NEWS

California Wildfire Update: Abhiyagiri Monastics Return Home After Sheltering at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

By Justin Whitaker | | Buddhistdoor Global

SEATTLE—In the wake of last month’s devastating wildfires in Northern California, which killed at least 40 people and left countless structures destroyed, the evacuated monastic community of Abhiyagiri Monastery were welcomed at the nearby City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB), 26 kilometers south of Abhiyagiri near the city of Ukiah. This brought the Theravada community, in the tradition of Ajahn Chah, into shared community and practice with the large Chan sangha at the CTTB, which was founded by the Chinese monk Xuanhua in the mid-1970s. Jin Chuan Shr, writing for the newsletter of Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU), housed at the CTTB, stated: “The spirit of having the Abhayagiri community at the CTTB was like a family reunion. Master Hua had established a Dharma friendship between the Thai Forest Tradition and DRBU and had especially praised their strict adherence to the Vinaya. Over the years, this friendship has grown through shared ordinations, ceremonies, and teachings. Yet this was the first time the two communities lived so closely together.” (DRBU News) He continued: “At CTTB, the Abhayagiri monks were respected and supported in their Vinaya and training. In addition to maintaining their own practices, they joined fully in the life at CTTB: attending daily ceremonies, sharing the noon meal, and giving Dharma talks at IGDVS [Instilling Goodness/Developing Virtue Schools, a K-12 educational program] and DRBU. (DRBU News)

During their stay, 10 or more of the Theravada monks attended morning ceremonies, meal offerings, and evening ceremonies nearly every day. Luang Por Pasanno, the most senior Western disciple of the late Ajahn Chah and abbot of Abhiyagiri Monastery, arrived at the CTTB shortly after others, flying in from the East Coast where he had been staying. “Curious about the daily CTTB practices, the Abhayagiri monastics asked many questions: Does everyone make Bodhisattva vows? How to bow properly from standing? Why do the CTTB monks rinse out their bowls after lunch and pour it on the ground?” (DRBU News) In Dharma talks given by Abhayagiri monastics, Jin Chuan Shr related, “There was the constant theme of taking every moment as an opportunity to practice. Everything is impermanent. The state of Abhayagiri is “not for sure.” It is the nature of fire to burn; having a monastery in a forest means there is always a possibility of a forest fire. There is no use getting angry at the trees or the fire. If the monastery did not burn this time, it would burn at some future time. That’s just the way things are: impermanent.” (DRBU News)