Through intimate letters, interviews, and stories, this narrative reveals the impact that a life-changing retreat had on a group of inmates at the highest level maximum-security state prison in Alabama. The 38 participants in the first-ever intensive, silent 10-day program inside the walls of a corrections facility—many serving life sentences without parole—detail the range of their experiences, the depth of their understanding of the Buddha’s teachings gained by direct experience, and their setbacks and successes. During the Vipassana meditation program, they face the past and their miseries and emerge with a sense of peace and purpose. This compelling story shows the capacity for commitment, self-examination, renewal, and hope within a dismal penal system and a wider culture that demonizes prisoners.
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Adult/High School—Vipissana is an ancient nondenominational meditation technique that was revived by Gotama the Buddha 2600 years ago. These letters are a testament to the power that this practice has had on the lives of a handful of men in a high-security prison in Alabama. Many of them are serving life sentences, and all of them have struggled to find peace with themselves. The course has worked wonders for prisoners in India, where it was developed. For 10 days, the men meditated with three teachers, isolated from the rest of the prison population. They began by focusing on their own breath as a way of breaking down the barrier between mind and body. Out of the silence of meditation came an awareness that was transformative for these troubled men and that has lasted for years, even in the midst of the anguish of daily prison life. Teens in trouble or at risk would certainly find this book illuminating. So, too, would those trying to fathom how to lead a sane and peaceful life in a world that can be hard to comprehend. This book offers a chance to develop an understanding of how we can share a commonality with something as simple and as vital as a breath.—Will Marston, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"[An] extraordinarily telling and inspiring book, its contents a witness to the human connection achieved. . . . Jenny Phillips manages to enable the far off, the imprisoned, to become the reader's informants and teachers." —Robert Coles, from the book's foreword
"An absolutely compelling story of an astonishing treatment program with prison inmates that, against all odds, actually worked. . . . Should reshape the ideas of all of us, policy makers and citizens alike." —Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian, Pulitzer Prize winner, and author, No Ordinary Time
"The stories ring with the truth and power of their experiences and offers hope for renewal and rehabilitation within a dismal punishment-oriented correctional system. —Sister Helen Prejean, author, Dead Man Walking
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Meditation for rehabilitation in prisons,
By A Reader (the Midwest) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Letters from the Dhamma Brothers: Meditation Behind Bars (Paperback)
Congressman John Lewis: "This book makes it plain that no human being should be considered beyond the reach of redemption." That quote is from the cover of the book.
It seems we don't know how to rehabilitate offenders other than try stiffer punishment. About 1 in 100 adults in the US is in jail or prison. New approaches are needed. Intense (Vipassana) meditation retreats may be one possibility. This book reflects that potential. The book records the dramatic changes that prisoners experience as they attempt to purify their minds of such impurities as hatred, fear, greed, anger, etc., that have landed them in prison. This book makes it clear that the impurities they carry deep within cause suffering both to themselves and to those around them; and whatever relief they get using the meditation helps both them and others. Recently, a documentary film of the meditation courses examined in this book, The Dhamma Brothers, has been released in select theaters across the US. The film captures in action what this book reflects on paper. The question remains: How effective is this program for the convicts over time? That's difficult to say since each individual must try to integrate his/her insights into an environment that may be dysfunctional. But there are indications of overall success. Vipassana courses have been held in prisons outside the US since 1975, starting in India. The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has recognized Vipassana meditation as a technique to reform criminals and has introduced it in all Central Jails, particularly Tihar Prison, New Delhi. A documentary film of a course for 1,000 inmates at Tihar Prison, "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana," won a top award at the 1998 San Francisco International Film Festival. The time has come to consider that meditation has promise for rehabilitation of prisoners, and this book reflects that potential.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Free Your Mind,
By
This review is from: Letters from the Dhamma Brothers: Meditation Behind Bars (Paperback)
"Let him who is without guilt cast the first stone". These were Jesus's words to the crowd that gathered to stone the woman caught committing adultery.
It is easy to condemn others and throw away the key. If you tell a good person that he is evil and remind him about it every day (by locking him up like a wild beast) he or she will become evil. Mindfulness meditation provides every human the opportunity to still the mental noise and get in touch with the deepest state of pure inner bliss. All of us have sinned to greater or lesser degree. Crime (like wars) begins in the heart of man and it is only in the heart of man that the path to peace can be found. The experience of Donaldson's prisoners demonstrates that Mindfulenss meditation is the ultimate secular path to peace at the personal level; the 'sine qua non' to peace in society and the world at large.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Heartwarming Vipassana story,
By Kick-Azz-Angel "sherlizz" (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Letters from the Dhamma Brothers: Meditation Behind Bars (Paperback)
This book is absolutely wonderful. Read it in a day. Couldn't put it down. I had seen the documentary "Dhamma Brothers" on TV a couple of months back, I have recorded it and I watch it often. In the meantime I also bought the DVD. It's so great to read the letters of these tough guys, who at long last found themselves by doing Vipassana. I know what they talk about, because
I've started with Vipassana 2 years ago, and went twice for a 10 day course. I will go on doing it 1x/year. I reccommend Vipassana to everyone. It truly is the greatest gift you can give to yourself. It's a "home-coming". Stepping out of the thinking mind and our ego-thoughts and dropping into peace, love and oneness. Certainly NOT only life-changing for prisoners. Even we, outside of prison, are somehow prisoners. And yeah, I still fall into the trap of ignorance and misperceptions and not seeing things as they are. But as Goenkaji says: START AGAIN, START AGAIN. It certainly is alonglife journey, to free ourselves totally, step by step by step... Vipassana is a great way to free the mind and to make peace with ourselves. Not only reccommending this book but also the documentaries: "Dhamma Brothers" and 2 other documentaries about Vipassana "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana" and "Changing from the inside".
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