January 2010 Blog Posts (11)

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Launch of web site: http://vipassana-dhammabrother.com

I was "introduced" to Grady Bankhead, one of the Dhamma Brothers at Donaldson Correctional Facility, through the documentary film of the same name. It is such a powerful and inspiring story of the brutal life experiences of the inmates and the redemption found in Vipassana Meditation that I immediately enrolled in a 10-day Vipassana course in Colorado. I decided that if the men that I saw in the documentary could endure being in a maximum-security prison that is frought with violence,… Continue

Added by Andre Hurlburt on January 28, 2010 at 6:34pm — No Comments

Happiness is...By Matthieu Ricard & Richard Gere



Happiness is...



By Matthieu Ricard & Richard Gere

From Shambhala Sun



A monk and a movie star: two very different lifestyles and so, you would think, two different paths to happiness. But actor Richard Gere and the French author and monastic Matthieu Ricard share a serious commitment to Buddhism, and they agree that real, lasting happiness is beyond conditions and circumstances. They held this lively, insightful… Continue

Added by Carter (PDN Admin) on January 27, 2010 at 2:49pm — No Comments

kuan Yin poem

Hello all. I am also a part time poet and would like to share with you a poem called Kuan Yin which I have used in prison sessions. I have had very good responses to it. One 65 year old European man said ' I can see now that I have been stuck in the past, now it is time for me to create my future'. No copyright

Kuan Yin

I am inside, looking out.

Wondrous visions warm my heart.

Like clouds they shift and move,

out of reach.

Can I be with… Continue

Added by Paddy murray on January 21, 2010 at 11:49pm — No Comments

who is this guy

HI Everybody. I am 65 and a Buddhist Chaplain in a maximum security prison, here in country NSW, Australia. The prison is in the town of Goulburn. It has 600 inmates and four separate prisons withing the prison. I work one day a week on a voluntary basis. christian chaplains are payed in Aust, but not Buddhists. I have been doing the chaplaincy for 4 years now and am passionate about my work/vocation. I am a trained counsellor as well and have done lots of work with men espcially around family… Continue

Added by Paddy murray on January 21, 2010 at 11:42pm — 2 Comments

"Dreams from the Monster Factory" A Book Review

“I won’t do it. I got a right to speak up when something is bullshit.”



Sunny didn’t have a problem firing those words across the principal’s desk when he demanded that she “come back and behave” after he had kicked her out of school (again). And it didn’t bother her that her father was sitting right there.



Sunny hated school. She always had. She felt dumb and out of place. Wise ass, a fighter from the beginning, she didn’t take anybody’s crap and was always in… Continue

Added by David Chura on January 19, 2010 at 3:30pm — No Comments

2010 WINTER FEAST FOR THE SOUL

2010 WINTER FEAST FOR THE SOUL A worldwide 40day spiritual practice period for all people

January 15 – February 23, 2010

Practice Peace: Forty minutes a day for forty days.





In 2009 nearly 10,000 people in 29 different countries participated in the Winter Feast. Lives were changed forever. A sense of hope was renewed. Peace and compassion grew in many lives.

To learn more and commit to the practice visit:… Continue

Added by Kate Crisp (PDN Director) on January 15, 2010 at 9:16am — 1 Comment

Meditation and Neuroplasticity: Training Your Brain

Shown here at his office at the University, Richard Davidson, PhD has been working with the His Holiness Dalai

Lama to study meditation as a possible mechanism for increasing well-being and awareness.



Richard J. Davidson, PhD, who received his doctorate from Harvard University in psychology, is internationally renowned for his research on the neural substrates of emotion and emotional disorders...His laboratory uses functional magnetic… Continue

Added by Carter (PDN Admin) on January 13, 2010 at 4:58pm — No Comments

Sexual Abuse in Juvenile Detention Centers: Who's To Blame?

The numbers are disturbing. During 2008 through 2009, 12 percent or 3,220 of the kids locked up in state or privately run juvenile detention centers reported that they had been sexually victimized by another kid or by facility staff.



Even more disturbing is that 10.3 percent stated they had had sexual contact with an adult staff member. Of that number, 1,150 kids said that sex or sexual contact was forced on them. All this according to the recently released National Survey of Youth… Continue

Added by David Chura on January 11, 2010 at 9:01am — 1 Comment

Q&A with Jarvis Jay Masters

Author of That Bird Has My Wings





What’s the meaning of your memoir’s title, That Bird Has My Wings?



This title actually comes from a story in the book, “Wings.” One day in the prison exercise yard I found myself saving a seagull’s life from the senseless violence of a fellow inmate. The bird symbolized my deeply held desire to be free, the part of me that wanted to fly over the fence and just keep going. The act of writing helps me find freedom—even for… Continue

Added by Kate Crisp (PDN Director) on January 6, 2010 at 5:13pm — No Comments

Jarvis Masters New Book



Jarvis Jay Masters New Book: That Bird Has My Wings

Jarvis Jay Masters is a spiritual man. His days are spent meditating, reflecting on his past mistakes and his hopes for the future. But instead of visiting a temple or a church, his religious practice takes place within a 4’ x 9’ prison cell on San Quentin’s death row.



Masters’ true story—painful, poignant, uplifting, and, at times, funny—is movingly told in That Bird Has… Continue

Added by Carter (PDN Admin) on January 5, 2010 at 4:00pm — No Comments

"Zero Tolereance" Creates More Problems Than It Solves

“Zero tolerance.” It sounds like a good idea: “Put your foot down.” “Get tough.” “We’re not taking it anymore.”



The American public, worried about the purported drug and gun wars being fought in our cities in the 1990s, grabbed onto this concept. In turn, a number of states and municipalities adopted “zero tolerance” laws.



Since then “zero tolerance” has pervaded our culture.



Draconian drug laws impose harsh sentences on nonviolent offenders, glutting prisons… Continue

Added by David Chura on January 5, 2010 at 10:29am — No Comments

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