Teachers

Zen Master Seung Sahn (Dae Soen Sa Nim) is the founding teacher of the Kwan Um School of Zen, and is the seventy-eighth Patriarch in the line of Transmission in the Chogye order of Korean Buddhism.

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.

Ji Kwang Soen Sa Nim (Zen Master Roland Wöhrle-Chon) was born in 1960 in Germany.
He received Inka in February 2000 and Dharma Transmission in April 2012 from Zen Master Wu Bong.
Zen Master Ji Kwang is currently the Head Teacher of the Kwan Um School of Zen in Europe.

Guiding teacher of the Hungarian sangha

Zen master Hyon Ja (Jo-Alma Potter) was born in Arizona 1954 and grew up in a Mexican-American family. She studied clinical nutrition and graduated from Arizona State University. She began to practice meditation when she was seventeen years old and traveled to India in early 1980. She began to study Zen and Buddhism in India.

George Hazlbauer JDPSN (Jiri Hazlbauer) was born in 1975 in Prague. His original occupation is carpentry. Became member of Kwan Um School in 1999. Since then he has helped with construction, maintenance and operation of many Zen Centers around the world.

Jan Sendzimir JDPSN has practiced Zen since he met Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1974 and moved into the Providence Zen Center.

Knud Rosenmayr JDPSN started practicing in 1995 after meeting Zen Master Seung Sahn in Korea. After finishing his studies at the university in Vienna he started to work at a language school and got married in Nepal in 2008.

Timothy Lerch, JDPSN, received inka from Zen Master Seung Sahn in 2001.
Lerch PSN was the abbot of the Providence Zen Center in Cumberland RI, the head temple of the Kwan Um School of Zen in America from 2000 to 2006, and has trained extensively in the US and Asia.

Judy Roitman began practicing Zen with Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1976.
One of the founders of the Kansas Zen Center in 1978, she received inka (full authorization to teach) from Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1998 and transmission from Zen Master Dae Kwang in April 2013.

Zen Master Bon Haeng (Mark Houghton) is the North American Abbot of the Kwan Um School of Zen, and a guiding teacher of the Providence Zen Center. He became a student of Zen Master Seung Sahn's in 1976.

Zen Master Bon Shim met Zen Master Seung Sahn Sunim in 1978 and started practising under his guidance.

Zen Master Bon Soeng (Jeff Kitzes) received transmission in April 2001. He has been practicing Zen since 1975, and began practicing with Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1979.