Accountability

Guidance

Support

Community

Zen Master Soeng Hyang

Zen Master Soeng Hyang (Barbara Rhodes) is the School Zen Master of the Kwan Um School of Zen. She received dharma transmission from Zen Master Seung Sahn on October 10, 1992. She was one of Zen Master Seung Sahn's first American students and studied with him beginning in 1972. She was given inka in 1977. A registered nurse since 1969, she currently works in hospice care. She helped found Providence Zen Center, and lived there for seventeen years, serving in a number of administrative capacities. Zen Master Soeng Hyang has a daughter and lives with her partner, Mary, in California.

Nancy Hedgpeth JDPSN

Nancy Brown Hedgpeth JDPSN has practiced with the KUSZ since 1979 and received inka in 1994. She has lived at and worked for a number of zen centers and has sat long retreats in the US and South Korea. She is Co-Guiding Teacher for the Providence Zen Center. She is a retired nurse. These days she lives in Waterville, Maine from which she does most of her group practice online.

Andrzej Stec JDPSN

Andrzej Stec Ji Do Poep Sa Nim received a Masters of Architecture at the Gdansk Polytechnic University in his native Poland. He met the late Zen Master Seung Sahn at a dharma talk at his university and began practicing Zen in 1981. Thereafter, he became a Zen monk in Korea where he trained for thirteen years. He received inka (permission to teach) from Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1998 and has been teaching in Europe, Asia and the United States ever since. He also served as abbot of the Kwan Um School of Poland and at several Zen centers worldwide. He lives in Korea and is the guiding teacher of the Kwan Um Seoul Zen Group and the Kwan Um Daejeon Zen Group.

Igor Piniński JDPSN 

Igor Piniński JDPSN graduated in acting from a prestigious Łódź film school. Right now he is working in his own film studio in Łódź, focusing on educational films. He lives with his wife in the countryside near Łódź. He started practicing in Łódź Zen Center in 1995 and has participated in over 120 YMJJs in Łódź, and also every year in the Kyol Che at Wu Bong Sah. On March 9, 2013, Igor Piniński received Inka from Zen Master Bon Shim in Wu Bong Sah Temple in Poland.

Myong An Sunim JDPS

Myong An Sunim is a second generation Chinese Malaysian and received his secondary and tertiary education in the UK. He worked for a number of years in finance, met Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1992, and ordained as a monk in 1997 in Korea. After spending the next 16 years practising zen, he returned to Malaysia in 2013 to found Zen Space Penang and received inka in 2015. Sunim’s interests include blending the spiritual wisdom of the ancients with present day science to arrive at a practical contemporary approach to zen practice.

Kathy Park JDPSN

Kathy Park JDPSN began practicing Zen in 1999 in Paris and has trained in a number of capacities at Kwan Um Zen centers including Cambridge Zen Center and Providence Zen Center in the U.S., Su Bong Zen Monastery in Hong Kong and at Musangsa in Korea, where she participated in several 90-day kyol che retreats. She received inka (permission to teach) from Zen master Dae Bong at Musangsa in Korea in 2016, and is the co-guiding teacher for Zenseoul and Daejeon Zen groups in Korea. She is also a co-guiding teacher and coordinator of Kwan Um Zen Online, bringing online Zen teaching and support to practitioners worldwide.