Zen Center of Los Angeles, known to its sangha as ZCLA, is one of the oldest and most influential Zen centers in the United States. It was founded in 1967 by Taizan Maezumi Roshi, a Soto Zen priest from Japan trained also in Rinzai Zen and in the Sanbo Kyodan koan curriculum. Maezumi Roshi held three transmissions in three Zen lines, an unusual qualification, and ZCLA reflects that breadth: Soto-style shikantaza, Rinzai-style koan introspection, and the Sanbo Kyodan integration of both. The center occupies a residential block in Koreatown, central Los Angeles. The campus includes a zendo, a buddha hall, residential houses for resident priests and students, and a small set of offices. The setting is urban, with the city around the perimeter and a quiet enclosed feel inside the walls. Programming runs daily zazen, weekly public sittings, monthly zazenkai daylongs, multi-day sesshin, and a long-term residential training option for committed students. The ZCLA lineage produced a remarkable generation of US Zen teachers. Maezumi Roshi gave Dharma transmission to Bernie Glassman, John Daido Loori, Charlotte Joko Beck, Dennis Genpo Merzel, Jan Chozen Bays, Susan Myoyu Andersen, and others. Each went on to found or lead major US Zen centers, so the tree of US Zen owes a substantial branch to ZCLA. The center after Maezumi Roshi's death in 1995 has been led by a series of his successors, with Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao serving as abbot from 1999 to 2019 and current leadership continuing in the same lineage. The center has done significant work in the past two decades on accountability, transparency, and a more horizontal form of governance. The current model includes lay teaching circles, a focus on engaged Buddhism, and ongoing diversity work. The sangha is mid-sized by US standards: a stable resident community of roughly fifteen to twenty plus a wider non-resident sangha drawn from greater LA.
Daily zazen runs morning and evening, with public sittings open to drop-in visitors. Weekly Sunday-morning programs include zazen, kinhin (walking meditation), service, a dharma talk, and tea. Monthly zazenkai are full-day sittings with extended periods of zazen, kinhin, and a dokusan (private teacher interview) opportunity. Sesshin are five to seven-day silent retreats with the traditional Zen schedule: 4 a.m. wake-up, alternating zazen and kinhin in 35 to 50-minute periods through the day, oryoki meals taken in the zendo, daily teisho (formal dharma talk), and dokusan with the teacher. Posture is the standard Zen forms: full lotus, half lotus, Burmese, seiza, or chair.
The teaching line is the Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi lineage, a synthesis of Soto Zen (Maezumi's primary transmission from Hakujun Kuroda), Rinzai-flavored koan training (transmission from Koryu Osaka Roshi), and the Sanbo Kyodan curriculum (transmission from Hakuun Yasutani Roshi). Maezumi Roshi's successors at ZCLA carry forward this combined approach. Current senior teachers include Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao (Senior Dharma Teacher Emeritus) and a circle of teachers in active leadership.
Sitters in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and the surrounding region who want a long-established Zen center with daily zazen and a sustained sangha.
Practitioners with prior Zen experience who want to do multi-day silent sesshin in the Maezumi lineage with full Zen forms.
People considering long-term residential Zen training in an urban monastic-flavored setting, with daily zazen, work practice, and study.
For a first visit to a Sunday morning program, arrive 15 minutes early to receive zendo orientation: how to bow, how to enter, how to sit, how to walk in kinhin. Wear loose dark clothing if possible. The morning includes zazen, kinhin, service, a dharma talk, and tea. Dokusan is offered for students with a relationship to a teacher. For sesshin, full registration in advance is required, and prior sitting experience at ZCLA or another Zen center is expected.
The campus has a zendo seating roughly forty, a buddha hall, dining hall, residential houses for staff and long-term students, and small offices. Sesshin lodging is in shared rooms in the residential houses or, for non-residents, a few guest rooms set aside during retreats. Bathrooms are shared. Meals during sesshin are vegetarian and taken oryoki-style in the zendo. The grounds are small but the inner courtyard is quiet despite the urban setting.
Public sittings are donation-based. Sunday morning programs ask for a basket donation. Zazenkai daylongs and sesshin are fee-based, typically $100 to $800 depending on length, covering lodging and meals. Teacher dana is separate. Scholarships and work-exchange are available for those who need financial support. Long-term residential training has its own fee structure published through the center's training office.
The Maezumi line in Koreatown, holding Soto, Rinzai, and Sanbo Kyodan in a single training.
The Maezumi lineage, a synthesis of Soto Zen, Rinzai-flavored koan training, and the Sanbo Kyodan curriculum, all transmitted to Taizan Maezumi Roshi from three different Japanese teachers. The center practices both shikantaza and koan introspection, depending on the student's relationship with a teacher.
Yes, with application. ZCLA accepts long-term residents for monastic-flavored training in the urban setting. Residents follow the daily schedule, take part in work practice, and study with teachers. The training office handles applications and the published fee structure.
No. Sunday-morning programs welcome newcomers. The center provides zendo orientation 15 minutes before the program for first-time visitors, covering basic Zen forms. For sesshin, prior sitting experience at ZCLA or another Zen center is expected.
Maezumi Roshi gave Dharma transmission to Bernie Glassman, John Daido Loori, Charlotte Joko Beck, Dennis Genpo Merzel, Jan Chozen Bays, and others, each of whom went on to found or lead major US Zen centers. ZCLA is one of the central trunks of US Zen.
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