Not to worry: the flames are not at the doorstep of the hermitage. But along with residents between Partington Ridge and Lime Kiln Canyon, the monks and most of the lay workers have been evacuated to Saint Clare's Retreat at Soquel in the mountains above Santa Cruz. The Franciscan sisters there are hosting the monks, enabling them to continue their daily rhythm of prayer, study, and, well, work, although obviously they cannot do the usual chores of the hermitage. They will help as they can, but the sisters will continue doing the cooking (monks normally take turns in the kitchen at New Camaldoli, as at the Berkeley monastery).

So far it seems that the evacuation is precautionary. Two big fires are no more than 3 per cent contained, but the firefighters are trying to herd them toward each other and then up into the wilderness area, so that no more homes or other buildings will be destroyed. Six cabins at Dietjen's Inn have burned; several also at Ventana; sixteen homes are gone on Partington. And one firefighter has died — may he rest in eternal freshness, far from flames.

I was at New Camaldoli in 1985, between trips to India, when fires roared through the hermitage property. We were all evacuated to different places (Monterey, Morgan Hill, Berkeley...). Then on July 11 it rained — it never had before in living memory, and never again did it rain on that date, which is the feast of Saint Benedict, author of our monastic rule. Six fire teams were on the property, and they succeeded in preserving intact all the main buildings: the church, the kitchen, the library, the monks’ huts... A miracle, almost as beautiful as some sunsets in Big Sur.

All but four of the Big Sur monks are at Soquel, in the redwoods outside Santa Cruz. All are well, including Bernard, who had his eightieth birthday the day they evacuated — with a small cake and a bottle of champagne at dinner. The monks are keeping to their regular practice. The four remaining at the hermitage are there only as long as fire officials allow.

The flames: the good news is that the two burning areas — Indians fire north of Lucia (95% contained, some distance from the hermitage) and the two Basin Complex fires (only 3% contained) are merging, which gives the firefighters a better handle on the situation. As I understand it (with no expertise!), they hope to push the fires up into the wilderness area to let them burn out, thus avoiding further damage to homes and other buildings. But important tourist facilities in the main Big Sur area are still threatened. From Esalen Institute flames are visible, up at the head of Hot Springs Canyon. California is in drought conditions; everything is potential fuel.

I like the Tassajara fire blog: http://sittingwithfire.blogspot.com/. Our monks in Big Sur are keeping the same spirit. We wait together, and learn. We see what really is: suffering and impermanence, along with hope — nirvana means “coolness,” one of the names of the Holy Spirit in Latin (dulce refrigerium).

Today is the feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle, whom the majority of historians now agree came to India about the year 58 C.E. A vague collective memory sees him in orange robes, following the custom of Hindu and Buddhist monastics. I sometimes wear these robes myself, although Bede Griffiths suggested that we do so very discreetly, when outside the ashram. I visualize the monastics at Shantivanam, and invoke blessings on them for their life as sannyasis and Benedictines, blessings they share with many, far and near, even with this Thomas in Berkeley.

Answering my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Shantivanam, for the feast of Thomas the Apostle, Brother Martin wrote this sweet e-mail:

Dear Fr.Thomas,
peace be with you. thank you very much for your prayers and greetings on the feast day of St.Thomas. We do appreciate your  deep affection and care to our community in India. You are a great witness to the marriage of East and West and we ask our founders to intercede for us so that we may be faithful to our call.
with best wishes
Br. Martin

Martin is in London at the moment; he is there every year to share his experience and wisdom with the Bede Griffiths Sangha and the Christian Meditation Centres. I can’t say I’m a “great witness” to the marriage of East and West, but I am happy to be part of the wedding party. I hope my Ashram Diary (available from O Books starting next February) will open a window on the Ashram for those who may one day go there or who may even have been there already.

As I promised, I’ll include a video here, and read you a couple of pages from the book.

There has been some confusing news today — television items like “Big Sur monastery directly threatened by flames” — and people have called us in Berkeley, anxious about New Camaldoli Hermitage. But the monastery in question is the Buddhist community at Tassajara, up in a valley northwest of us.

From the San Francisco Zen Center website:
 
“At 2:15 today, Director David Zimmerman reported via telephone that everyone is safe at Tassajara and that the fire has entered Tassajara. The crew is putting out spot fires, and they are continuing to water down the buildings and the grounds. The feeling is that with the watering, the riparian valley is defending against the fire. We will continue to update you as information becomes available.”

All but five of the Tassajara people have been evacuated, as have all but four of the Camaldolese, who are still at Saint Clare’s Retreat near Soquel, uphill from Santa Cruz. Tomorrow they will celebrate the feast of Saint Benedict, mindful of our friends at Tassajara, with whom the Camaldolese have often collaborated as part of the “Four Winds Council” of Big Sur, which links the four spiritual communities situated along this part of the coast (the other two being Esalen Institute and the Native American community).

“Listen” is the first word of Benedict’s Rule for Monastics, a hearty attentiveness to a heartwarming message. There is fire in his Rule, someone has written recently.

Benedictines and Buddhists of Big Sur have been bending their collective ear to the message of this fire. We are learning. We Benedictines of New Camaldoli are not so close to the flames, but we are hearing their voices through the thoughtful blogs of our spiritual siblings at Tassajara. I share here, in temporal sequence, what you can find more fully at sittingwithfire.blogspot.com :

Yesterday, 7:31 p.m.
“Everyone who has stayed [at Tassajara] is safe and very tired. They plan to spend the night maintaining a watch for embers falling from the hills above. They report that the Tassajara grounds are an island of green in a sea of black. A testament to the recently installed sprinkler system and the twice daily irrigation of the site. The fire approached quickly from three sides shortly after 1pm and passed over Tassajara mercifully fast. The crew were able to move around outside the safe space and keep the sprinkler system working. Several small buildings were lost: the Bird House, the compost shed, the wood shed and the pool bathroom. The radio-phone and half of the lower garden were also destroyed.”

7:52 p.m.
“The President of Zen Center who had been intending to go to Tassajara, arrived with other senior staff and while they were considering whether to try to get into Tassajara we got news that the fire had crossed the road. A couple of people did try to drive up the road early Thursday morning and were turned back by CHP at the National Forest boundary.... We met as a group and discussed the situation and the lack of any answers to the plethora of questions we all have. After dealing with the immediate practicalities of where everyone wanted to sleep tonight we chanted the Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo and the Fire Eko and then started to disperse.”

8:24 p.m.
“Almost all of Tassajara Road from the dozer lines to Tassajara has been burned. Tassajara itself is surrounded by black. ... The closures and evacuations will not be lifted until the fire is much less active and dangerous than it is this evening. We [evacuees from Tassajara] here at Jamesburg are behind a set of firelines that may be severely tested in the next couple of days if the forecast wind shift pushes the fire in this direction. This fire is still dangerous.”

11:00 p.m.
I summarize the very different news from http://surfire2008.wordpress.com/ , the blog of firefighters and others down along the highway and up into more inhabited areas: “The situation is approaching normality. The air is clearing, Big Sur businesses are getting ready to reopen.”

Highway 1 access may be restored soon — perhaps it already has been restored for residents, all the way down to the hermitage and Limekiln State Park. Our Camaldolese at Saint Clare’s Retreat will celebrate the Mass of Saint Benedict and take food with the other guests there, and maybe Saturday they will be able to return to New Camaldoli.

We monks in Berkeley are keeping in mind the fire situation, even though all we have of it here is some whisps of smoke blended with the Bay’s usual summer fog.

Here is the latest from the blog that you can reach through surfire2008.org (see also sittingwithfire.blogspot.com):

“The fire was a ‘happy fire’ today – crews were able to bring fire all the way to the top of the northern containment lines before humidities came up and they had to stop burning operations for the moment.  When conditions are more favorable they will be able to burn all the way down to the Los Padres dam, sealing off the threat to Carmel Valley. ... The road is opening south of Coast Gallery on Sunday morning [important news for our monks still evacuated from New Camaldoli to Soquel]. The Basin fire is not out – it’s still very active, though the west side is 90% contained.  The fire is just under the Observatory right now, but is laying down and they expect crews will save it. The fire did burn through Tassajara and four outbuildings were lost, but everyone is safe [one more shed has burned — however, the zendo and other major structures are intact]. Next steps are to continue burning the eastern line until the fire is fully contained.”

Grateful thoughts for all the firefighters and others, volunteers and professionals, who have been caring for persons, animals, and property through the fire. Prayer for all who have lost something or been injured, and for everyone's return to home, work, and life in Big Sur.

Friend and Camaldolese oblate Matt Fisher has sent us the latest on Tassajara. I summarize:

David Zimmerman, the director of Tassajara Buddhist monastery in Big Sur, tells us about the five members of the community, who stayed behind when the others were evacuated to Jamesburg. They report what they went through fighting the fires and the extent of the damage to both Tassajara itself and the surrounding land at http://www.sfzc.org/tassajara/display.asp?catid=4,209&pageid=1283. An amazing story, “Now that the fire has passed.” It concludes:

“Gratitude courses through this valley and our veins, for we and our community are well and safe, supported in a thousand ways known and unknown by the generosity and efforts of so many beings, so many bodhisattvas, so many buddhas. And finally, deep bows to the fire, whose undeniable dharma teaching of impermanence has earned our awed respect and attention.”
 
The fire continues to be very active on the east side of the valley where Tassajara is located, threatening even Jamesburg, the place where the other community members were evacuated. Information about the status of things is at http://thefirelane.blogspot.com/.

The prior of the hermitage in Big Sur, Father Raniero, came up to Berkeley on Monday, as the other monks hosted by the Franciscan sisters at Soquel headed back down the coast to Big Sur. We also welcomed the abbot of the Camaldolese, Bernardino Cozzarini, arriving at SFO with his assistant Ivan Nicoletto, in California on visit to our two monasteries. Our constitutions require these visits or “visitations” of our communities in the months leading up to our chapters, held every three years. This year’s chapter is a mid-term meeting, a bit less formal and with no elections. But in any case, the climate is always more fraternal than formal, given the generally smaller communities we have, compared with other Benedictines.

Raniero filled us in on the Big Sur monks’ stay at Saint Clare’s Retreat in the Soquel redwood forest. They did have opportunities to work in the kitchen, especially on the days when the sisters’ regular cook was off duty, and they also washed dishes and pans and laundered sheets and towels. Raniero’s fifty-ninth birthday fell in the middle of last week, and was duly observed with a turkey (a rarity for the usually vegetarian monks) and a cake. But they were eager to return to the hermitage, grateful for the firefighters and the brothers who stayed back to watch over the place. Raniero, Bernardino, and Ivan left Berkeley for Big Sur this morning.

[The photo shows Prior Raniero with friends at the Big Sur hermitage.]

Today, as the Benedictine Order celebrates the Hospitality of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, the monks in Big Sur, at New Camaldoli, remember the fifty years of their community on this beautiful mountain sloping down into the Pacific Ocean. Last Sunday was the solemn liturgy for the occasion: both Missa and Mensa, Mass and Table Fellowship, with many catered courses, vegetarian, fish, and meat, with wines and sweets, and above all, happy conversation and remembrance of times present and past, especially of the monks who have gone before us in faith, hope, and love. We of the little Camaldoli of Berkeley drove down with the prior, the abbot, the assistant and all, to be part of the feast. Many friends were there, including those lay friends who have merited unending thanks for their generosity, from the beginnings of New Camaldoli to the present day.

Like incense, let our prayer rise before you...