A Buddhist meditation hall at the remote Tassajara Mountain Zen Center in Central California burned down just as practitioners were in the home stretch of a sequestered, three-month meditation program in which they had been contemplating the impermanence of existence.
The March 26 attic fire swallowed up the entire wooden structure and damaged the nearby library. But dozens of other structures were spared thanks to timely action on the part of monks and staff members at the monastery who are no strangers to dealing with fires — whether they are sparked by faulty wiring or by the gusting winds in the wild.
