FALL PRACTICE PERIOD
September 20 — December 20, 2026
This fall, the theme of our practice period is Living the Life of a Bodhisattva.
We invite you to engage with the offerings of the season and investigate for yourself what it might mean to apply more vigor and dedication to your zazen and study. The Practice Period Commitment Form is designed to help provide direction and focus, to hold us accountable to ourselves and to each other. It includes “the four methods of guidance,” enumerated by Eihei Dogen in a teaching that we’ll be studying together. These four methods are Giving, Kind Speech, Beneficial Action, and Manifesting Sympathy. Although the practice period may seem intimidating for those new to the concept, it is designed to work with your life, here and now.
Our teachers—near and far—are available to help support us in this endeavor.
Click here for the weekly ango schedule and be encouraged to join us at the Zen Center whenever you are able.
ENTERING SHUSO
ZCLA Shuso Jenny Jūsen Bright
Jenny Jūsen Bright will be the 2026–2027 ZCLA Shuso under the guidance of Sensei Daiki Senshin Griffith. Jūsen began her Zen practice at ZCLA in 2015. Prior to that, beginning in the late ’90s, she studied in the Tibetan tradition with Ken McLeod. At ZCLA, Jūsen initially studied under Roshi Egyoku, later continuing her koan practice with Sensei Senshin, with whom she still studies. She received Tokudo in 2025 from Sensei Baiko Myoho Fjeld. Jūsen has been a resident of ZCLA since 2023 and is the Zendo Co-Steward and Co-Steward of the Introduction Instructors Circle. She was a visual effects producer for many decades but is winding that down now. She has a 25-year-old daughter, a dog named Zak, and lots of extended family, both in LA and on the East Coast.
STUDY TEXT
With our theme of Living the Life of a Bodhisattva, our study text will be Dōgen Zenji’s Bodaisatta Shishōbō, a fascicle of the Shōbōgenzō translated here as The Bodhisattva’s Four Methods of Guidance.
Sometimes translated as Four Elements of a Bodhisattva’s Social Relations, the four methods are Giving, Kind Speech, Beneficial Action, and Manifesting Sympathy.
Click here for the Okumura/Senauke translation.
Click here for the Nishijima/Cross translation.
Click here for the Tanahashi/Richmond translation.
Click here for the Nearman Shasta Abbey translation.
Click here for the chart comparing the various translations.
PRACTICING WITH THIS YEAR’S THEME
For this Fall Practice Period, we encourage everyone to practice with the following Four Methods of Guidance:
1. Giving
Giving means non-greed and not coveting. Give yourself to yourself and others to others. Give valuables, time, a smile, or even a penny. Things given are beyond measure. In Giving, mind transforms the gift and the gift transforms mind.
2. Kind Speech
Kind Speech is arousing the heart of compassion and offering words of loving care. It is the basis for reconciling enemies and making peace. When Kind Speech is offered, it gradually expands and transforms the world.
3. Beneficial Action
Beneficial Action is to help all beings by using skillful means. It is an act of oneness, benefiting self, others, friends and foes equally. Even Beneficial Action for the sake of grass, trees, wind, and water is spontaneous and unremitting.
4. Manifesting Sympathy
Manifesting Sympathy is sometimes referred to as Cooperation or Identity Action. It means nondifference. What is “self” and “other” has no boundary but is dependent on time and condition. We should not treat ourselves or others as different. The ocean does not exclude water; that is why it is large. Simply face all beings with a gentle expression.
Specific commitments regarding the Four Methods of Guidance can be made on the commitment form.