My interest in the documentary “The Dhamma Brothers” was heightened by
the conflict in Tibet, where Buddhist monks have been charged by some
leftists as functioning as CIA agents. In some ways, I feel torn between
sympathy for the Tibetans and suspicion that they are being manipulated
by Washington. Long before I became a socialist, I was sympathetic to
Buddhist ideas even though I never practiced meditation or any other
exercises associated with the religion. In the early 1960s, Buddhist
ideas pervaded the “new poetry” movement in all its aspects, from Jack
Kerouac’s novels to the poetry of Gary Snyder. Indeed, Kerouac’s “The
Dharma Bums” (dhamma is the Pali language equivalent of the Sanskrit
dharma) is all about Gary Snyder, who is called Japhy Ryder in the
novel. The dramatic tension in this novel—Kerouac’s finest after “On the
Road”—is maintained by Kerouac’s (named Ray Smith) failure to get past
his ego, no matter how hard he tries through meditation, reading
scripture, etc.
If Kerouac had problems, can you imagine the hurdles that would have to
be overcome by “The Dhamma Brothers”? These were hardened criminals,
including some death row inmates, who were incarcerated in the Donaldson
Correctional Facility in Alabama. They live behind high security towers
and a double row of barbed and electrical wire fences, the last place in
the world where Buddhism might take root. But take root it did through
the efforts of Bruce Stewart and Jonathan Crowley, two trainers from the
Vipassana Meditation Center in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. They were
invited to lead a 10 day meditation seminar by Jenny Phillips, a
cultural anthropologist and psychotherapist who believed that prison
life could be more bearable after mastering Buddhist meditation techniques.
full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/the-dhamma-brothers/
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