Soeng Hyang Soen Sa Nim (성향선사, born April 15, 1948) is a
Zen Master
Zen master is a somewhat vague English term that arose in the first half of the 20th century, sometimes used to refer to an individual who teaches Zen Buddhist meditation and practices, usually implying longtime study and subsequent authori ...
and the Guiding Teacher of the international
Kwan Um School of Zen
The Kwan Um School of Zen (관음선종회) (KUSZ) is an international school of zen centers and groups founded in 1983 by Zen Master Seung Sahn. The school's international head temple is located at the Providence Zen Center in Cumberland, Rhode I ...
, and successor to the late
Seung Sahn
Seungsahn Haengwon (, August 1, 1927November 30, 2004), born Duk-In Lee, was a Korean Seon master of the Jogye Order and founder of the international Kwan Um School of Zen. He was the seventy-eighth Patriarch in his lineage. As one of the early ...
Soen Sa Nim.
Biography
Born Barbara Trexler (later Barbara Rhodes through marriage to Lincoln Rhodes, also a Ji Do Poep Sa Nim in the order), her father was a Navy officer, and her family moved often. As a teenager in the 1960s, she traveled to California to participate in the counter cultural flowering around San Francisco, and briefly visited
Tassajara Zen Monastery, though she did not practice there. She later moved back to Rhode Island, where she met
Seung Sahn
Seungsahn Haengwon (, August 1, 1927November 30, 2004), born Duk-In Lee, was a Korean Seon master of the Jogye Order and founder of the international Kwan Um School of Zen. He was the seventy-eighth Patriarch in his lineage. As one of the early ...
in 1972, who became her teacher. She was a founding member of the
Providence Zen Center
Providence Zen Center (PZC) is the Head Temple of the Americas for the Kwan Um School of Zen (KUSZ) and the first Zen center established by Seungsahn in the United States in October 1972. The PZC offers residential training where students and teach ...
, now located in
Cumberland, Rhode Island
Cumberland is the northeasternmost town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States, first settled in 1635 and incorporated in 1746. The population was 36,405 at the 2020 census, making it the seventh-largest municipality and the largest ...
. Soeng Hyang received
inka from Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim in 1977, and
Dharma transmission
In Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' (''kechimyaku'') theoretically traced back to the Buddha him ...
in 1992.
Personal life
She has two daughters, one adopted. She has been in a
same-sex relationship
A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries ...
for many years.
Background
Seong Hyang is a
registered nurse and
hospice caregiver.
See also
*
Buddhism in the United States
The term American Buddhism can be used to describe all Buddhist groups within the United States, including Asian-American Buddhists born into the faith, who comprise the largest percentage of Buddhists in the country.
American Buddhists come from ...
*
Buddhism and sexual orientation
The relationship between Buddhism and sexual orientation varies by tradition and teacher. According to some scholars, Early Buddhist schools, early Buddhism appears to have placed no special stigma on homosexual relations, since the subject was no ...
*
Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
Below is a timeline of important events regarding Zen Buddhism in the United States. Dates with "?" are approximate.
Events
Early history
* 1893: Soyen Shaku comes to the United States to lecture at the World Parliament of Religions held i ...
References
External links
Zen Master Soeng Hyang - Kwan Um School of Zen
1948 births
Living people
American nurses
American women nurses
American Zen Buddhists
Bisexual women
Female Buddhist spiritual teachers
Chogye Buddhists
Kwan Um School of Zen
Clergy from Providence, Rhode Island
Seon Buddhists
Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers
LGBT Buddhists
21st-century American women
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