Wendy Egyoku Nakao

Wendy Egyoku Nakao is the abbot of the Zen Center of Los Angeles. She moved into the center in 1978 and later received Dharma transmission and inka from Bernard Glassman. She assumed her abbotship in 1999. According to James Ishmael Ford, "Under her leadership, the center has expanded its mission to be family-friendly and socially active, creating an important experiment in the development of Western Zen." Nakao has also conferred Dharma transmission to the first ever African-American woman, Merle Kodo Boyd. Nakao is a member of the American Zen Teachers Association.[1]