(no subject)

[mamculuna]

You'd think that teaching meditation in prison would lead to interesting stories. I guess the most interesting thing is that it doesn't. I go, I go through the bureaucratic hassle of getting in (or not--if there's been as escape or other disturbance, they may go into lockdown and not tell me), they come, we talk, we meditate, I leave. There's no drama--not between me and them (but you may have noticed I'm the queen of no-drama, and meditation is inclined that way as well). But I find the guys endlessly fascinating.

In the state pen in town, there's a very charismatic guy who's gotten lots of people involved--including me. He got a nun to call me and ask me to go out there, and having personal contact with her is a great reward to me. He's bright, funny, and totally committed. So it was a bit of a shock when I went out one day to find that he's in lock-up for six months. I never dare to judge, and really am not interested in knowing, what these guys did to get in (my impression when I first taught out there in college classes is that they all represent themselves as unfairly framed, and I don't want to hear it). I sort of wonder in this case if he was innocent, though--the charge was being in a room where cellphone chargers (not even the phones) had been hidden. Who knows? I keep a focus on the future. However, before this happened, he'd organized the nun and me into getting cushion covers mailed from Nepal and stuffed (and they are used only in our meetings, so hard to see a scam in this), a project that involved me pouring great quantities of buckwheat hulls into the cushion covers and spilling them all over my house--I still find little hulls here and there.

At the federal prison, things are much tighter, and the chaplain watches every teaching over TV in the room. Not a problem for me, but I wonder at the expense of time. The guy who is officially listed as Buddhist comes every time, but has little to say, sits in the back. One man from that class actually got released--it's a wonderful feeling, oddly, not to see him.

Meanwhile, during the week, I teach intro meditation in our center. Most of those students are professional women. You'd think there would be a different atmosphere, but except for the lack of surveillance and uniforms, and the much nice altar at the center, things are very similar. If anything, the folks in jail are slightly more willing to ask questions and add things from their experience, but other than that, you could mix them up and I wouldn't be able to tell where I am.

Comments

[wisewoman.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I do know exactly what you're staying, and the value it has, but I had to chuckle.

Mamcu in a room surrounded by people sitting in silence, at a prison.

Mamcu in a room surrounded by people sitting in silence, at a centre.

And she has trouble telling the difference? No! How can that be?

:o)

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Heh! So right.

[maeve-rigan.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the documentary Shakespeare Behind Bars? Much of what you relate reminds me of the experiences of the teacher and students/actors/prisoners in that film--the medium for self-discovery is drama rather than meditation. Come to think of it, some meditation is used as well.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it, or even heard of it! Shall google! Thanks.

[ngakmafaery.livejournal.com]

...in both places I would guess there is what I see a lot, this sort of "unsure if I'm doing it right but trying completely to either do it right or fake it so no one can tell, and NOT GOING to give away those facts by asking questions that might make me feel stupid, because *everybody* knows meditation is just this easy obvious thing which I am supposed to know already", which keeps it from being spacious and free...good for you to help people...do you know the cranky zen priest Kobutzu Malone...he does stuff in prisons...

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I don't know of Malone, but will google and find out--sounds very interesting. I'm in communication with the Liberation Prison Project (run by FPMT, if you're familiar with them), and have read stuff by Bo Lozoff, who really does hatha yoga in prisons but also does some meditation as well.

Actually, both groups are fairly open about questions, but the ones at the center often focus more on the mechanical aspects (posture, technique, etc) while the guys in prison push on to more complex questions about the nature of the mind (not all of which I can answer, and some of them have more experience than I do in other kinds of meditation, like Theravada Vipassana). I'll often take a question from one group and offer the answer to the other one, anyway.

But I think too there's a lot of what you describe, and also people being so new to the whole experience that they don't know how to put their questions into words.

[ngakmafaery.livejournal.com]

...I think it's great you are able to offer them all instruction and support...best wishes with it!

[wombatina.livejournal.com]

that's totally cool.