[Roshi] Albrizze conducts weekly Zen meditation in Pasadena at PasaDharma, 7:00 pm Thursdays, Neighborhood Unitarian Church (pasadharma.org) (Wisdom Quarterly) Alexandria II (Alexandria I is in ancient Egypt) bookstore is a spiritual mecca, like its West Los Angeles counterpart Bodhi Tree. These centers do a lot more than sell books. They offer spiritual services in a noncorporatized environment. The big chains in Pasadena are nice -- if one is looking for easy-to-find titles. But try asking for something from the Buddhist Publication Society.
Roshi Albrizze had the room spellbound with his honesty, authenticity, and humor as he moved from the Buddhist basics to the end of suffering in exactly 90 minutes: the Four Noble Truths, which culminate in the Noble Eightfold Path, Zen meditation, American Buddhism, and the urban quest for satori. A tattooed, bald, bearded rebel at heart, Jeff has studied at ZCLA and at times lived a monastic lifestyle undertaking retreats and sesshins in search of a sudden awakening.
His first epiphany came as a Catholic in recovery: He found that he needed something "truthier," something at the bedrock of that tradition, so he became an ardent student in search of Jesus as a Pentecostal preacher. And what he discovered after years of searching for truth was the Buddha. He then established PasaDharma. Find him weekly (Thursdays, 7:00-8:30 pm) at Pasadena's Neighborhood Church, a wonderful Unitarian Universalist sanctuary hosting multiple Buddhist programs.
