"Our effort is to make Zen Buddhist teachings conceptually, emotionally, and practically accessible to contemporary Western practitioners."
- Zentatsu Baker Roshi

"These are not museum pieces. They are living artifacts we are meant to pass on. Once lost, they cannot be replaced. Objects aren’t sentient, but they do accumulate history - and they bring a physical thread through time and space. Once burned, this is lost."
- Tatsudo Nicole Baden

"It's not if the fire comes — it's when. We are 130 years into a gap that once reset every decade. The question is not whether we'll face fire, but whether we'll be ready.“
- Ben Brack, Former Local Fire Chief

First, we protect what must be protected

— the people, the buildings, the practice mandala, the lineage itself. A water storage and distribution system for all eleven buildings, including sprinklers on the most important structures, so protection doesn't depend on having trained firefighters on site when the fire comes.
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Second, we restore balance to the local ecosystem

Working with Indigenous knowledge and traditional land practices, we are inviting mycelial networks to regenerate soil moisture and create living fire resistance. Not fighting the land, but learning to work with it.
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Third, we take part in a larger vision

Through the Dharma Academy, we are bringing contemplative wisdom directly into today's ecological challenges — creating a network where ancient practice meets contemporary restoration science. And all funds raised beyond our immediate needs will go toward protecting sacred sites and supporting rightful land stewards, including the Fire Protectors of Mexico, the Wixárika.