Decade	Year	Events
	1947	Born to Lillian and Sylvan Genthner in Mercy Hospital Springfield, MA.
1960s	1965	Graduates from Ludlow High School, Ludlow, MA.
	1969	Graduates with a BA from American International College, Springfield, MA. Takes up Zen training in earnest after reading Psychotherapy East and West, by Alan Watts.  Over the next twenty years he will visit and train with many Zen teachers.
1970s	1970	Zen Master Dae Gak is a graduate student at Kent State University when four students are killed by National Guard troops in May. Two of those killed are students in a class being taught by Zen Master Dae Gak. He co-authors a study titled " The Killings at Kent State: The Students Perspective" published by College Notes and Texts. The study was based on a survey of 7,000 students in the days immediately following the shootings.
		During the 1970's Zen Master Dae Gak practiced extensively with Sasaki Roshi, Eido Roshi, Maezumi Roshi and Maureen Stuart Roshi. In the early 1980’s he met and developed a close friendship with Maha Ghosananda the Supreme Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism who since then has visited Furnace Mountain many times. He has also sat retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh.
	March 1973	Graduates from Kent State University with a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
	Sept 1973	Moves to Kentucky to teach psychology and direct the Graduate Training Program in Clinical Psychology at Eastern Kentucky University
	1978	Receives Tenure at Eastern Kentucky University and promotion to Associate Professor
	1979	Leaves Eastern Kentucky University for full-time practice of Clinical Psychology in Lexington, KY.
	1979	First meeting with Zen Master Seung Sahn. After reading a book by Ann Bancroft in which Zen Master Seung Sahn invites inquiries, he writes Zen Master Seung Sahn a letter and receives an answer. Soon after this he visits Providence Zen Center and meets Zen Master Seung Sahn in person at a chanting retreat.
1980s		1980 Founding of Lexington Zen Center. Under the direction of their teacher, Zen Master Seung Sahn, Zen Master Dae Gak and Mara Genthner established the Lexington Zen Center in the bottom floor of their home in Lexington KY.
	1988	Receives Inka from Zen Master Seung Sahn.  "Inka" means "permission to teach" or "teaching authority". This is equivalent to a "Sensei" in Japanese Zen (the Korean title used by Zen Master Seung Sahn for this is "Ji Do Poep Sa Nim" or "one who points the way").
1990s		Completion of the main Meditation Hall at Furnace Mountain. Zen Master Dae Gak and Mara Genthner had purchased this land after many years of searching and working closely with Zen Master Seung Sahn to find an ideal location for a rural meditation facility. The precise site of the Meditation Hall is selected by Zen Master Seung Sahn using Korean Feng Shui.
	1993	Ordains as a monk. Zen Master Seung Sahn had a strong commitment to traditional monastic practice. Out of devotion to his teacher, Zen Master Dae Gak ordains as a Buddhist Monk in 1993 at Nam Wah Sah in China - the Temple of the Sixth Patriarch, Hui Neng.
	1994	Receives transmission. "Transmission" is a Zen tradition dating back to Shakyamuni Buddha and Mahakasyapa. The Buddha held up a flower, and Mahakasyapa smiled. The Buddha then said "I transmit the treasury of the true Dharma Eye to you." After receiving "Transmission" a teacher is now officially a "Zen Master" and is free to develop his or her own style of teaching. http://www.kwanumzen.com/primarypoint/v10n1-1993-winter-dssn-transmissiontothewest.html
	1996	Participates  in the historic Christian-Buddhist Dialogue with the Dalai Lama at Gethsemane Monastery, a Catholic Monastery in Bardstown, KY.  (Gethsemane is the monastery where Thomas Merton lived and he and the Dalai Lama were close friends.)
	1997	Publishes "Going Beyond Buddha". Published by Charles Tuttle and also translated into German and Czech language
	1997-1998	Leads Kyol Che at Shin Won Sah. Zen Master Dae Gak leads a traditional 90-day winter retreat in Korea from November 1997 through February 1998.
	1999	Returns to lay life. With Zen Master Seung Sahn's agreement, Zen Master Dae Gak returns to lay life. After six years as a monk, Zen Master Dae Gak had decided that the separation from society that is inherent in monasticism is unhelpful and confusing to others in Western Culture.
2000s	2000	Begins teaching independently of Kwan Um School (KUSZ). Following the clear teaching of the Zen Ancestors and his own realization that the practice of spiritual inquiry cannot be fixed, organised or institutionalised,  Zen Master Dae Gak begins teaching independently of the KUSZ, after having been a teacher in the Kwan Um School of Zen for 14 years (eight as a "Ji Do Poep Sa Nim" and six as a Zen Master). This was consistent with the way of Zen Master Seung Sahn, who himself had developed a teaching style radically different from that of his own teacher, Zen Master Ko Bong.
	2000- present	Since his recognition as a teacher Zen Master Dae Gak has directed his life toward supporting people in their efforts to realize their original nature of fearless immediacy and unbounded compassion. He continues this effort in multiple contexts: working with the dying, counselling and coaching as well as leading meditation retreats and participating in Dharma Dialogue Groups. Since "striking out on their own" the Sangha associated with Zen Master Dae Gak has widened and deepened. He now travels often to the East Coast of the United States to lead retreats in Richmond Virginia and the Washington, DC area. He also leads retreats on a regular basis in Texas. Internationally, Zen Master Dae Gak has groups of students in the UK and Germany, where he travels multiple times a year to visit his students and lead retreats. All this is in addition to his teaching closer to home in Kentucky and Ohio. His main center, Furnace Mountain, maintains an active retreat schedule with monthly three day retreats and at least three one-week retreats each year.  He has given Inka to 5 of his students, 2 in the USA and 3 in Europe.