On December 30, 2021, during the holiday season and just before the New Year, a massive fire thought to be started on a property owned by fundamentalist Christian church Twelve Tribes quickly spread in the Boulder and Denver suburbs of Louisville and Superior, Colorado. The “Marshall fire”, as it came to be known, was unfortunately devastating with over 900 hundred homes destroyed. This fire was unusual not just in the scope but also in the sense that it wasn’t a typical wildfire lasting days to weeks in the rural forests/mountains, but a fast one over in hours in the urban suburbs of Denver where places like Target, Costco, a Tesla dealership, and even a hospital were hurriedly evacuated (or burned!) amongst the neighborhoods where almost no one expects wildfires.
The Chung Tai Zen Center of Boulder – in Chinese known as Pu Fa Great Dharma Chan Monastery – is a brand new construction Buddhist temple that was initially scheduled to open in 2021, but delayed due to the pandemic with current plans for grand opening and inaugural ceremony in 2022. The environmentally-friendly wooden facility consists of a main building with Zen meditation hall, classroom / multipurpose room, and dining hall and kitchen, as well as a smaller residence for the monastics, tentatively planned to be several monks.
The Marshall fire quickly spread, whipped by 100 mile per hour winds, and as you can see from the map below, threatened the temple, which was in the evacuation zone. Luckily though, through mindful prayer, the power of Dharma protectors and Guan Yin Bodhisattva and the myriad of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas helped ensure the safety of the temple, and from what news reports are saying, also miraculously, no one in the area died or was seriously injured in the fire. This joins the list of temples and monasteries that have seen wildfires literally go right up to their boundaries — including the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in northern California, a Thai Buddhist temple in Australia, a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Vacaville CA, etc…
Another temple and fire story… maybe just a coincidence or sheer luck or good fire prevention maintenance practices, but who knows I guess…
At the end of the day though, thousands of people are still facing hardships, and we hope that all may be able to recover as soon as possible and be well, happy, and peaceful.
The Rabbit's Horn 