Monk wakes to red sky; ‘That could be my death’
Monastery residents, guests flee through valley overnight
UKIAH, CALIF. Ajhan Jotipalo Bhikkhu was asleep in his cabin at the Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in Redwood Valley when he first smelled smoke. It was about 2 a.m. Monday, and he’d left his cabin windows open, letting the cold breeze in. He didn’t even open his eyes.
And then he heard the air horn.
“As soon as I opened the door, I could see the whole sky red. I said to myself, ‘That could be my death,’ ” he said.
Everyone in the neighborhood was sounding off air horns. They had a code: Once every 30 seconds meant someone was injured, and a continuous blast meant an emergency.
They looked at the blaze trying to determine which direction it was coming from. They could see the flames on the ridge, but they did not know which direction the wind would take it.
Jotipalo said a total of 14 monks plus 12 monastery guests piled into six or seven vehicles and headed north toward Willits. They were told heading South would be dangerous because power lines were down in the area.
Motorists evacuating the area continued honking their horns to alert neighbors, and some stopped to assess whether the vehicles would make it down the narrow road, which meant going through seven creeks, some of which still had water.
Jotipalo remembers hearing something like a propane tank going off in the distance.
“The trees were exploding,” he said.
At one point a car pulled over and helped exchange guests from one of their vehicles so they could make it through.
“People were looking after each other,” he said, tears in his eyes.
Jotipalo doesn’t know what happened to the monastery. Fire maps show a quarter on fire, but conditions can change at any moment.
Jotipalo and the 13 other monks follow Shakyamuni Buddhism, a Thai forest tradition in which they meditate in nature.
The Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery just marked 20 years, and Jotipalo has been there since the beginning when the 250-acre lot was nothing but two trailers and a garage.
He has seen it grow to have a meditation room, kitchen, and cabins for each of the monks. He was expecting next June would be their grand opening, but now Jotipalo feels it could be a “grand closing.”
He talks about his favorite tree, an oak that overlooks the monastery. “I had never known that was my favorite,” he said.
It made him realize the beauty of the property, a favorite trail, the mountain lions and deer.
“I may never see that again,“he said. “... We have to prepare ourselves that the monastery won’t be there when we go back.”
“We have to prepare ourselves that the monastery won’t be there when we go back.” Ajhan Jotipalo Bhikkhu