Do Residential Dharma Centers have an ongoing responsibility to prisoners served?

So I have a question... (which I hope might stir up some discussion)

 

It seems a very 'nice' thing to do to go in & be with prisoners, or to write to them & help them to deal with a life of (for many of us thankfully) unimaginable stresses.  ...seems humane, compassionate and all that.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it (& personally derive great satisfaction & personal benefit).

 

But I'm concerned.  What happens when people get out, or get ready to get out.  I know that at least in my area, the residential dharma centers require folks to be 'out' and 'readjusted' (for a period of at least 1 year) prior to applying to be residents in a practice environment.  I'd hazard that most of the folks I know currently or recently um 'released' from residential dharma facilities entered from very unstable places [recent divorces, depression, job transition etc.].

 

While I don't imagine that dharma centers could HOLD all of the folks who are making the transition from the 'inside' to um, the 'inside', I believe we have a responsibility to the folks with whom we have cultivated relationships.  If you have been working with a serious practitioner over the course of YEARS, isn't there a commitment that could extend beyond the confines of the institution?

 

Folks need our support even more as they make the transition to the so-called 'free world'.  (And honestly, I imagine that making the transition from prison life to monastery life might just be EASIER than making the leap from the corporate world to monastery life.  I'd like to see more openness to welcoming a well grounded member of our prison sanghas into our outside institutions with the same rigor and questioning that we might have for other residents (rather than the flat policies I've seen).  Is having a prison record enough for you to want to exclude someone from YOUR local sangha?  Do you know?

 

Are there practice environments out there in the rest of the US that have less strict policies than the ones I've run into?

 

What responsibility do we as a community have to the people we as individuals and 'vassals' of institutions support?

 

Does YOUR community have a 'policy' on parolees and/or recently released?  Are you in alignment with this policy?

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Permalink Reply by Moreland Nicholson on December 22, 2010 at 12:29am
Well this is going to sound super-duper unrealistic, however as buddhists we are taught that most of what we experience is untealistic so here it goes:  how about trying to live out our bodhisattva intentions/vows in this very life?  People are suffering hete and now and need food for their alms bowls and shelter from the storms of reentry.  I think people like the idea of helping prisoners in the same way we migjt romanticize the idea of chod practice in a real grave yard and making offerings to beings in ghostly and hellish reamls while really doing our rituals in the cemetary, blowing on a thigh bone and asking tje dons to please tale what they need.  This is a lomg winded way for me to day if you want to help the suffering via the dharma then do it, without looking for democracy in a ploitically cortect sangja or a clause in an insurance 
policy to save the day the center might otherwise have to let a cause of suffering in to stay like there is permenence anyway
Permalink Reply by scott magrath on January 15, 2011 at 4:20pm

Great discussion, I have been teaching in Aus prisons for quite awhile now and I have to say that for many inmates that I meet there is only a very small handful that wish to study Buddhism. But what is very interesting is that many inmates are jumping with joy that they are practicing Mindfulness. One class in particular are coming together every night and practicing sitting meditation for 45 min.

So when it comes to centers that are teaching the Dharma and they are concerned what type of people turn up, they may neeed to check up what they are really trying to do.

Permalink Reply by Rick Herranz on January 15, 2011 at 4:44pm

Hey Friends

  What about Those of us who are dealing with the "root causes" of our "Disease of addiction" is allegedly "Child abuse". What part does that play in bringing stability into our lives?

 

                                                                                                           Rick Herranz

                                                                                                           Sat 01/15/11

 

Permalink Reply by Nancy Kreml on January 15, 2011 at 8:12pm
We don't have one, here in South Carolina, USA--and wish we did. I completely agree that the transition is very difficult. But small groups aren't really equipped to offer the help that's needed. I've even told inmates to get involved with Christian groups who did have the resources, though I didn't like it.
Permalink Reply by Nancy Kreml on January 15, 2011 at 8:14pm
We wouldn't exclude them from attending, but can't help them with jobs, living situations, etc. I hope we will try with one or two, but the number outside vs the numbers inside is disproportionate.
Permalink Reply by EG on January 18, 2011 at 6:53pm

I guess this came up for me b/c a local 'biggie' has a /policy/ against taking newly released folks.

 

I have no thought that a dharma center would be 'obligated' to choose to live with all of ANY category of people.  We have interview processes and make informed choices.  I am concerned when policies are made that don't take into account the individuals in front of us.

Permalink Reply by john simons on January 16, 2011 at 7:57am
I was a prisoner in England for 4 years, 20002-6 for smuggling cocaine. I did the 4 out of 8 years and got paroled, marvelous. Then I had to deal with probation, a very unhelpful bunch of people. I also wote a book about it called Priosn and Beyond and you can find it on chipmunkapublishing.co.uk and my name is John Simons. OK now you are talking about helping inmates make the transition from prison to ordinary day to day living. First of all fire all the politicians and rewrite the rules in favour of human beings instead of the economy would be a good start. You guys are Buddhists, you have never met the Buddha but you are followers, how? You first of all must understand how a prisoner feels when he is in prison for a relatively small offence and some high ranking senior government official causes the deaths of hundreds or even thousands of innocent human beings by his actions in full sight of the world and is still in office. How would you feel if it were you in the prison looking at that? You will never understand about what it is to be a prisoner, or maybe you will, being a Buddhist, who has never met the one you follow, how can this be? When Buddha was alive he could have helped you but he can't now nor has he been able to since his death, same with Jesus Christ, and Krishna and a whole host of others
Permalink Reply by Tamon Mark Uttech on January 16, 2011 at 8:53am

Onegaishimasu, you asked how buddhist followers follow. As with other religious or spiritual traditions, followers follow by studying the teachings, taking what they need, applying what they can. Maybe politicians do the same thing with politics. Your book that you wrote of your experiences is a wonderful effort to share understanding, I hope to read it one day. You are right in your thinking that a whole host of others have passed into death and are not here to help, but a whole another host of others is here listening and learning to make some effort. Best of luck to us all.

 

In gassho,

tamonmark

 

 

Permalink Reply by john simons on January 17, 2011 at 6:13am
Ok my friend, thanks for the reply. You see I have often wondered how a Christian becomes a Christian when he has never met Jesus or listened to what he had to say, just read books and listened to people who think they know what it all means when they are just guessing themselves. The same with all religions, none have actually met the one they supposedly follow, absurd! If I am ill in my bed and I have a picture of a dead doctor by my bed and a book he published on medicine it would be of little use because a dead doctor cannot diagnoise the problem and therefore arrive at a problem and how to solve it, hence allowing me to recover. So how can a person get well if they are constantly praying to a dead doctor?? WE need a living doctor to give the living pill fpr the living ill. Why else would a master appear on this planet in the flesh? To start anotrher religion? NO, you must find the LIVING MASTER to this end try wopg.org. It won't stop you being a Buddhist either, just be a better one.
Permalink Reply by John C. Kimbrough on January 17, 2011 at 9:15am

I think that we all have a responsibility to other people whether they are ex - prisoners or not. At the same time, we need to both understand what our resources are and what we can do to guide or assist them. We can not nor should not weaken or compromise ourselves and our own resources as individuals or as organizations to assist others. I also think we need to see what kind of an effort the individual or individuals that we wish to assist are making on their own. When I was released from prison I found that the local Catholic priest in the town where I was paroled to helped me a lot as did my parole officer and the counseling sessions that I went to once a week. In addition my employees were very understanding of my situation and helpful to me. This is because I went to work on time and also was a good worker who minded my own business. The halfway house that I lived in and the ex- cons that managed it were not helpful in any manner. In fact they caused me a lot of trouble. We need to help others but we need to be mindful about what we can do to help them both as individuals and as organizations.  

Permalink Reply by john simons on January 17, 2011 at 11:07am
Ok John, I'm listening and I'm hearing and I do not want to take away anything from any one persons experience and the outcome of whatever guidance a person has sought on release from prison, brilliant. What I'm talking about here is peace that a person INSIDE prison CAN experience regardless of where that person is within the prison building, peace is not something that lives in a land we all dream of, peace exists within the heart of each and every one of us. What I am saying is that there is peace and there is a way to contact that peace within, check wopg.org and watch and listen, you might find out about some of the work being done in prisons by Prem Rawat (aka Maharaji). I am just a messenger who has had the experience of peace within through a thing called "Knowledge" a simple, practical way to turn our senses from outside to inside to focus on that infinite beauty within, and feel the peace that resides within our hearts. Why, Buddha, why Jesus, why Moses, why Krishna why all of them? Why did these Great Souls inhabit the eath along with us? They did not create religions, we did for the power it gave, that's all. We have breath and as long as that breath is giving us life, we have hope. I have a care for the rest of humanity too and I know that peace is possible because I have felt it, not an imagination but an experience.
Permalink Reply by Tamon Mark Uttech on January 17, 2011 at 11:29am

Onegaishimasu, I would like to simply add this to this discussion: that upon his enlightenment, the Buddha exclaimed that the whole world was also enlightened, so he was glad. When asked whether he was a man or a god, he replied that he was neither. Pressed further, he simply said: "I am awake..." The Dharma too, is simply all of the eternal laws that are there.

 

In gassho,

tamonmark

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