Read my August 20 opinion piece in The Monterey Herald about why history doesn’t have to repeat itself as the Soberanes Fire burns towards Tassajara.
Photo by Mako Voelkel
Soberanes Fire, August 6, 2016 Update
Please follow my Fire Monks page on Facebook for updates on the Soberanes Fire’s impact on Tassajara.
What comes around comes back
Fire is in the neighborhood again at Tassajara. No surprise as there is plenty of kindling left over from the 2008 fire, and we had so little rain this winter. Updates are being posted on Tassajara Zen Mountain Center’s Facebook page. Please keep Tassajara and all beings in the burn area in your protective thoughts–especially the firefighters braving the steep, dry Ventana slopes.
And…more monastic fire news… Zen Mountain Center in Idyllwild was evacuated earlier this week. Sadly, homes in the area were lost, but it appears that ZMC was successfully saved by fire crews.
Be safe out there everyone. Be kind to one another. The teachings of fire can be fierce.
Five years ago today…
Fire surrounded Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Gratitude for all of the heart and effort that went into preserving that refuge in the wilderness!
Fundraising for a permanent Dharma Rain sprinkler system is well underway. I took this photo in May when I was down at Tassajara:
Fire on my Mind
Happy Interdependence Day, everyone! It’s July 4th, the pyromaniac’s favorite time of the year. Please be careful if you are lighting fireworks or playing with fire in any way. It’s hot and dry out there.
It’s been a quiet few months on this blog as I’ve turned my attention to other interests and writing projects, but fire season is in full, hot fervor. We need no more dark reminder than the recent deaths of 19 firefighters on the Yarnell Hill fire. I’ve been working on a written response to the disaster but have nothing that feels at all adequate to the loss. I am holding the fallen hotshot crew and their loved ones in my heart.
There’s a thoughtful New York Times opinion piece by Alan Dean Foster about why people, including the author and myself, choose to live in fire-prone landscapes.
Meanwhile, July 10 is the 5th anniversary of the Basin Complex fire’s entrance into Tassajara. David Zimmerman, one of the fire monks, wrote a stirring reflection for the occasion. You can read it here.
Pub Day & Red Flags Flying
Today is pub day for Fire Monks in paperback. I’ll be reading at Diesel in Oakland tonight to mark this happy occasion, but I’ll also be thinking about the people in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah who are experiencing the same sort of weather that led to the Basin Complex fire that threatened Tassajara in 2008. Red flag warnings have been issued in all three states today as forecasters predict dry lightning, low humidity, and high heat–not the kind of forecasts fire managers like to see. May cooler temps come soon.
Paperback release on the horizon
Fire Monks will be out in paperback in June! I’ve just posted some new Bay Area readings on my Events page. Many summer and fall events are still in the works and will be added as they are confirmed.
In April, fire monk David Zimmerman and I spoke at the International Association of Wildland Fire Human Dimensions conference in Seattle. It was a heartwarming experience to present to such a receptive audience of fire professionals. Lots of great people doing good work studying our complex relationship with fire and the landscapes it touches.
San Francisco Zen Center is in the midst of marking its 50th year. Watch the August issue of Shambhala Sun for a feature I’m writing about Zen Center’s impact on establishing Zen practice in the West.
I’ve been quiet on the Huffington Post, but stay tuned. That will change soon.
Thanks to those of you who’ve sent such kind emails about Fire Monks. I love receiving them!
Gone, gone beyond
As of Sept 26, I’m entering a three-month practice period at Tassajara, so things will be quiet on this blog and on my Huff Post blog for a while.
I’m happy to say that Fire Monks is humming along, finding readers in places both expected and unexpected. Fire season will slide into snow season while I’m away. May the fires that have yet to start bring new life.
I wrote a parting commentary published today in the Duluth News Tribune. The Pagami Creek fire burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the approaching 20th anniversary of the Oakland Hills fire closer to home have me thinking about our relationship with fire. It’s easy to feel animosity towards wildfire when it’s threatening our homes or our loved ones or places–especially when lives are lost. I understand that feeling.
But in the long run, fire is not our enemy. As Abbot Steve Stucky says in Fire Monks–fire is more like an old friend we have to be strict with from time to time.
Until we meet again, be well!
Fire Monks is a KWMR pledge premium
Tomorrow, KWMR Community Radio in West Marin will be airing an interview with me as part of their fall pledge drive and National Preparedness Month, from 10-11:30 am PST. And, they will give away free copies of FIRE MONKS as pledge premiums!
I am working on posting one or two more Huffington Post blogs in the next couple of weeks. After that, it will be quiet on fire-monks.com for the remaining months of the year, as I’ll be offline for three months of retreat–at Tassajara. Retreat isn’t exactly the right word for a practice period, but more on that later…
Mark your calendars: Just found out the paperback release date is June 26!
Decisions, decisions
“Good decision making is not a trait of the person, in the sense that it’s always there,” says a social psychologist in the recent New York Times Magazine article on decision fatigue. “It’s a state that fluctuates.”
I agree wholeheartedly.
Writing Fire Monks, I reached a similar conclusion. But decisions are not just the product of one person’s exertion of willpower. They are a complex combination of individual will and everything else—all of the environmental, cultural, social, and yes, biological factors also at play.
We can all make “good” decisions—thank goodness—but whether we are deciding whether to satisfy a sweet tooth or to risk our lives, decisions are ultimately just decisions—best understood when we resist simply labeling them good or bad and focus instead on understanding a decision’s many interconnected branches and roots.