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By Incarcerated People

Reflections, essays, and poems by people in prison about their Dharma practice.

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Ａ　Hope Rainbow Mosaic　ｓｉｇｎ．
On Cultivating Wisdom

Owning up, but with hope

An incarcerated person talks about the changes he has made in his life since being…

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A shirtless young boy walking down a city street.
On Love, Compassion, and Bodhicitta

Street kids

An incarcerated person's harrowing account of his childhood growing up on the streets, and his…

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On Love, Compassion, and Bodhicitta

Working with People in Prison

Working with people in prison requires a mindset of humility and understanding: an incarcerated person…

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Prison Poetry

Buddha’s door

In meditation, a person in prison reflects on his experience of freedom and compassion for…

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A wood craving of a sun above the word Awaken.
By Incarcerated People

Glad to be here

A person in prison tells the story of how he happened to be in the…

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Metal bars of a solitary prison cell.
By Incarcerated People

A long-awaited vacation

How Dharma offered an important choice for an incarcerated person to transform.

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Bars on a window with dead tree inside against red bricks
On Self-Worth

Shame

Finding self-respect in the respect we have for our own Buddha nature.

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Cigarettes stacked neatly with the top one burning
On Addiction

An appeal to Linda

A heartfelt plea to a loved one to stop smoking cigarettes.

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Hands holding sparklers
On Love, Compassion, and Bodhicitta

Happy birthday, Mom

A simple birthday song to an incarcerated person's mother brings happiness.

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Thangka image of Vajrasattva.
On Meditation

Better than a hell realm

A person in prison makes use of the tonglen practice while participating in the retreat…

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Monk walking toward the large, transparent head of a buddha.
On Cultivating Wisdom

Patience with the path

Changing the world by working on one moment, one thought, one emotion at a time.

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A woman wearing a mask covering her face, one side of the mask with an open eye and word Happy and the other side of the mask a crying eye with the word Sad.
On Love, Compassion, and Bodhicitta

Masks

Wearing masks become part of our life so that we are able to hide our…

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