Misha Shungen Koun Merrill began practicing Zen in 1984, and has been the Guiding Teacher of Zen Heart Sangha in Menlo Park and Woodside, California, since 1993. She was ordained as a Zen priest in 1988 and received Dharma Transmission in 1998 from her teacher, Les Kaye Roshi, the founding teacher of Kannon Do Zen Center in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, the founder of San Francisco Zen Center. She also received Dharma Transmission in 2025 in the lineage of Kobun Houn Roshi, the founder of Jikoji Zen Center from teachers Shoho Michael Newhall and Nenzen Pamela Brown. Misha was a teacher at the Peninsula School in Menlo Park for 33 years before retiring in 2022. She resides in Woodside with her husband, dog, and other wildlife creatures.

This Dharma talk will be in English with ASL interpretation.