Talk Two: The Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage | The Widening of the Hermit’s Vision
Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot

Talk Two: The Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage | The Widening of the Hermit’s Vision

In this second talk from the 2025 Ango Opening Sesshin, Sensei Michael Brunner continues his four-part exploration of Sekitō Kisen’s Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage. What began as a fragile ten-foot hut now opens to include the entire world. The hermit who once sought refuge discovers that his dwelling has no boundaries — and that the “original master” who abides within is unborn, undying, and ever-present.

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Talk One: The Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage | Building the Mind of Practice
Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot

Talk One: The Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage | Building the Mind of Practice

In this opening talk from the 2025 Ango Sesshin at One River Zen, Sensei Michael Brunner introduces Sekitō Kisen’s timeless poem, The Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage. Speaking from the stillness of sesshin, Sensei explores how Sekitō’s “grass hut” is not a structure but a state of mind — simple, transparent, and free.

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Hyakujo’s Fox | Ango Opening Ceremony 2025
Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot

Hyakujo’s Fox | Ango Opening Ceremony 2025

At the opening of our Ango practice period, we turned to the koan Hyakujo’s Fox—a story about karma, consequence, and the illusion of escape. We spend much of our lives trying to outwit our circumstances, but awakening isn’t found outside the web of cause and effect—it’s revealed right within it. Each breath, each act, each mistake is already the field of practice.

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“Where Did You Get This Dust?”
Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot

“Where Did You Get This Dust?”

Your Buddha nature isn’t something you polish into being—it’s already here, already complete. The project of self-perfection collapses. What remains? Just this—quiet presence, unguarded wonder. The heart of Zen.

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Let the Dust Settle | Shōyōroku Case 33
Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot

Let the Dust Settle | Shōyōroku Case 33

We speak so often without really intending to connect—just trying to be right, or to relieve some internal pressure. But unless someone sincerely wants to hear, our words scatter like dust. In Zen, there’s no reward for performance, no applause for being “beyond.” In fact, the very idea of being beyond is often the net we’re still caught in. True practice begins when we stop trying to be impressive, stop trying to be seen, and simply meet the moment as it is—muddy, raw, and real. Let the dust settle. Then you can begin.

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The Radiant Thread of Being | Shōyōroku 67
Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot

The Radiant Thread of Being | Shōyōroku 67

In this teisho, we enter the deep current of the Avatamsaka Sutra and Dōgen’s wisdom to explore Indra’s Net, karmic momentum, and the luminous jewel hidden in the folds of your very own robe. You don’t need to earn it—but you do need to realize it.

We are already reflecting the whole, whether we see it or not.

Wonder, not knowledge, is the key.

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The Taste of the Ordinary: Beyond Buddhas and Ancestors
Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot

The Taste of the Ordinary: Beyond Buddhas and Ancestors

What if awakening isn’t found in scriptures or mountaintops, but in a simple farm rice cake?
In this grounded and provocative talk, Sensei Michael Brunner reflects on a Zen koan that challenges our deepest assumptions about sacredness. Why do we divide life into holy and profane? What do we miss when we dismiss the ordinary?

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Stop Trying to Understand, and See | Shōyōroku Case 80: Ryuge Passes the Chin Rest
Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot

Stop Trying to Understand, and See | Shōyōroku Case 80: Ryuge Passes the Chin Rest

We chase meaning like it’s out there somewhere—hidden in a teaching, a moment, a breakthrough. But what happens when even “no meaning” becomes another thing to hold onto? In this talk on Book of Equanimity, Case 80, we sit with Ryūge’s journey through questions, blows, and the quiet unraveling of self. It’s not about finding the answer. It’s about what’s left when the search gives up.

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Anna Freud’s Defense Mechanisms of the Ego and the Dharma Path | The Karma Lectures, Part Three
Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot Daily Zen Sensei Michael, Founder & Abbot

Anna Freud’s Defense Mechanisms of the Ego and the Dharma Path | The Karma Lectures, Part Three

What holds the self together after it’s been born through karma? In this week’s powerful class, we step beneath the surface of our constructed identities to explore the quiet architecture of the ego—its defense mechanisms, its patterns of protection, and its habitual strategies for survival. Drawing from Anna Freud’s foundational work and illuminated through the lens of Zen practice, we uncover how fear, shame, and avoidance become karmic habits… and how clarity, presence, and vow can transform them. This isn’t about fixing yourself—it’s about meeting yourself fully. Join us for a deep dive into the hidden strategies of the self, and the liberating possibility of embodying your true nature.

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