Prison programs

The Buddhist Association of the United States Prison Program helps inmates learn and apply Buddhist teachings to their lives.

The services provided by the Prison Program include:

Sending Buddhist books to prisoners and prison libraries.
Answering questions that prisoners have regarding Buddhism and Buddhist practice.
Furnishing prisoners with the names and addresses of local Buddhist centers that may be able to send monks or nuns to visit the prison to conduct meditation and other Buddhist services.
Sending prisoners who are denied the opportunity to practice Buddhism in the prison system information on their legal rights to practice their religion while incarcerated.
Aiding Buddhist prisoners to obtain vegetarian meals at their prison.
Furnishing prisoners with the names and addresses of organizations who can provide them with services after their release.
Helping prisoners to establish Buddhist groups in their prison.

The Prison Program has two parts – the Prison Book Program and the Prisoner Buddhist Correspondence Course Program.

The Prison Book Program

Currently, more than 6,800 persons – prisoners and Chaplains of prisons – have received shipments of Buddhist books. The request for books continues to grow as more prisoners learn of the BAUS and its program.

Prisoner Correspondence Course Program

The goals of the Course are:

Familiarize prisoners with the life of the Buddha.
Explain Buddhist concepts, theory and practice.
Help prisoners Integrate Buddhism into their lives to aid them to avoid unskillful states of mind such as anger and hatred.
To cultivate skillful states of mind such as equanimity and compassion.

The Course emphasizes:

Meditation
Mindfulness
Anger and stress management

The Course is given at no cost to prisoners.

The Correspondence Course consists of written assignments on both the material and its application to the student’s life. Each student is assigned a mentor who works closely with the student to guide them through the course and answer any questions they may have about Buddhism, Buddhist practice, or the student’s meditation practice. Successful completion of the Course results in the awarding of a Certificate of Completion sent to the student and filing a notice of Completion with the appropriate prison authorities should that be desired.

There are currently over 560 students in the course in prisons throughout the United States and several foreign countries. The letters we continually receive from students show that Buddhism has made a big difference in helping them to overcome anger and hatred and to lead a more centered, peaceful life.

As part of the course, we publish a quarterly newsletter that is distributed to the students. It is written, for the most part by them and for them, and tells of their problems of practicing Buddhism in prison – and there are many. They encourage each other in their practice and offer solutions to problems others are encountering.

The Course Curriculum consists of the following:

‘The Tree Of Enlightenment’ by Peter Della Santina
An excellent introduction to: The fundamentals of Buddhism

The three major schools of Buddhism
The Abidharma

Some of the major Buddhist Sutras:

Lotus Sutra
Heart Sutra
Lankavatara Sutra

‘Mindfulness In Plain English’ by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
A meditation manual; a step-by-step guide to Insight meditation

‘What The Buddha Taught’ by Walpola Rahula
Covers the fundamental principles of Buddhist doctrine as they are found in the Pali Cannon:

The Four Noble Truths
The Eightfold Noble Path
The Doctrine of No-Self
Bhavana or Mental Culture

‘Living Meditation, Living Insight’ by Dr. Thynn Thynn
The application of Mindfulness in daily life with Question and Answer sections

‘The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering’ by Bhikkhu Bodhi
The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path are the heart of the Buddha’s teaching. This book covers the Noble Eightfold Path in depth.

‘Anger’ by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
The six-page handout explores methods by which a person can overcome the emotion of anger.

‘Facing The Future’ by Bhikkhu Bodhi
The Buddha’s teachings are used as a lens through which to examine some of the confusions about social values that have engulfed our society.

The Curriculum is subject to change based on review by the Course faculty. In addition to the material listed above, supplemental Course ‘handouts’ may be provided.

For information on the Course or to enroll, please write to:

Chuang Yen Monastery
2020 Route 301
Carmel, NY 10512
Attn: Richard Baksa
email: rbaksa@me.com

OR
Phap Nguyen Buddhist Congregation
c/o T. N. Phap Lan
1838 County Road 129
Pearland, TX 77581-6239
email: phaplan@buddhist-correspondence-course.org

A sample assignment in the Correspondence Course from the book “Mindfulness in Plain English” is:

Chapter 3: What Meditation Is

How are the Buddhist, the Judeo-Christian and the Hindu tradition of meditation similar? How are they different?
What are four different approaches that Buddhism uses to build awareness? Explain the differences among them.
How does mindfulness differ from the way we normally view life?
What does the author state is the fundamental attitude you should bring to reading this book?
The author states that human perceptual habits are remarkably stupid in some ways. Please explain. How would you apply this concept to some aspect of your existence in prison?
What does Buddhism say about the concept of ‘I’ or ‘me’?

Chapter 4: Attitude

In what way does current Western science and physics correspond to Eastern science?
How does that affect our meditation?
List the 11 different ‘attitudes’ you should have regarding meditation. Discuss one of the attitudes listed that you find gives you some problems in your meditation practice.
Please describe your ‘Mindfulness of Tension’ practice. How have you progressed in identifying and relieving tension? Have you been able to deal with the situations that you find give rise to tension on a regular basis? What, if any, problems have you encountered and how have you handled them? What changes, if any, have they made in your outlook and behavior? Add any other comments you wish.
The last of the 11 attitudes concerns not dwelling on contrasts between self and others and replacing it with noticing similarities. The author gives instructions on how to begin practicing this. Practice this attitude for a week on one or two people who particularly annoy you or whom you do not like. Describe your experience doing this exercise and what the result (if any) has been.
Make your ‘Mindfulness of Tension’ practice an ongoing one. While you will be asked about this practice in future assignments, please write to me with any questions or problems you have with this practice at any time during the Course.