Roshi Kipp Ryodo Hawley is a lineage holder in the White Plum school of Japanese/American Zen. He has practiced Zen for 45 years and was certified as an independent teacher by Roshi Egyoku Nakao of the Zen Center of Los Angeles in 2007. He is the originator of the Three Step Zen method, which he has taught since 2002, and currently serves as President of the White Plum Asanga, the affinity group of the dharma successors and descendants of Taizan Maezumi Roshi.

Sensei Jonathan Kaigen Levy is a ZCLA priest, Dharma-Holder and transmitted Preceptor. He received Dharma Transmission (Denbo) from Roshi Egyoku in 2022. For many years he was Co-Steward of the ZCLA Tenzo Circle, which oversaw the preparation of Sangha meals, he was Co-Steward of the Introduction to Meditation classes, the 2018-2019 Shuso (Head Trainee), and is one of the leaders of “Explore Your Practice” meetings on Wednesday nights. A retired film editor, he now councils men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Sensei Darla Myoho Fjeld is a Zen Buddhist priest and Temple Director at the Zen Center of Los Angeles. She began her practice at the Zen Studies Society in New York in 1996 and in 1997 began practicing at the Fire Lotus Zendo in New York. While in New York she was a political organizer and then spent 9 years as a Research Associate for the Auburn Seminary Center for the Study of Theological Education. She began her practice at ZCLA in 2001. She was the Development Director and then the Executive Director of Coalition LA, a poor people’s organization for 8 years. She earned a M.Div and STM from Union Theological Seminary in New York from 1981-1985. She has a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Religion from Drew University, Madison, NJ and taught at El Camino College in Torrance, CA for 20 years.

Sensei Katherine Senshin Griffith started studying Zen in the Rinzai tradition at New York Zendo Shobo-Ji in Manhattan in 1987. At Dai Bosatsu Zendo, she received Jukai in 1994 from Eido Shimano Roshi, with whom she studied until 2000 when she moved to Los Angeles. She became a member of ZCLA in 2001 and began her studies with Roshi Egyoku. During her time in New York, Sensei Senshin also studied with various Tibetan teachers and at Fire Lotus Zendo. She was the ZCLA Program Steward from 2010 to 2022. On the Teacher’s Circle since 2016, Sensei Senshin was empowered as Dharma Holder in 2018 and as an independent Zen Teacher and Preceptor in 2019. She is a member of the Lay Zen Teachers Association (LZTA), the American Zen Teachers Association (AZTA), the White Plum Asanga (WPA) and the Zen Peacemaker’s Order of Disorder. She was installed as Head Teacher on April 10, 2022.