in depth (and according to his book, in 1981 Stephen Batchelor seems to have been the first English-speaker there). The article mentions Hyon Gak Sunim as notably English-speaking (but perhaps he too was only visiting Songgwangsa and not permanently there).
    – ChrisW ♦
    Jan 1, 2016 at 0:13
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There's The Hwa Gye Sa International Zen Center. I know nothing of it but its web site (i.e. that it's "international", Zen, next to Seoul, and has retreats with an application form and an email address); and that in 2007 Hyon Gak Sunim was teaching there.

It also a page with three or four links to other places (one of which is Mu Sang Sa).

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