The Zen Center of Los Angeles (ZCLA), temple name Buddha Essence Temple, is a Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

 center founded by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi  in 1967 that practices in the White Plum

White Plum Asanga

White Plum Asanga, sometimes termed White Plum Sangha, is a Zen school in the Harada-Yasutani lineage, created by the late Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi. It consists of Maezumi's Dharma heirs and subsequent successors and students...

 lineage.

ZCLA observes a daily schedule of zazen, Buddhist services, and work practice. The Center's programs include introductory classes, sesshin, workshops and training periods, as well as face-to-face meetings with Abbot Wendy Egyoku Nakao

Wendy Egyoku Nakao

Wendy Egyoku Nakao is currently the abbot of the Zen Center of Los Angeles, having moved into the center in 1978 and later receiving Dharma transmission and inka from Bernard Glassman. She assumed her abbotship in 1999...

and other Center teachers. The sangha practices zazen and koan training in the Maezumi-Glassman lineage.

ZCLA's mission is to know the Self, maintain the precepts, and serve others. The Center serves by providing the teaching, training, and transmission of Zen Buddhism. ZCLA's vision is an enlightened world in which suffering is transcended, all beings live in harmony, everyone has enough, deep wisdom is realized, and compassion flows unhindered.