Lazzarini holds a degree in Japanese Language and Literature from the University of California, Berkeley, and lived in Japan for twelve years. During the early 1970s he practiced Sōtō Zen at Antaiji, a small temple in the Takagamine district of Kyoto, where he first studied under Kōshō Uchiyama Rōshi—the author whose work he would later translate—training in the shikantaza ("just sitting") style associated with Uchiyama and Dōgen. After returning to the United States, he continued his practice with Shōhaku Okumura Rōshi at the Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington, Indiana, where he took lay ordination. He translated The Sound That Perceives the World in close collaboration with Okumura Rōshi and his wife, Shōko Hayashi Lazzarini. Lazzarini currently lives in Everett, Washington, where he practices with the Everett Zazen Group. (Source Accessed July 26, 2026)
