The 200-Millisecond Gap: Free Will, Karma, and Zen
with Sensei Michael Brunner (One River Zen)
In this episode, Sensei Michael Brunner explores how ancient Zen practice and modern neuroscience converge on the same insight: we often begin to act before we consciously decide.
Drawing on Benjamin Libet’s famous readiness-potential experiments, Sartre’s account of prereflective consciousness, and the Zen kōan Chinyu and the Rice Pail–碧巌録 HEKIGANROKU (BLUE CLIFF RECORD) Case 74, this teaching reveals how karmic momentum moves through the body before thought arises — and how Zen practice opens a brief but powerful space of freedom.
This is the heart of awakening in everyday life: not controlling experience, but learning how to interrupt habitual reactions and allow wiser action to emerge.
Free will and the brain
Benjamin Libet and “free won’t”
Karma and karmic momentum
Sartre’s prereflective self
Blue Cliff Record, Case 74
Chinyu and embodied action
Zen practice in daily life
Sensei Michael Brunner is a transmitted Sōtō Zen priest and the founder and guiding teacher of One River Zen, a Zen Buddhist community in Ottawa, Illinois offering daily meditation, retreats, and Dharma study grounded in classical Zen and contemporary life.
Learn more at oneriverzen.org
🪷 Awakening Streams: The One River Zen Podcast
Teachings and reflections with Sensei Michael Brunner (Sōen) of One River Zen Center, 121 E Prospect St, Ottawa IL 61350.
🌐 Learn more & join practice: https://www.oneriverzen.org
🎧 Listen to more episodes: Awakening Streams Podcast
🙏 Support the Sangha: https://www.oneriverzen.org/donate
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