We invite you to our YMJJ Zen Retreat with Zen Master Hyon Ja (Alma Potter) in Kibutz Neot Smadar Israel
If you would like to join us, please register via the registration formular on our website which will be online starting in February 2026 https://kwanumzen.de/en/events/
We will practice meditation in sitting, walking, chanting, eating, and working.
If you have any questions please write us to kwanumisrael.org
About the teachers:
Hyon Ja
Soen Sa Nim
Hyon Ja SSN, (Jo-Alma Potter)
was born in Arizona USA in 1954. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in clinical nutrition from Arizona State University. Her meditation practice started when she was seventeen years old. She traveled to India in the early 1980s, where she studied Zen and Buddhism. In 1986, she moved to Berlin Germany, living there for 27 years. Together with a core group of Zen students she built the Berlin Zen Center. She was the abbess of the Berlin Zen Center for 11 years. She met Zen Master Seung Sahn in the early 1990s and has been a member of the Kwan Um School of Zen since then. In 2008, she received the title Ji Do Poep Sa and Inka — the official seal of approval to teach kong-an — from Zen Master Wu Bong. 26th September 2020 she received Dharma Transmission from Zen Master Bon Shim and got new name – Hyon Ja (Deep Love). She moved to Vienna in 2012. She guides the Kwan Um Zen Centers and groups in Vienna Austria, Palma de Mallorca Spain, Budapest and Szeged Hungary and the Vrazne Zen Center in Czech Republic. She is travelling worldwide leading and teaching Zen retreats.
Jan Sendzimir
Ji Do Peop Sa Nim
Jan Sendzimir took Inka from Zen Master Ji Kwang in 2022 and became a Ji Do Poep Sa Nim teaching in the Kwan Um School of Zen across Europe and in the United States. His practice began with Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1974 at the Providence Zen Center. He was one of the first to attend winter Kyol Che in South Korea in 1975. For the last 30 years he has done research and taught ecology and citizen science in universities in Europe, America, Asia and Africa. His focus has been to explore ways that Zen practice, science and policy can support those who engage a changing and unpredictable world. He and his partner, Zen Master Hyon Ja live and teach in Vienna, Austria. He is blessed with two daughters, two grandchildren and two wonderful sons-in-law.