More on our CA fire... In 1967, I starting sneaking into the Tassajara Zen Center deep in Carmel Valley late at night (after driving the trecherous one hour, one lane dirt road in my funky '65 Buick Skylark). After much local wine and a lucious dip in the 120 degree hot springs, the monks would graciously come down and ask us to leave. Now, years later after being practioners and supporters of the SF Zen Center and putting in our time in the sesshin silence from here to France, Nancy and I watch as Tassajara burns once again.
This once Native American sacred place was turned into a spa center in the 1900's because of the healing, natural hot springs (one of hundreds that drape down the CA coastline caused by the geologic faultline). Well, it burned down then as now. The SF Zen Center bought the property in the 60's to serve as their formal practice center apart from the original Page St. sangha in San Francisco. Through the years, they have continually dealt with the dynamics of Mama Nature in the middle of remoteness. I have deep memories of the incredible food (the famous Tassajara Bread Book by the still amazing, still teaching Ed Espe Brown), Green's Restaurant in SF, skinny dipping in the river, talking with Judy Collins walking down the path, and on and on.
Tassajara is under mandatory evacuation as of July 9, but many in the local community resist the Homeland Security style approach taken. This is probably what saved them. An entire blog entry could be spent on the efforts of CA craftspeople (well versed in the japanese tradition) to construct the handmade Zen Center buildings. The monks in the photo above (courtesy SFZC and known as the Tassajara Five : Abbot Steve Stücky, Mako Voelkel, Graham Ross, Colin Gipson, and David Zimmerman) stayed behind to try and save Zen Center, only after giving dental records to the police.
Miraculously, this 120,000 acre fire came to the edge of the buildings and moved north; leaving them intact. Today, the fire still threatens many of the families of our craftsmen friends who live in the beautiful, remote valleys of northern CA. This scars on all our lives, the wildlife and the environment and will take decades to comprehend/pay for. Needless to say, the federal government doesn't pay half what CA does to firefighters, so they don't come to the show. At least W did a flyby today on his way to a Napa Valley GOP fundraiser.
Many blogs are open to express their experiences: David Zimmerman's Sitting with the Fire and The Cachagua General Store (one of the great food experiences around). This fire is only 61% contained and, in the buddhist tradition, it's still moment by moment.
