Soeng Hyang Soen Sa Nim (born April 15, 1948) is a Zen Master

Zen master

Zen master is an umbrella title sometimes used to refer to an individual who has been recognized by an authorized Zen lineage holder and teacher as having met his or her own teacher's standards of realization or insight. These standards vary widely in different traditions, and may vary among...

 and the Guiding Teacher of the international Kwan Um School of Zen

Kwan Um School of Zen

The Kwan Um School of Zen is an international school of Zen centers and groups, founded in 1983 by Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim. The school's international head temple is located at the Providence Zen Center in Cumberland, Rhode Island, which was founded in 1972 shortly after Seung Sahn first came to...

, and successor to the late Seung Sahn

Seung Sahn

Seung Sahn Haeng Won Dae Soen-sa , born Dok-In Lee, was a Korean Jogye Seon master and founder of the international Kwan Um School of Zen—the largest Zen institution present in the Western world. He was the seventy-eighth teacher in his lineage...

 Soen Sa Nim.

Biography

Born Barbara Trexler (later Barbara Rhodes through marriage to Lincoln Rhodes), 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 in 1972, who became her teacher. She was a founding member of the Providence Zen Center

Providence Zen Center

Providence Zen Center is the international headquarters for the Kwan Um School of Zen and the first Zen center established by Seung Sahn in the United States in October 1972. The PZC offers residential training where students and teachers live together under one roof, which was one of the...

, now located in Cumberland, Rhode Island

Cumberland, Rhode Island

Cumberland is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States, incorporated in 1746. The population was 33,506 at the 2010 census.-History:...

. Soeng Hyang received inga

Inka

, is a term used in Zen Buddhism to denote a high-level of certification, and literally means "the legitimate seal of clearly furnished proof." In ancient times inka usually came in the form of an actual document, but this practice is no longer commonplace...

 from Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim in 1977, and full Dharma transmission

Dharma transmission

Dharma transmission refers to "the manner in which the teaching, or Dharma, is passed from a Zen master to their disciple and heir...

 in 1992.

Personal life

She has two daughters, one adopted. She has been in a same-sex relationship

Same-sex relationship

A same-sex relationship is a relationship between two persons of the same sex and can take many forms, from romantic and sexual, to non-romantic close relationships. The term is mainly associated with gay and lesbian people...

 for many years.

See also

• Buddhism in the United States
  Buddhism in the United States
  Buddhism is one of the largest religions in the United States behind Christianity, Judaism and Nonreligious, and approximate with Islam and Hinduism. American Buddhists include many Asian Americans, as well as a large number of converts of other ethnicities, and now their children and even...
  
  
• Homosexuality and Buddhism
  Homosexuality and Buddhism
  LGBT community and Buddhism describes the relationship between members of the LGBT community and the teachings of Buddhism. Various traditions and teachers in Buddhism have held different views on the subject of homosexuality...
  
  
• Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
  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.-Early history:* 1893: Soyen Shaku comes to the United States to lecture at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago...
  
  
• Zen Master Soeng Hyang's Teaching Archive