A Buddhist meditation hall at the remote Tassajara Mountain Zen Center in Central California burned down just as practitioners were in the home stretch of a sequestered, three-month meditation program in which they had been contemplating the impermanence of existence.
The March 26 attic fire swallowed up the entire wooden structure and damaged the nearby library. But dozens of other structures were spared thanks to timely action on the part of monks and staff members at the monastery who are no strangers to dealing with fires — whether they are sparked by faulty wiring or by the gusting winds in the wild.
It was fortuitous that David Zimmerman, former Tassajara director and an experienced hand at fighting previous fires at that location, was leading a retreat when this fire broke out, said Michael McCord, president of the San Francisco Zen Center, which owns and runs the retreat. Zimmerman is a famed member of a band of “ fire monks ” who in 2008 and again in 2021 valiantly stayed to defend their sacred space — even after authorities issued evacuation orders.
Under his leadership last week, the resourceful bunch sprayed hoses and dumped buckets of water to contain the fire until a crew of volunteer firefighters — stationed an hour away — could make their way up the jagged mountain on a one-lane dirt road without guardrails.
The Cachagua Fire Department posted their kudos on social media in a statement that said: “The staff at Tassajara Mountain Zen Center should be incredibly proud, their initial fire attack efforts helped keep the fire contained, buying critical time for responding apparatus to arrive and preventing further damage.”
For the monks and spiritual practitioners who visit from around the U.S. a …
