At age fourteen, Bon Soeng had a realization that he was living a life that was someone else’s idea. Growing up in a society greatly affected by the Vietnam War and Civil Rights Movement, Bon Soeng felt mainstream society was pretty empty and was drawn to eastern philosophy. Following college, he moved to a Zen Buddhist Community in Northern California and began practicing Zen in 1975. Hoping to bring Buddhism out of the Zen centers and into the regular world, he became a psychotherapist so he could work with people using Buddhist principles. He encourages people to take time to learn how their mind works.