One River Zen

11/20/2025

We’re putting on that little sparkle! It makes for a magical retreat experience December 5-7 or candlelight zazenkai December 19-20. Register today at oneriverzen.org ✨⭐️🎄❄️🧘🏼‍♂️

11/19/2025

✨ SILENT RADIANCE WEEKEND MEDITATION RETREAT

At the end of a long year, silence can feel like medicine.
Join us December 5–7 for the Silent Radiance Retreat at One River Zen — a warm, contemplative weekend where the noise falls away and your inner life has room to breathe.

🕯️ Over the weekend you’ll settle into:
• Sitting and walking meditation
• A spacious rhythm of practice that naturally supports you
• Time by the fire, shared presence, and gentle stillness
• A Dharma talk to deepen reflection without interrupting the quiet
• A community atmosphere that feels calm, steady, and real

Just a simple, steady space where clarity returns on its own.
If you’ve been running on empty…
If you’ve needed a reset you can actually feel…
This is your place to land.
Residential, commuter, and online options available.
👉 Reserve your spot: https://oneriverzen.org/silent

Explore transformative meditation retreats at One River Zen. Join us for guidance and practice, available online and in-person.

11/16/2025

Joy in the Leaves

Samu practice during Sesshin reminds us that awakening isn’t limited to the cushion.
Here, raking leaves becomes wholehearted practice—each stroke of the rake an expression of clarity, each shared smile a moment of effortless belonging.

Working side by side, we remember that simple tasks done with a clear mind can open the same gate as silent sitting.
Joy arises naturally when nothing is held back.

11/16/2025

Firelight Practice

Evening settles over the Illinois River, and we gather—bundled in blankets, warmed by the fire, and held by the quiet rhythm of practice.
Nothing to force, nothing to fix. Just breath, warmth, and the gentle reminder that awakening is not somewhere else. It’s right here in the glow of shared presence, in the simple joy of sitting together under an open sky.

Moments like this are why One River Zen exists.
A place to return, again and again, to the heart of things.

11/05/2025

Dwelling in Clarity | Weekend Meditation Retreat
November 14-16th, 2025
oneriverzen.org/retreats

As autumn deepens and the year prepares to turn, we are invited to pause — to set down the weight of busyness and return to the ground of clarity within.

Dwelling in Clarity is a weekend retreat of stillness, silence, and practice at One River Zen Center. From November 14–16th, join us for a rhythm of seated and walking meditation, chanting, Dharma talks, simple work practice, and quiet meals.

This retreat offers a space to see directly into the heart of things — to dwell, if only for a time, in clarity untouched by distraction.

No experience needed — open to beginners and seasoned practitioners alike
Attend residentially, as a commuter, or online
Step away from noise and return to what is real and alive in this very moment
🪷 Sit in stillness.
🪷 Discover clarity.
🪷 Dwell in what does not come or go.

Spots are limited. Register now to reserve your place.

Explore transformative meditation retreats at One River Zen. Join us for guidance and practice, available online and in-person.

11/05/2025

You can shop our Wish List to keep the pantry stocked for those in need. 🙏
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/315J0KHM628QK...

The Karuna Food Pantry in Ottawa is struggling to keep up with food demands due to falling temperatures and rising grocery prices.

11/02/2025

Please help us reduce food insecurity in our community. You can shop our Wish List to keep the pantry stocked for those in need. 🙏 You buy, Amazon delivers, ORZ restocks, and bellies get filled in a time of need. 🍽️

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/315J0KHM628QK?ref_=wl_share ii

10/20/2025

ENTERING THE WAY | FUNDAMENTALS OF ZEN PRACTICE
CLASSES BEGIN WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 29th

Ready to begin your meditation practice — but don’t know where to start?

Join us for Entering the Way: Fundamentals of Zen Practice, a 4-week course designed to ground you in mindfulness, awareness, and self-discovery. https://oneriverzen.org/zen-basecamp-1

In just one class per week (online or in person), you’ll:
• Learn foundational meditation techniques
• Develop resilience to stress
• Cultivate clarity in daily life
• Connect more deeply with who you are

Next session begins Wednesday, October 29 at 7 pm CST
Register at https://oneriverzen.org/zen-basecamp-1

Begin your Zen journey with our four-week Fundamentals of Zen Practice. Accessible classes online and in-person to help you develop meditation skills and discover your true self.

10/20/2025

Without Intention, Habit Runs the Week

Here we are at the dawn of a wonderful, fresh, clean week. We like to think of it as pure and undefiled — and in a large sense it is — but we also carry into it a lot of our karmic proclivity as the week begins. When we turn our attention inside, we notice these vestiges of a notion called “I” that we take with us, recreate moment by moment. We see it as substantively formed through our conscious thoughts, but of course, once we’ve seen that, it doesn’t take long to see its spatial implications — that we use it to project ourselves into the environment, into the things we come in contact with and consider “other.” We recognize there is a lot of skill we must wield when we are working with this karmic momentum.
All that being said, it’s important that we know we occupy space in a noble way, and that we recognize our true presence is all-inclusive. But perhaps even more importantly, there is a temporal aspect to karma. There is a habit-energy that we keep replicating over and over again — it is how we occupy time — and it depends on whether or not we carry an intention, whether we have set down a deep intention for how we are going to work with everything that arises. Once we have that intention set, that is where the chains of karma begin to unlatch.
When we know what we are working with in terms of our intentions — how we are going to manifest — then everything else becomes looser, and we can loosen our grip on the idea of self. But until we see that, our habit-energy will continue to control us. So look carefully, as this week begins, at what your intentions are. If our intention is to manifest as compassion moment by moment, you will reap all of the joy associated with being the medicine. But if we carry forward our current proclivities — the habits by which we promulgate the self through time, unawares — then we remain embodied in that way for the week.

10/17/2025

During the 2025 Ango at One River Zen, Genpo Seth Myers received the kotsu from Sensei Michael Brunner to begin leading his first class. The kotsu is held provisionally and returned after each teaching — a reminder of the tremendous responsibility that comes with guiding others in the Way.

10/15/2025

“The bell rings… an invitation to meet yourself.

Beyond shame, beyond doubt, beyond grief — this is where practice becomes real. In dokusan, we come face to face with our own awakened nature — the One with limitless potential waiting to be seen.

Step into the silence. Come see for yourself.
Learn more at OneRiverZen.org.”