Title: The Taste of the Ordinary: Beyond Buddhas and Ancestors
Teacher: Sensei Michael Brunner
Koan Source: Case 78 of the Shōyōroku (Book of Equanimity) – “Umon’s Farm Rice Cake”

In this Dharma talk delivered during a Zen retreat, Sensei Michael Brunner reflects on the deeply ordinary yet radically transformative nature of awakening.

A monk asks Master Umon, “What is the speech that transcends the Buddhas and goes beyond the ancestors?” Umon answers with stunning simplicity: “Farm rice cake.”

What unfolds from that exchange is an invitation to stop chasing the extraordinary and instead awaken to the sacred already embedded in our everyday lives.

Topics covered include:

Why we struggle to see the value in the ordinary

The spiritual danger of dividing life into sacred and profane

The hidden costs of striving for “spiritual” experiences

Dōgen’s teaching on painted rice cakes and realization

How to bring the whole of your life—including your shadow—to the table

The meaning of true inclusion and embodied awareness

You’ll hear references to meal gathas, latrine flies, and rice cakes—all pointing back to one thing: there’s nothing outside the Dharma.

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Quote from the episode:

“You stop being the one who’s turning the Dharma, and you recognize the Dharma turning you.”

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