Zen Master Hyon Ja (Alma Potter) was born in Arizona and grew up in a family seeped in Mexican American traditions.   She studied clinical nutrition, graduating from Arizona State University in 1976.  In 1981 she traveled to India, where she furthered her study of Zen and Buddhism. In 1986, she moved from the USA to Germany where she worked and learned German.

In 1993 she started practicing meditation in the Kwan Um School of Zen in Berlin and met Zen Master Seung Sahn. She was the abbot of the Berlin Zen Center from 1995 until 2006. She received Inka from Zen Master Wu Bong in Berlin 2008 and Transmission from Zen Master Bon Shim in Vienna in September 2020 becoming Zen Master Hyon Ja . 

She lives in the Vienna Zen Center in Austria with her life partner Jan Sendzimir. Presently she guides the Kwan Um communities in Palma de Mallorca, and Hungary and assists with the Vienna Zen Center and travels extensively teaching Dharma.