
“Just as the great oceans have but one taste, the taste of salt, so too there is but one taste fundamental to all true teachings of the way, and this is the taste of freedom.”
-The Buddha
Daily Zen: Explore, Reflect, Awaken
Welcome to Daily Zen, your space for insight, reflection, and transformation. Here, we share wisdom and teachings to help you navigate the challenges of everyday life with clarity, compassion, and presence.
Each day offers an opportunity to pause, connect, and awaken to the true nature of your life. Through thoughtful blog posts, engaging videos, inspiring podcasts, and opportunities to connect in person, you’ll find resources to support your journey on the Zen path.
Ready for more?
Watch our talks on YouTube, where Sensei Michael explores the depth of Zen practice and its relevance to modern life.
Listen to our podcast, Awakening Streams, available on all major platforms, and carry Zen insights with you wherever you go.
Take a class to deepen your understanding and experience of Zen practice.
Join us for a retreat, where you can immerse yourself in stillness and self-discovery.
Become a Zen Student, embarking on a transformative journey of practice and guidance.
Whether you’re just beginning or well along the path, let’s explore the way of Zen together.
What happens when the worlds of Zen and psychology converge? In this engaging talk, Sensei Michael explores Mumonkan Case 12: Zuigan Calls Himself Master through the lens of Carl Jung's profound insights into the psyche. Discover how Zuigan's daily practice of calling out to the Master mirrors Jung's concept of individuation and the integration of fragmented identities.
The clinging to roles, identities, and external validation acts as a barrier to authentic self-understanding. Heidegger called for Kehre, a radical turning. It requires confronting the truth of impermanence—what he called “being-towards-death.
The one-eyed dragon Isan spoke of isn’t mythical. It’s the clarity that arises when we stop seeing with the two eyes of duality—self and other, right and wrong. These two eyes bind us to judgment and striving. The one eye is the eye of wisdom, the eye that sees beyond. It’s the eye through which the universe looks back at you.
We possess an uncanny ability to hold two beliefs that don’t—can’t—reside together. Not only do we house them in separate corners of our minds, but we also deliberately keep their contradiction hidden, even from ourselves. Philosophers like Sartre called this phenomenon Bad Faith, describing it as a way of denying the truths of our own existence. But even that term falls short. Self-deception isn’t merely misplaced faith; it’s a deluded faith, fragmented by contradiction and incapable of seeing the whole.
As you expand your awareness, you’ll discover that there is no “outside” or “other.” The pull of the small self will fade, and you’ll realize that nothing lies beyond you—you are the whole, the boundless essence of life itself.
When we move through life so quickly, fixated on a distant goal, we interact with so little of what’s around us. We miss the richness of our lives, rushing past moments that could touch us deeply, if only we allowed them to. Instead of hardening ourselves and plummeting through life like a stone, what if we practiced living like a feather?
What does it mean to truly let go of ego and align with reality? Through a simple encounter with a proud Nichiren priest, Bankei reveals how clinging to judgments and expectations limits our freedom.
This teaching invites us to step beyond resistance and pride, to embrace the flow of life as it is, and to discover the boundless essence of our true nature. Freedom, as Sensei Michael reminds us, isn’t found in control—it’s found in letting go.
In this talk, Sensei Michael explores how clinging to the small self—its judgments, labels, and stories—keeps us trapped in cycles of attachment and delusion. Drawing from Dōgen's teaching, “To study the self is to forget the self,” this reflection offers a path to clarity and freedom.
Take a moment to consider how we approach projects. We say, “I’m starting this project,” and, “At some point, I’ll finish it.” These statements operate within a framework built around goals — a beginning, an end, and the satisfaction of completion. But in this way, we are never truly here. Goals lock us into a future-oriented mindset.
In this Early Morning Light talk, Sensei Michael reflects on a childhood road trip that took an unexpected turn when a traffic jam brought strangers together in an extraordinary moment of connection.
One River Zen’s founders Michael Brunner and Vanessa Roddam are featured in a recent article by Apartment Guide on creating the perfect meditation space in your home. Read the full article and all the tips from many experts in the field here.
"Have the courageous attitude of a hero with the loving heart of a child." Soyen Shaku’s timeless teaching invites us to step beyond fear and embrace life with boldness and compassion. Let go of your stories, trust in the moment, and discover the wisdom within.
In this episode of Awakening Streams, we explore how missteps, mistakes, and perceived failures are not obstacles but integral parts of the path. Drawing on Zen teachings and real-life examples, Sensei Michael reflects on the importance of embracing our imperfections with clarity and compassion.
In today’s teisho, we explored the practice of letting go of what we carry—our judgments, stories, and attachments—and how they shape our experiences. Reflecting on the Zen case Muddy Road from the Shasekishu, we saw how Tanzan’s compassionate action and Ekido’s clinging judgment illustrate the difference between a rigid, external morality and a responsive, living compassion. This practice invites us to see the baggage we hold onto and to release it, so we can show up fully, with clarity and compassion, for what each moment requires.
In the wake of the election, today’s talk invites us to root ourselves in compassion, setting aside divisive narratives and opening our hearts to connect and heal. Sensei Michael encourages us to embrace each moment with clarity, grounding our responses in presence and peace. Join us as we reflect on embodying compassion in our lives and communities.
During our Zen of Recovery Retreat, we explored how the labels and judgments we apply to our lives can end up controlling us, keeping us from fully engaging with the vast and boundless present moment. In this teisho, we reflect on how responding to life with clarity, intention, and discipline brings true freedom.
In this teisho, we explore the transformative power of retreat, where we strip away distractions and meet our true nature. Through the story of Zen master Gudo, we uncover how honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness can help us break free from the small self and awaken the vast, compassionate master within. This is your path—awakening starts with you!
No matter how deeply we dig or how high we build, the waves of time carry everything away. Our practice calls us not to cling to what’s temporary but to ride the waves, bearing witness to life’s beauty and challenges without attachment. By doing so, we find ourselves exactly where we need to be, open and ready to meet suffering with compassion.
In this teisho, Sensei Michael delves into the teachings of Shōyōroku Case 91, “Nansen’s Peony,” where Nansen reminds us that we often see life "as if in a dream." Through the example of the peony, he points us beyond our habitual divisions—real and unreal, self and other, joy and sorrow. We explore how, by letting go of labels and fixed ideas, we can experience life’s seamless, boundless essence.
In our quest for truth, we often get caught up in opinions and expectations. But the truth isn’t something we find through comparison or judgment. It's revealed when we set aside our ideas of how things should be and open ourselves to how they truly are. If we can release our attachment to our opinions, even just for a moment, we can see the world clearly as it unfolds before us.
In those moments when we struggle to know how to engage with suffering, it helps to return to a simple, timeless practice: Metta. By consistently reminding ourselves and others, "May you be happy, may you be well, may you be peaceful and at ease," we can soften even the hardest situations. Join us in cultivating loving-kindness and discovering the path that leads us back to our true nature.
In this Early Morning Light talk, Sensei Michael Brunner reminds us of the importance of living with awareness, both in our actions and thoughts. By cultivating compassion and understanding that we are always seen, we can live more freely and fully.
Join us in this reflection on how to live with integrity, even when it feels like no one is watching!
Sensei Michael Brunner guides us through aligning our intention, presence, and thoughts—encouraging us to bring our full attention to the present moment. When these elements are in harmony, the path opens joyfully before us.
In today’s teisho, Sensei Michael Brunner reflects on Chōsha Wandering in the Mountains, exploring how positive samadhi invites us to fully engage with life. “If you're going to practice, you have to practice now. The autumn wind is blowing, friends. Don’t squander your life.” Read on to discover how to show up fully in each moment.
In this teisho from Saturday Morning Zen, Sensei Michael Brunner explores Shoyoroku Case 14, "Attendant Kaku Serves Tea," focusing on the importance of letting go of our stories and judgments. When we drop preconceived ideas, we open ourselves to the present moment, where compassion naturally arises. Through the lens of teacher-student dynamics, Sensei reveals how the wisdom of Zen is embodied in everyday life.
So look carefully today at your karmic inheritance in the small self. Notice where the small self is centered, what it’s trying to accomplish, and what story it’s attempting to weave.
Reach out. Make a difference for someone else. In that action, you’ll discover where the true abode of self is—boundless and expansive. And in helping someone else, you’ll find the liberation of your own self. That’s a remarkable kensho, a way of opening to your true nature.
This case calls us to drop our attachment to ideas about what life should be. Stop overcomplicating things. Life is exactly as it presents itself, right now. The Buddhadharma isn’t something to be debated; it’s something to be lived.
But if you want liberation—not just for yourself, but for everything you encounter, which is ultimately yourself—then let go. Join the dance that is your life. Be actualized by the circumstances as they present themselves, not as you think they should be.
Life will present us with moments that shake us to our core, that cause us to experience discomfort and pain. But what we often overlook is how much of our suffering is self-created—the stories we build around that pain.
To live this way, we have to do something that might seem counterintuitive: walk toward the things that challenge us. Look for those moments when you want to recoil, to retreat and regather your forces. Instead of retreating, step forward. Meet the challenge. Absorb it. Let it teach you. When you stop seeing it as outside, you’ll realize that you have all the resources of the vast universe at your disposal to transform that challenge into wisdom.