In the opening talk of this four-part series, Sensei Michael Brunner introduces Sekitō Kisen’s Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage — a timeless Zen poem about dwelling freely in the world just as it is.

Sekitō’s first line, “I’ve built a grass hut where there’s nothing of value,” becomes a gateway into the mind of practice — simple, transparent, and unbound.

In this episode:
– Who Sekitō Kisen was and why his teaching endures
– The meaning of the “grass hut” as the dwelling of awareness
– How simplicity reveals true abundance
– Letting go of the stories we build around permanence and worth
– Living where there’s nothing to defend

Recorded live during sesshin at One River Zen, this talk begins the journey through Sekitō’s poem — a path from building, to dwelling, to awakening in the very heart of impermanence.

I’ve built a grass hut where there’s nothing of value.
After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap.

When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared.
Now it’s been lived in—and it’s covered with weeds.

The person in the hut lives here calmly,
Not stuck to inside, outside, or in between.

Places worldly people live, he doesn’t live.
Realms worldly people love, he doesn’t love.

Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world.
In ten square feet, an old man illumines forms and their nature.

A great vehicle Bodhisattva trusts without doubt.
The middling or lowly can’t help wondering;
Will this hut perish or not?

Perishable or not, the original master is present,
Not dwelling south or north, east or west.
Firmly based on steadiness, it can’t be surpassed.

A shining window below the green pines—
Jade palaces or vermilion towers can’t compare.

Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest.
Thus, this mountain monk doesn’t understand at all.

Living here, he no longer works to get free.
Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests?

Turn around the light to shine within,
Then just return.

The vast inconceivable source can’t be faced or turned away from.
Meet the ancestral teachers; be familiar with their instructions.
Bind grasses to build a hut and don’t give up.

Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely.
Open your hands and walk, innocent.

Thousands of words, myriad interpretations,
Are only to free you from obstructions.

If you want to know the undying person in the hut,
Don’t separate from this skin bag here and now.

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