PRISON MINDFULNESS
We recently watched the Dhamma Brothers video again as part of the Change Your Mind program (probably my 15th time). The film always seems fresh to me and I do find something new in it each viewing. What struck me this time was the many examples of incredible courage demonstrated by so many involved in the project.
• The psychologist who dared to bring something he heard about in a prison in India to a backwater prison in Georgia.
• The warden who struggled with his doubts and gave the idea a chance
• The New England vipassana team who dared come into the hostile environment of the prison
• The guards who gave it a chance
• And, of course, the collection of murderers and general misfit-outcasts who dared bare themselves in a 10-day meditation retreat.
Any of these could have scuttled the whole adventure, but didn’t. They saw something there and wanted something else for prisoners than “doing the time”. As someone put it in the film they saw the difference between punishment and rehabilitation.
I wonder if anyone in our own Canadian Department of Corrections has ever looked at this.
Some people are taking it seriously. Check out:
http://www.prisonmindfulness.org/
If you’re curious about the movie or the story, here’s their website:
http://www.dhammabrothers.com/
On Another Topic,
If you are interested in learning the 10 Form Tai Chi set we have begun on Saturday mornings, here is a beautiful performance by the spectacular Chinese tai chi practitioner, Gao Jiamin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Z4sQNQtJM
Yours , on purpose,
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne
GIVING THANKS
In our classes we dedicate some of the class-time to practices of metta (compassion) and gratitude. This can feel abstract, like something nice to do but with no sense of real-life application, so its good to see the benefits in practical terms. I just finished two wonderful books over the past week. One was Matt Algeo’s delightful Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America's Favorite Spectator Sport; the other was Tony Horsfall’s Mentoring for Spiritual Growth: Sharing the Journey of Faith, a book that rescued me from some real doldrums in my own situation.
I don’t often do this but was inspired by my wife’s example, and I decided to write the two authors and express my appreciation. As an author, I know how it feels to put your work out there and not be sure whether anyone gives a damn. I wanted these two writers to know they touched me.
Not too surprisingly both of them wrote back within a few days and acknowledged the remarks. These weren’t form letters as in “Dear Reader” either but were very personal replies that left me feeling exactly that personal connection we strive for in mentoring that Horsfall describes.
It would have been easy to think these were two writers off somewhere doing what they get paid to do and they don’t need to hear from me. That may be true (although for these two I doubt that). As we learn in our classes the expression of gratitude or compassion is more than a gift to another. It requires a solid state of awareness in us, an understanding of our interdependence with others in our lives, even those distant and unknown. Whether it’s the silent acknowledgment of completing a naikan reflection or sending a thank-you note, acts of kindness or compassion begin with our willingness to accept being contributed to without a feeling of pay-back.
Yours , on purpose,
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne
WHEN SHOULD WE PRACTICE?
The standard definition of mindfulness is that it is paying attention in a deliberate and disciplined way. It is presented as the opposite of what is referred to as squirrel mind or monkey mind, where attention is apparently random, undirected and impulsive. This is a fine image and captures the chaos we often experience in our mind’s activity.
We should, however, be careful that we don’t promote the practices of mindfulness as something outside of ordinary life. We humans are not only capable of attention but we pay attention to an unending collection of objects, thoughts, emotions and assorted experiences all through our daily lives. Just because we are not seated or engaged in some formal practice environment does not mean we are not being mindful.
Mindful living means bringing that purposeful, intention-driven condition of body and mind to whatever we are doing. Formal practice, such as we do at RMML, is not the exclusive location of mindfulness. The only reason we should bother with a formal practice is to further deepen and cultivate our capacities. Its common to see meditators associated with mountain-top monks or people in a monastic retreat environment. It is true that these situations promote a more formal practice, very few of us will expect to operate in such settings. We live where we are and it is here that we must be mindful.
Yours , on purpose,
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne
PARA-WHAT
At the AIM group session last night we were exploring some new ideas I have been working with. I began by proposing we need to move beyond an exclusively skill-based approach in learning and practicing mindfulness. I proposed that what we have called the PARA skills (purpose, attention, resilience and activity), while potent and crucial, are incomplete in the cultivation of mindful living. We need to include two other elements. The first is compassion, which includes loving kindness, what we have called the Four Immeasurables (compassion, loving kindness, equanimity and sympathetic joy). The second has to do with expressing one’s mindfulness practice in purposeful action, especially in a context bigger than oneself, such as one’s community.
We were playing with creating a catchphrase which would represent that, something based on letters, beginning with p-a-r-a.
I have been using “parachutes” as that phrase. I proposed this represents Purpose, Attention, Resilence, Activity, Compassionate Heart, and “used-to-end-suffering”. It also has some wonderful imagery about floating to ground. Some other variations for the last letters were CH could be “community” and “heart of compassion”. For the UTES, we came up with “undertaking the empowerment of self/society” or “using to enable self and society”.
We also wondered if some other word, beginning with PARA might work better. Although we liked the similar imagery of “para-sol” , we laughed at being stuck with what “s-o-l” usually represents.
Here are some other possible candidates. Any comments?
- PARAdox
- PARAgon
- PARAkeet
- PARAdigm
- PARAsite
- PARAlyze
- PARAnoia
- PARAllel
- PARAlegal
- PARAbola
- PARAgraph
- PARAplegic
Yours , on purpose,
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne
REMEMBERING I
Our theme for this month of November is remembrance. Everyone knows that on the 11th we remember all those who have perished in various military events over the past century. This is but one kind of remembering. Our reflections will open up that topic. We will, of course, honour that national remembrance of the 11th and not diminish in any way. But we will use the rest of the month to consider other lights who have dimmed and extinguished.
The autumn is a good time to do this because we are observing the passing of another year, the fading of growth in the changing colours, the cooling air, the shortening daylight. We are, in a sense, fortunate to have such a vivid example of theses changes. I recall commenting to friends in an equatorial country I visited that they missed the drama of our passing seasons. They explained that they too marked changes, only in a subtler way with certain flowers and certain fruits.
Remembrance resonates for us in two distinct ways as mindful living practitioners. On the one hand we can use this time to recall those who have contributed to our lives in past months or years. To pause and acknowledge how we have been changed by our association with them, by their presence in our lives. This may be a parent or sibling, an uncle or grandparent, a colleague or a beloved animal companion. It is appropriate that we take some time to remember these beings and express our gratitude in some way.
Much more broadly, we remember as a practice in itself. The essence of mindfulness as a practice is observing ourselves and remembering the patterns and habits which we have experienced. We do this to provide a foundation for new understanding or to establish a reference point for some new action.
Yours , on purpose,
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne
