Awakening Streams: The One River Zen Podcast

In this talk from Sensei Sōen Michael Brunner, Abbot of One River Zen in Ottawa, Illinois, we encounter the final case of the Book of Equanimity: Rōya’s Mountains and Rivers. When a monk asks why, if all is originally pure, mountains and rivers arise, Rōya answers with the same question — turning the inquiry back to the listener. Sensei Sōen explores how this kōan meets us in daily life, where ego endlessly alternates between “I must assert” and “I must disappear.” From Aleister Crowley’s dictum “Do what thou wilt” to John the Baptist’s “He must increase, I must decrease,” this episode traces the middle way that neither denies self nor clings to it. At the heart of the talk is an invitation to discover the original nature that moves as mountains, rivers, thoughts, and breath — the unbroken reality before any notion of “self” or “world.” 🎧 Recorded live at One River Zen, a Soto Zen Buddhist temple in the lineage of Dainin Katagiri Roshi. Learn more or join practice at www.oneriverzen.org.

Part Four: “Turn the Light and Return” In the final talk of the Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage series, Sensei Michael Brunner brings Sekitō Kisen’s poem to its quiet resolution. After the hut is built, opened to the world, and settled in stillness, the hermit now turns the light inward — and simply returns. Sekitō’s closing instruction, “Turn around the light to shine within, then just return,” invites a practice beyond striving, beyond attainment. This is the life that remains when all effort falls away — when the builder, the hut, and the Way itself dissolve into a single, unbounded presence. Through this final teaching, Sensei explores the mystery of the undying person in the hut — the one who was never separate from the beginning. The talk unfolds as a meditation on freedom, humility, and the ease that comes from releasing even the need to awaken. In this episode: – Turning the light inward – The end of striving and the return to simplicity – Host and guest as one reality – The undying person in the hut – Freedom that asks for nothing Recorded live during sesshin at One River Zen, this final talk closes the circle: the hut, the world, and the one who dwells within are all the same. 🪷 Learn more: https://oneriverzen.org #Zen #DharmaTalk #SekitoKisen #SongOfTheGrassRoofHermitage #MichaelBrunner #OneRiverZen #SotoZen #Zazen #AwakeningStreams #Sesshin #GrassRoofHut #TurningTheLightWithin #Stillness #Freedom #Fushiryo #NonDuality #Awakening

Part Two: “The Widening of the Hermit’s Vision” In the second talk of this four-part series, Sensei Michael Brunner continues his exploration of Sekitō Kisen’s Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage, turning to the widening vision of the awakened hermit. Where Part One built the hut — the dwelling of practice and simplicity — Part Two opens the doors. The hut that once seemed small now includes the entire world. The hermit who once sat within it now dissolves into the boundless vastness of awareness. Through Sekitō’s verses — “Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world” and “Places worldly people live, he doesn’t live; realms worldly people love, he doesn’t love” — Sensei examines the natural unfolding of realization: how renunciation gives way to inclusion, how the walls of self and world fall away, and how compassion arises from stillness itself. In this episode: – The hut as the mind of non-separation – Dwelling in vastness without losing ordinariness – The difference between worldly love and boundless love – The practice of allowing the weeds to grow – Living in freedom where nothing is outside the Way Recorded live during sesshin at One River Zen, this talk traces the arc from solitude to intimacy, showing that the true dwelling of the awakened life is not apart from the world, but fully within it. 🪷 Learn more: https://oneriverzen.org #Zen #DharmaTalk #SekitoKisen #SongOfTheGrassRoofHermitage #MichaelBrunner #OneRiverZen #SotoZen #Zazen #AwakeningStreams #Compassion #NonDuality #Stillness #GrassRoofHut #Sesshin #ZenPractice

🎧 Hyakujo’s Fox — The Dharma of Cause and Effect Ango Opening Talk with Sensei Sōen Michael Brunner In this opening talk for Ango, Sensei explores the Zen koan Hyakujo’s Fox—a story about karma, consequence, and the illusion of escape. When a monk once claimed that the enlightened person does not fall under cause and effect, he was reborn as a fox for 500 lives. Through this teaching, Sensei invites us to see that awakening is not found beyond karma but within it. The very circumstances we try to avoid—our mistakes, limitations, and expectations—are themselves the field of practice. Freedom is not escape; it’s meeting life completely, right where we stand. 🪶 “Every mistake, every slip into fox life, is also Buddha life.” #Zen #DharmaTalk #HyakujosFox #OneRiverZen #MichaelBrunner #Karma #ZenPractice #Ango #SotoZen #Mindfulness

In this episode, Sensei Sōen Michael Brunner explores Case 33 of the Shōyōroku, Sanshō’s Golden Carp, and the subtle dynamics of spiritual pride, performance, and silence. What do we really want when we speak? Connection—or control? What happens when we start practicing for applause? And what does it mean to practice without needing to be seen, affirmed, or even understood? With clarity and warmth, Sensei invites us to see through the traps of identity and accomplishment, and return to what’s real: the grit of this very moment, where nothing needs proving and the heart can finally rest. Let the dust settle. Then, true practice begins.

In this episode, Sensei Michael Brunner explores Case 78 of the Shōyōroku—Umon’s enigmatic response to the question, “What is speech that transcends the Buddhas and goes beyond the ancestors?” The answer: farm rice cake. Through this simple yet profound pointer, we’re invited to drop our search for lofty experiences and instead turn toward the ordinary, the overlooked, the deeply human moments we often push aside. Sensei Michael reflects on the way we divide life into sacred and profane, clean and messy—and how Zen cuts through that duality to reveal the wholeness of everything. This is a teaching about inclusion, embodiment, and learning to bow to the life that is already unfolding. Nothing is left out—not your grief, your shadow, or your confusion. All of it belongs. And all of it is the Dharma. Listen now to explore: Umon’s uncompromising simplicity What a rice cake can teach us about awakening The hidden cost of chasing spiritual ideals How to live a life where nothing is exiled For more talks and resources, visit oneriverzen.org

What happens after everything falls apart? In this episode, Sensei Michael Brunner offers a powerful reflection on Case 41 of the Blue Cliff Record, where Joshu asks what follows the “great death”—the collapse of the self we’ve clung to. Drawing from Zen koans, Dōgen’s teachings, and the raw honesty of lived experience, this talk explores how awakening does not lie in bypassing pain or rebuilding old identities, but in stepping forward—with nothing left to hide—into the clear light of presence. With warmth, clarity, and compassion, Sensei invites us to stop patching the past and instead meet our lives fully, in the daylight. A talk for anyone who has known loss, change, or the quiet courage it takes to begin again.

Our thoughts leap from branch to branch, constructing meaning, seeking control—just like a restless monkey. But who are we when the monkey is silent? In this episode, Sensei Michael Brunner explores Shōyōroku Case 72 – Chuyu’s Monkey, unpacking the grasping mind, conditioned perception, and the immediacy of direct experience. Through humor, insight, and Zen wisdom, we examine how to move beyond the mind’s endless chatter and meet life as it truly is.