One River Zen

10/20/2026

Our new home will be full of treats next Friday! All are welcome!

10/07/2026

Chop wood, carry water… more like: mud walls, build doorways 😅 Our work practice this week has been truly transformative!

08/23/2026

Want to make a difference with us? Want to take your practice off the cushion to create a space FOR your cushion?! Come create the new Zendo with us!

Every Saturday in September, we'll wrap up meditation with a Dharma talk at the South campus and then head over to the Times building where our new meditation home is coming to life. Help out by being a part of the transformation.

Want to support with a financial contribution? Please go to: https://oneriverzen.org/donate-construction to help fund the new Zendo today!

08/16/2026

Happy Birthday, Sensei Michael! It’s been a birthday week at ORZ, as Little David turned 6 on August 13 and Sensei celebrates his latest turn around the sun on the 16th.
Sensei Michael is off today to Emory University for his graduate school orientation. All the best to you, Sensei! We are thankful to you for all you do for our Sangha. 💙

08/12/2026

NO FEELINGS ARE OUTSIDE

There is a great temptation in our practice to simplify the story of the self by excluding the feelings of others.

We encounter feelings that seem to exist outside of us, and we make excuses. We say, “Well, those feelings aren’t aligned with causes and conditions, and therefore they’re invalid.” And so we disregard them.

But all of the precepts point us toward stepping into suffering wherever we find it. To turn away from the suffering of another flies directly in the face of that practice.

So today, when you encounter feelings or emotions that seem to be outside of yourself, especially the ones you would rather disregard, step into them instead.

See if you can viscerally embody them. Allow yourself to feel what is being presented, and then work with it to transform the suffering you find in the other.

I think you’ll discover that it was never outside in the first place.

And when it is resolved out there, it is resolved in here as well.

Have a wonderful morning!

08/11/2026

We’re excited to share a new partnership between David’s Clubhouse and W Social Club aimed at making everyday experiences more welcoming for people with sensory sensitivities.

This fall, David’s Clubhouse will sponsor Sensory Safe Certification for one barber and one stylist at W Social Club, along with a Sensory Support Box to help create a calmer, more predictable haircut experience.

David’s Clubhouse is an outreach of One River Zen, and this is part of our larger commitment to helping build a more inclusive and compassionate community throughout LaSalle County.

Read the full story:

Local nonprofit sponsors Sensory Safe Certification at W Social Club, expanding inclusive services for children in LaSalle County.

08/06/2026

THE HARD WORK OF INTEGRATION

We often think that the small self is monolithic—that the narrative we carry about who we think we are is discrete and moves through a single channel.

But when we look carefully, we notice that there are many different identities contained within this notion of the small self. Sometimes we are the husband. Sometimes we are the father. Sometimes we are the staff member.

Each of these identities, when we cling to it or dwell within it, drives our actions. Another word for action in Sanskrit is karma.

And because these identities shape our actions, they also shape what we are willing to recognize as part of our lives. They influence what we take responsibility for, what we refuse to engage, and what we attempt to disown or push away.

So today, as you look at your life and try to move beyond some notion of a structured self, one of the most important things you can do is look at what you have disowned.
What responsibilities are pressing in upon you, calling for your attention, that you are refusing to engage?

Engaging in those activities is the hard work of integration and the deep recognition of our true nature.

It may sound overwhelming. It may feel like too much pressure for us to accept. But the path to liberation comes through those very activities. It comes through walking that karmic path and doing the hard work of integration.

So look today for what you are trying to disown or push away.

Have a wonderful morning.

07/31/2026

WHO LIVES YOUR LIFE?

Often, as we go about our daily activity, there is a conscientious objector within us, some notion of propriety concerned with holding together this idea of who we think we are.
So as you move through the day, ask yourself: Who is living my life? Who is shaping these decisions?

Often, we are doing these things in service to an idea of ‘self’ that is, frankly, very tenuous at best, held together by the duct tape and bubble gum of our storytelling mind. If we allow that to fall away, then we can become available, moment by moment, to address what life is truly presenting to us.

Until we know who is living our life, until we see what is operating unconsciously as we try to hold that idea together, we will remain bound by it.

So watch for that today. Notice how it enters your activity. Then step gently into spontaneity and let all of it go!

Take good care.

07/30/2026

THE POWER TO RESPOND

There is a temptation sometimes in our practice to sit and, over and over again, ruminate and express aversion toward the parts of our lives where our expectations are not being met by the situation at hand.

We also know it as complaining.

Complaining is a kind of spiritual impotence. When we complain, we sit around saying that we are no longer in the driver’s seat, and we are no longer exerting the activity required to mend what, in our opinion, has gone wrong.

So today, take a look at the list of complaints you have. Then, one by one, look at what is required.

Step into that with wisdom. Look at what is required to transform the circumstances.
I guarantee you that it is never sitting around and complaining about them!

By doing this, you reclaim your spiritual authority and begin to address suffering. First, the suffering you are encountering. But you will soon see that suffering is never unique to you. It spills over.

When you address your own suffering, you are liberating all those who suffer.

Have a wonderful morning.

07/16/2026

ALLOW LOVE TO FLOW

Sometimes in our practice, there comes a time when we say, “I have nothing left to give.” We’ve all said it, experienced it, or felt it. It’s not that there’s truly nothing left—it’s that we’re hiding from ourselves. Sometimes things become so divided and upside down that we simply want to shut down. You want to give up.

It’s important to know that when we find ourselves in a place where we feel like we have nothing left to give, it isn’t because of anyone else’s activity. We think it’s because of our circumstances, because the world has managed to knock us off balance. But it’s really because we’ve lost connection with the source. The Way itself is a way of compassion, of unity, of love. If we feel like we have none of that left to give, it isn’t because it’s missing. It’s because we’re no longer connected to it. We’ve mistaken the solitary way of the small self for who we are.

So when you find yourself feeling like you’re running out of steam, simply go out and give whatever little love you think you have left away. Avoid the temptation to fall into the loop that says, “There’s nothing left. There’s nothing I can do. There’s no one I can help.” You’ll discover that it naturally replenishes itself, until eventually you become a conduit through which it flows freely.

Just one small act of love is enough to change the whole world!

Have a wonderful morning. I look forward to seeing all of you for meditation first thing tomorrow morning.