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After several years
of providing written correspondence to
prisoners, meditation instructors at the Ratna
Foundation began to realize that many inmates
could benefit from a more formal study of
meditation teachings, an opportunity rarely
afforded them in prison. In order to meet this
need, we began developing study courses for
inmate participation. We currently have over
150 inmates enrolled in a study course, and we
have been deeply impressed and touched by the
level of understanding these men and women have
attained in learning to work with their minds
and cultivate sanity within a challenging
environment.
Each course
provides an in-depth exploration of a main text
written by a meditation master, which is divided
into several installments. Upon his or her
request to be enrolled in a study course, we
send the inmate the main text, a
sourcebook of supplemental material, and the
first set of study questions. The inmate reads
the text, contemplates the material, answers the
study questions, blending the teachings in the
text with his or her own experience and insight,
and returns the answers to the Ratna Foundation.
We review the student’s answers and provide
encouragement, clarification, and/or comments
for further contemplation, developing a
person-to-person relationship with the inmate
and giving him or her direct feedback on what
has been written. A sheet of supplemental
commentary is provided on each question. In
this way, the course is a three-way dialogue
between the student, the teachings in the book,
and an instructor from the Ratna Foundation.
This format provides a means of processing the
information in order to guide the student in
refining his or her personal understanding.
Students receive a certificate when they
complete the course, as well as an invitation to
participate in subsequent courses.
The Ratna Foundation
currently offers two study courses.
The Myth of Freedom,
based on the text by the same name, written by
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, broadly surveys
the meditation path, from the beginning to the
highest teachings, focusing particularly on
sitting meditation, meditation in daily life,
and working with difficult emotions.
The
Power of Patience, Healing Anger,
based on the text by the same name, written by
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, addresses the ways
one might learn to overcome the aggression and
anger permeating his or her mind and environment
and, at the same time, learn to cultivate
patience. (For more information on these
courses, please follow the links above.)
For the future we are planning two
additional courses. The first, based on the
comments of many meditation masters who've
advised us about prisoners, is a course studying
Atisha's mind training slogans. This will guide
students in developing a life of compassionate
activity. The second course will be based on
Chogyam Trungpa's Shambhala: The Sacred Path
of the Warrior, exploring how to overcome
fear and enter the sacred dimension of everyday
life.
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