By NED BELLAMY
As a principle of Mahayana Buddhism we commit to an aspiration to be of benefit to others.
The 4th Mindfulness Training of the Order of Interbeing recited by FCM members reminds us that this aspiration is not a passive one: “Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Practice mindfulness to look deeply into the roots of suffering within yourself, others and the world. Recognize, accept, and transform your own suffering. Find ways to be with and help alleviate the suffering of others. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world.”
In FCM’s Prison Dharma Program, all of us--inmates and volunteers alike--find this commitment and our time together to be mutually fruitful and sacred.
The program began more than a decade ago and has ebbed and flowed with circumstances. During the pandemic, FCM’s team of volunteers was reduced from 10 to five intrepid souls who kept it alive, visiting four prisons twice during most months despite the high rate of infection among inmates and restrictions on visitors. Now, post-COVID, our team has nine members and needs three more.
Why participate in the Prison Dharma Program? It offers the profound experience of bringing compassion, peace and joy to men serving time in state prisons near the Tampa Bay area. Three more members, bringing us to a complement of 12, would allow us to serve another one or two institutions and more easily fill vacancies when members leave for the summer or take out-of-town trips.
Volunteers for the program must have been FCM members for at least two years, have a daily meditation practice and have participated in FCM retreats or Intensives.
Each volunteer travels once or twice a month, alone or in pairs, to visit one of four state prisons within an hour’s or so drive from Tampa. The prisons are in Zephyrhills, Bushnell, Polk City and Bowling Green in Hardee County. Two-hour sangha meetings are attended by between six and 12 men. They include guided sitting and walking meditations, recitations or chanting, a Dharma talk, and extra time to listen deeply to men who need to be seen and heard.
One inmate said it this way: “We’re never alone. I have 69 roommates, many with mental health challenges. Coming together in our small group of like-minded guys is literally a refuge where I feel safe and supported. I’m encouraged by the teachings that remind us again and again of what is possible for us, even during our stay.”
Following approval by the Florida Department of Corrections, each new FCM volunteer shadows several different, more experienced volunteers during scheduled visits to several prisons. This student/mentor arrangement continues as his or her self-confidence grows with experience in co-chairing discussions, guiding meditations, and presenting abbreviated Dharma talks, all at the recruit’s own pace.
Most people are a little apprehensive when entering a men’s prison for the first time. Gratefully, visitors’ personal safety has never been an issue for us. We gather in the prison chapel, segregated from the general population, and are welcomed by the chaplain and his staff.
Since this program began, eight women have volunteered to serve in men’s prisons. Recently, sangha attendance has increased in two prisons after women became regular visitors. Women’s presence in these small, sacred, sangha circles often seems to encourage greater vulnerability and deeper sharing. Susan Ghosh, who volunteered in the program for several years, writes, “No way to tell any difference between us. Who’s teaching? Who’s learning? I always leave with some treasure.” We are reaching out to the only state women’s prison near Tampa and to local county jails to see if we might serve either their men or women inmates.
Why do FCM’s volunteers commit to the prison program? Here are some comments from prisoners that may provide an answer:
On Easter Sunday after a heavy, cooling downpour, the sun shone over a flock of sandhill cranes, the prison gardens, the koi pond and the green courtyard. A long-time inmate practitioner walking beside us said, “Yeah. It is beautiful. And you know what? For the last 20 years, every single morning, it has been beautiful.”
“Sixty days of solitary confinement is especially tough in this prison, because writing and reading material in the cell is forbidden. Finally, the Christian chaplain agreed to bring me two Buddhist books. I re-read them over and over and began meditating. I think they saved my life.”
“I’ve been in foster homes, jails and prisons for 45 years. I was hopeless when two Buddhist volunteers began to visit us regularly. They are the very first people who had ever noticed, much less believed, in me. Inspired by their practice and teachings, I turned my life around and have been a committed practitioner ever since.”
FCM volunteers are equally moved:
Chris: “What could possibly be better than sitting in a small circle sharing the Dharma?”
Brian: “Their deep and rich practice in very difficult circumstances is moving and inspiring.”
Kevin: “The guys inspire me to practice. And their gratitude to FCM members who come to share the Dharma with them is palpable.”
To learn more about FCM’s Prison Dharma Program, please contact Ned Bellamy at nedbellamy46@gmail.com, or call or text him at 727-642-5900.
