Fire Monks

Zen Mind Meets Wildfire at the Gates of Tassajara

By: Colleen Morton Busch

Narrated by: Colleen Morton Busch

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

When a massive wildfire surrounded Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, five monks risked their lives to save it. A gripping narrative as well as a portrait of the Zen path and the ways of wildfire, Fire Monks reveals what it means to meet a crisis with full presence of mind.

Zen master and author of the classic Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi established a monastery at Tassajara Hot Springs in 1967, drawn to the location's beauty, peace, and seclusion. Deep in the wilderness east of Big Sur, the center is connected to the outside world by a single unpaved road. The remoteness that makes it an oasis also makes it particularly vulnerable when disaster strikes. If fire entered the canyon, there would be no escape.

More than 2,000 wildfires, all started by a single lightning storm, blazed across the state of California in June 2008. With resources stretched thin, firefighters advised residents at Tassajara to evacuate early. Most did. A small crew stayed behind, preparing to protect the monastery when the fire arrived.

But nothing could have prepared them for what came next. A treacherous shift in weather conditions prompted a final order to evacuate everyone, including all firefighters. As they caravanned up the road, five senior monks made the risky decision to turn back. Relying on their Zen training, they were able to remain in the moment and do the seemingly impossible - to greet the fire not as an enemy to defeat, but as a friend to guide.

Fire Monks pivots on the kind of moment some seek and some run from, when life and death hang in simultaneous view. Novices in fire but experts in readiness, the Tassajara monks summoned both intuition and wisdom to face the crisis with startling clarity. The result is a profound lesson in the art of living.

©2011 Colleen Morton Busch (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Author Writes Well, Reads Really Well!

Less than a year ago, my then town of South Lake Tahoe was entirely evacuated because of the Caldor Fire. All the fear, excitement, mistrust, doubt came up for me listening to this wonderful story. I got seriously antsy. I would leave and soon go back because if they lived it, I could listen to the telling. . . . I often look around and ask myself, "Now what to do?" How to spend available time and energy in the absolute best way? A lot of us say, "God help us!" I don't remember any reference in this story to God or prayer -- Only the disciplined paying attention to what IS of five people who love that piece of real estate known as Tassajara. Apparently, each of them set aside emotion and personal needs. As to the administrators and fire fighters who made perhaps bad decisions, where I know I would be screaming curses and epithets, the situations are analyzed, described, and words chosen very carefully. Wow! Just wow. Being a simple meditator and vegetarian, I'll be getting the cookbook in print right away. So much elegance! A million thanks to the people who lived this and to Ms. Busch who told the story!

uninteresting, badley read. no story, dull, icky

uninteresting, badly read, no story, dull icky. not worth downloading. think twice or three times before downloading. and don't buy.

Beautiful and profound

This book surprised me. I did not expect to be moved as deeply as I was by it, to find so much to learn and think about. The narrative is clear,unprepossessing, memorable. I will return again and again to the fire monks.

WOW

A beautifully written story about fire and Zen shows Zen practitioners meeting and moving through a world on fire.

True Dharma in Practice

No matter the ethics or morals of what they did this is true Dharma in practice. This book perfectly encapsulats the story, feelings, and Dharma of the "Fire Monks".

Lovely blending of Zen and the physical world

I enjoyed the practical application of Buddhist ideals. Also learned much about the harsh reality for wild fires.