Dharma names Fragrant Nature Teacher Seungsahn Titles Zen master Name Soenghyang Soenghyang | Website www.kwanumzen.org/ Other names Barbara Rhoades | |
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Born April 15, 1948 (age 76) Providence, Rhode Island, USA ( 1948-04-15 ) | ||
Predecessor Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim | ||
Soeng Hyang Soen Sa Nim (성향선사, born April 15, 1948) is a Zen Master and the Guiding Teacher of the international Kwan Um School of Zen, and successor to the late Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim.
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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 in 1972, who became her teacher. She was a founding member of the Providence Zen Center, now located in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Soeng Hyang received inka from Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim in 1977, and full Dharma transmission in 1992.
Personal life
She has two daughters, one adopted. She has been in a same-sex relationship for many years.
Background
Seong Hyang is a registered nurse and hospice caregiver.