Return of Pasadena Zen Sangha (2/12)

All things are as empty as the enso

For years, under the auspices of Founder Roshi Jeff Albrizze (Rev. Lotus Peace) and successor Meditation Guide Seven and our friends at

• Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church
• Pasadena Library (Rose Bowl branch)
• Ahiah Center for Spiritual Living in Pasadena
• Mindfulness Meditation Center
• Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara, Pasadena, and a few other temporary locations taken down by the Panda from Wuhan, our weekly sangha ("spiritual community") finally rises again.

Art by Rev. Seigaku Amato

This new Zen practice community (affiliated with Dharma Buddhist Meditation (Disclosure Project, Nature Center, and PasaDharma, Yokoji Zen Mountain Center of Idyllwild, Long Beach Buddhist Church, and Angel City Zen Center now free of bothersome Brad Warner) will serve Pasadena, the Foothills of the Angeles National Forest, and the greater San Gabriel Valley.

• WEEKLY ZAZEN MEDITATION
• Pasadena Zen Sangha
• FREE: Every Thursday, 7:00 pm-9:00 pm
• Orange Grove Friends Meeting House
• 520 E. Orange Grove Bl., Pasadena, 91104

The Bodhisattva of Compassion: Kanzeon

TEACHER: Reverend Seigaku Amato

Seigaku Amato, Hossenshiki ceremony, Japan

Sensei or Reverend Seigaku Amato (Sōtō-Rinzai Zen blend) leads uses Thursdays to lead participants in shikantaza or "just sitting" (zazen), mindful walking (kinhin), perplexing riddles to help us overcome rigid and limiting habits of mind to get us thinking outside the box (koans), questions and answers, and an open group discussion. Sensei completed his Hossenshiki ceremony in Japan, a necessary step for a Sotoshu novice to take toward becoming a full-fledged Zen Buddhist priest. He became Zagen, one step away from Osho. More He is the author of a very helpful guide to Zen:

• PHOTO GALLERY (Facebook)

BOOK: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Zen

The Complete Illustrated Guide to Zen

With 4.3 out of 5 stars (38 reviews), this 2021 introduction to Zen is unlike any readers have ever seen — inspired by manga and graphic novels. It offers a comprehensive overview of Soto Zen Buddhism in a delightfully captivating way.

Complete with dynamic, detailed illustrations, American Soto Zen Priest Seigaku Amato uses a semi-narrative style to take readers on a visual tour of Buddhism and, using specifics to illuminate universals, dives deeply into the practices and forms of Soto Zen.

In honor of our teacher the Buddha Shakyamuni

Whether we are just taking our first step or have been practicing Zen for years, this creative and profound book can serve as a constant companion and guide on the journey as it explores topics such as:

• a brief history of Buddhism
• an iconographic overview of various buddhas and bodhisattvas
• an introduction to the various practices of Zen, including
• meditation (zazen)
• work practice (samu)
• meditative eating (oryoki)
• a what’s-what of:
• holidays
• ceremonies
• temple instruments
• religious vestments
• a how-to guide for setting up a home altar.
• BOOK: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Zen (Simon & Schuster)
• Seigaku Amato's ART — Pasadena Zen Sangha

What is zen (lowercase)?

Dharma Editor Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Shakyamuni Buddha (Rev. Seigaku)

This is very easy to answer. It literally means "meditation" in the sense of the "meditative absorptions" (Pali jhana, Sanskrit dhyana, Chinese chan (short for channa), Vietnamese thiền, Korean sŏn (or seon), and Japanese zen. These are progressive states of stillness (samadhi), misleadingly translated as "concentration." The connotation of that rendering is struggle, force, and effort, whereas "absorption" is the result of persistent balanced practice but itself is effortless, not accomplished by "muscling" or "efforting" but rather by "letting go" instead of "clinging" to things. It is a natural state of enhanced awareness (because of the purification and intensification of consciousness that is usually scattered, distracted, and beset by the Five Hindrances, which are replaced by the Five Factors of Absorption or jhana'anga), detached calm, dispassionate observation, and mindful looking on or objective witnessing or simply watching, at first accompanied by a sort of "bliss" (piti, rapture, uplift, joy, enthusiasm, zeal), "happiness" (sukha), and "contentment" (santosha).

Don't overthink it (like this editor does), Okay?

"Zen" with a capital z is a different story, for it may refer to the entire history and set of practices in the Japanese Mahayana Chan School originating in China, having spread to Korea and other parts of Asia and now the world.

Bodhidharma, South Indian monk in China

Perplexing discussions of "emptiness" (shunyata) and "suchness" (tathātā) are more easily understood in the older texts of the Theravada ("Teaching of the Elders," the enlightened direct disciples of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni (the "Sage of the Sakas" or Indo-Scythians from ancient Gandhara, one of the Angas), the theras and theris) school. These terms refer to the "impersonal" (anatta) nature of all phenomena (but particularly the Five Aggregates clung to as Self) and the Dependent Origination (conditioned co-genesis) of all composite "things" (dhammas, phenomena), the only compact or noncomposite thing being nirvana, which is not nothingness but rather the end of all delusion/ignorance, further rebirth, and suffering/disappointment.

OTHER LOCAL PRACTICE OPPORTUNITIES

• Zenshuji Soto Misson, in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, the first Soto Zen temple in North America, established in 1922
• Taichi (Calendar - Neighborhood UU Church) Feb. 7, 2026, 8:00- 9:15 am
• (Japanese) Pasadena Buddhist Temple (of Altadena)
• Buddhist groups increasingly taking root in Latinx communities | Lion’s Roar
• Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Jen Bradshaw, Wisdom Quarterly