With the monks now safe and settled in at City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, they are able to easily update the website (www.abhayagiri.org) with “official” news. In order to stay aware of what is happening related to the wildfire, the monastery community, and the Kathina Ceremony, please visit the website for the latest news.
It is best to refrain from sending emails, text messages, or phoning the monks and Debbie. They are very grateful for your care and concern, but they cannot respond to each of the many, many questions, well-wishes, and offers of help that they are receiving. They ask that you turn to the website for important information.
If one compares the location of the monastery here (click “-” a couple of times to zoom-out to be able to see hwy 20 intersecting hwy 101):
with this map showing extent of fire (shift/drag a couple of screen-fulls up, to see where hwy 20, from the West, intersects hwy 101 to align roughly matching that in the above map):
With bushfires you just don’t know what will be left behind. The street I grew up in in the Blue Mountains (Aus) was hit severely a few years ago and looking at google street view some houses were destroyed while others still stand. Our friend’s house was fine while the houses either side of them were destroyed.
Fire Update, October 12, 2017
As many people are aware, Redwood Valley and nearby Potter Valley are experiencing a large wildfire also known as the “the Redwood Complex Fire.” The fire started late Sunday night on October 8, 2017. As of Thursday afternoon, the fire has spread to an area of over 30,000 acres and only 5% of has been contained.
The monastery residents became aware of the fire around 2am Monday morning. The fire was visible to residents just over the neighboring ridge and the community organized an evacuation shortly thereafter. The community, along with many people in the neighborhood, were able to safely make their way to a shelter in Willits later in the morning. From there, the community spent the night at the Three Jewels Meditation Center in Fort Bragg. Communication during this time was either non-existent or spotty as most communication lines and cell phones were non-operational.
When the fire broke out, Luang Por Pasanno was away attending the Kathina at Temple Forest Monastery in New Hampshire. He became aware of the fire only after people started messaging him after hearing reports about the fire in the news. Dharma Master Heng Lyu later communicated with Luang Por Pasanno and extended an invitation to the evacuted Abhayagiri community to stay at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah. The community accepted the offer and made their way to City of Ten Thousand Buddhas Tuesday afternoon where they are now as of Thursday afternoon.
Current reports from fire authorities suggest that the main monastery buildings are okay but conditions are highly volatile and the situation can change very quickly. According to the officials, there will be low relative humidity and high wind speeds over the next couple days.
Officials are not allowing anybody back into the area, including the monastery, at this time.
We also would like to echo what fire officials have told us: satellite maps often do not reflect what is actually going on the ground. We realize there are many sources of information that provide detailed accounts of fire or damage coverage, including those from official sources like CalFire, but they often can lead to misapprehensions and misunderstandings.
We are asking that people not travel to Ukiah or visit us at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas at this time. The area is heavily impacted as many people are without homes due to the fire evacuations.
We at Dhammadharini remain well. The fire is not all out as far as we know, but the air quality is improving. As of yesterday, Abhayagiri was still in close danger, although again, all people are well. The Thai hermitage near Abhayagiri, I heard, was burnt.
It seems that all the Theravada temples in Santa Rosa Area (Bhikkhu - Cambodian, Thai, Lao) (Bhikkhuni - Dhammadharini) were also spared in the fire. News that the Cambodian temple burnt was in error.
A long journal entry from Ajahn Jotipalo appears on the Abhyagiri website. The news that the monastery car park is being used as a staging point sounds promising for the community.
It is indeed sad to hear about the Cambodian and Thai hermitages and all the property and lives lost in the area.
Just before the Kathina Ceremony started, Luang Por Pasanno shared some positive news that the major buildings on the Abhayagiri property were not damaged. In addition, during the Sunday evening’s county press conference, officials were confident that the properties along Tomki road, including the Abhayagiri property, would be reopened for residents and owners very soon. https://www.abhayagiri.org/news/219-fire-update-october-15-2017
IMPORTANT: As October 17, 2017, Abhayagiri Monastery is not open to the public. We will post an announcement when people will be allowed to visit the monastery.
During the morning meeting today Luang Por Pasanno read out loud an email from Tan Kovilo describing a reflection given by Luang Por Liem at Wat Pah Nanachat. You can read it here:
Don’t Let Your Thoughts Get you Down by Luang Por Liem
Debbie received a message indicating that the Tomki road residents would be allowed to return to their homes, and that included the monastery. So, at around 10am, Luang Por Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo, Ajahn Jotipālo, Sāmaṇera Tissaro and Debbie left the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas to do an initial reconnaissance mission back to the monastery.
The crew came back a few hours later and reported that the monastery, with a few exceptions, was completely intact. There were still many fire personnel on the property as fires are still smoldering. However, no structures were damaged, at least none the crew could see on their initial trip.
Ajahn Jotipālo recounted one experience talking with a firefighting crew from New Mexico:
I asked the crew from New Mexico how it was fighting the fire. They had been on the property for about 5 days. They said it was the weirdest thing, like the monastery refused to burn. . . .
[continue reading online at https://www.abhayagiri.org/news/220-fire-update-october-16-2017]
When I lived in a forest monastery in asia for a few years, there were lots of huge trees near the kutis. Every so often, a tree would fall, and strangely, it always fell a direction away from the kutis, where they could have done some serious damage.
Further to frank’s post these details gave me chills and more than a little saddha. Please excuse the screenshots, my phone wouldn’t let me copy the text. I had to share.
Besides the very much likely help of local deities I bet the ones responsible for planning the structures must have paid special care to place buildings with proper fire brake areas.
I have noticed that here in Western Australia, where similar sort of fires take place, if they know what they’re doing the make sure to leave enough room around for the fire to not find ways to find a path through.
I trust that was a key concern in the designing and building of Jhana Grove.
I hiked the full loop trail twice when I stayed there, and I definitely wouldn’t say it was a fire break, just a foot path. I had a feeling something like this would happen though, as Ajahn Brahm once recounted a similar story of a bush fire that burned right around the kutis. I am overjoyed that no one was injured and that this wonderful Dhamma home was preserved for the good of all!
