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Exploring the Sacred Feminine: Women’s Leadership in Buddhism
To Explore: Divine Feminine
Project Questions
1) What is the divine feminine? How can we manifest what we cannot see?
2) What internalized oppression do women in leadership experience?
3) What is the denied feminine? What is the twisted masculine? How do we embody patriarchy?
4) How are the five wisdom energies a pedagogy for leadership?Vision
To gather a group of 5 leaders, 7 facilitators, and 28+ practitioners from a variety of
traditions and cultural backgrounds to empower each other and create connections that
ripple outward and inward for years to come. -
Buddha’s Birthday Sesshin 2024
Sensei George Mukei Horner is a preceptor and Dharma Holder at the Zen Center of Los Angeles, where he has been a member since 1984. He received Dharma Transmission (Denbo) from Roshi Egyoku in 2022. He is also the Zendo Steward, overseeing the training of service positions for the meditation hall, and an instructor for various classes offered at ZCLA.
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June Intensive Sesshin 2023
From: $0.00Jitsujo T. Gauthier is a Zen priest, preceptor and Dharma Holder at the Zen Center of Los Angeles, as well as a member of the Zen Peacemakers International. She is also an Associate Professor and Co-chair of the Buddhist Chaplaincy department at University of the West in Los Angeles county. She explores and practices of the Three Tenets in the classroom, chaplaincy work, as well as within seated meditation.
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Zen Leadership Training
From: $0.00Jitsujo T. Gauthier is a Zen priest, preceptor and Dharma Holder at the Zen Center of Los Angeles, as well as a member of the Zen Peacemakers International. She is also an Associate Professor and Co-chair of the Buddhist Chaplaincy department at University of the West in Los Angeles county. She explores and practices of the Three Tenets in the classroom, chaplaincy work, as well as within seated meditation.
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Tangaryo
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Just Summer Sesshin 2023
Roshi Ryodo entered formal studies at the Zen Center of Los Angeles in 1980, working directly with Charlotte Joko Beck and Genpo Merzel Roshi as well as Taizan Maezumi Roshi, the founding Abbot of ZCLA. He received Dharma Transmission from Roshi Egyoku Nakao, in 2007, empowerment as lay preceptor in 2015, and inka shomei in 2019.
Roshi Ryodo is the author of the Zen Mindfulness Cloudbook, an online manual for the Zen-rooted method of mindfulness he has been teaching since 2002. He led the Westchester Zen Circle from 2009-2020. He is the current president of the board of the White Plum Asanga, the peer group of teachers in the lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, as well being a member of the American Zen Teachers Association and the Lay Zen Teachers Association.
Sensei George Mukei Horner is a preceptor and Dharma Holder at the Zen Center of Los Angeles, where he has been a member since 1984. He received Dharma Transmission (Denbo) from Roshi Egyoku in 2022. He is also the Zendo Steward, overseeing the training of service positions for the meditation hall, and an instructor for various classes offered at ZCLA.
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August Zazenkai 2023
From: $0.00Sensei Tom Dharma-Joy Reichert first came to ZCLA in 1999. He received Jukai in 2001, Novice Priest Ordination (Tokudo) in August 2011 and full Priest/Preceptor Empowerment (Denkai) in August 2019, all from Roshi Egyoku. He was named a Dharma-Holder in June 2020, was installed as ZCLA’s Head Priest and Preceptor (JĹ«shoku) in April 2022, received Dharma Transmission (Denbo) from Roshi Egyoku in December 2022 and ascended to become ZCLA’s fifth Abbot in May 2023.
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May Peace Prevail Sesshin 2024
From: $0.00Sensei Darla Myoho Fjeld is a Zen Buddhist priest and Temple Development Steward 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.
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Buddha’s Birthday Sesshin 2023
From: $0.00The 3 Seats (Abbot, Head Priest and Head Teacher) will be leading this retreat, with Roshi Egyoku in attendance. See below for more info on the teachers.
Sensei Senshin 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 Program Steward from 2010 till this year. 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 will be installed as Head Teacher on April 10.
Sensei Faith-Mind began her practice in the mid-1980’s. She was drawn to The Mountain Center in Idyllwild, which was a part of ZCLA at the time. She began her studies with Roshi Egyoku in 1999, became a Dharma Holder in 2016 and received Dharma Transmission (Denbo) from Roshi Egyoku in 2018. Faith-Mind has taught many of the classes required for Jukai and enjoys carpentry, gardening and sharing the Dharma with everyone that shows up. She became the fourth Abbot of the Zen Center of Los Angeles in 2019.
Reverend Dharma-Joy first came to ZCLA in 1999. He received, Jukai in 2001 from Roshi Egyoku and Novice Priest Ordination (Tokudo) in August 2011 and full Priest/Preceptor Empowerment
(Denkai) in August 2019. He was named a Dharma-Holder in June 2020. He also served for several years on the Zen Center Board of Directors. He has served as a Ceremonial Co-Steward
since September 2011. -
2024 Beginner’s Mind Sesshin
From: $0.00Sensei Tom Dharma-Joy Reichert first came to ZCLA in 1999. He received Jukai in 2001, Novice Priest Ordination (Tokudo) in August 2011 and full Priest/Preceptor Empowerment (Denkai) in August 2019, all from Roshi Egyoku. He was named a Dharma-Holder in June 2020, was installed as ZCLA’s Head Priest and Preceptor (JĹ«shoku) in April 2022, received Dharma Transmission (Denbo) from Roshi Egyoku in December 2022 and ascended to become ZCLA’s fifth Abbot in May 2023.
Growing up in the Episcopal Church, Sensei Mark Kizan ShĹŤgen Angyo Bloodgood aspired to become an Episcopal priest during his pre-college years. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a “subtle feeling” nudged ShĹŤgen to read Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, ShunryĹ« Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Philip Kapleau’s The Three Pillars of Zen, Huston Smith’s The Religions of Man and many of the writings of Alan Watts and D.T. Suzuki. Thus began a love of Eastern religion and philosophy that continues to this day. During this period ShĹŤgen spent time in the Religious Studies Department at Cal State Northridge, California, where he furthered his studies of religion, existentialism, and Buddhism.
Shōgen remained a “closet-intellectual-Buddhist” for decades. On his 50th birthday, during a camping trip in Big Sur, he read an article in Tricycle magazine celebrating the anniversary of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha. Shōgen realized he needed to deepen his meditation practice and look for a teacher. In October of 1999 he found his way to the Zen Center of Los Angeles and became a student of Roshi Egyoku Nakao. He received Jukai in 2005, Tokudo in 2012, Denkai in 2016, was empowered as a Dharma Holder in April of 2019 and received Dharma Transmission on December 14, 2019.
Sensei ShĹŤgen has led the SLO Zen Circle for over 17 years. He also leads a prison sangha at the California Men’s Colony, where inmates meet weekly for service, meditation, and Dharma teachings. He recently retired from service as a hospice chaplain. He is a member of the White Plum Asanga, the Zen Peacemakers, the American Zen Teachers Association, and an associate member of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.
Active in the local interfaith community, Shōgen is a member of the San Luis Obispo Ministerial Association and the group Opening Doors of Interfaith Understanding.
ShĹŤgen lives in Los Osos, California, with his wife, Karla.
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March Zazenkai 2024
Nem Etsugen Bajra has been a member of ZCLA since 2007. He completed training as Head Trainee under the guidance of Roshi Egyoku in 2021 and was designated as Dharma Holder by Roshi Ryodo in 2022. He served as a Co-Steward of the ZCLA Tenzo Circle for four years. Etsugen continues to offer “Introduction to Zen Mediation” classes on Sundays and “Explore Your Practice” meetings on Wednesday nights.  He also serves as a member of the ZCLA Board and a member of Buddha Hand Circle (BHC). He is offering bi-weekly meditation classes and quarterly Zazenkai to the business community members. He is currently CEO of Calsoft Systems, an IT company.
