Testimonials

I am pleased to learn that the Prison Dharma Network is working to support rehabilitation through education within the prison system. I am confident that these projects will be of long term benefit both to prison inmates and society at large and offer my prayers for success.

Those serving the Prison Dharma Network (Prison Mindfulness Institute) deserve all the support we can give.

Being in prison presents tremendous obstacles to cultivating a peaceful mind, the environment is conducive to negativity and can result in further harm. On every level, the basic antidote to inner and outer obstacles is mindfulness practice. Prison Dharma Network for the past twenty years has provided prisoners with the powerful tool of practice which will address their obstacles. I fully endorse and support their work.

I am delighted to hear that the Prison Dharma Network is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The work they have done with prisoners is wonderful. The Dharma is a way to help free beings from suffering, and so bringing it to those who are experiencing the suffering of imprisonment is especially beneficial. It will help them quiet their minds and find peace and  lasting happiness. This is a tremendous service to them and all other beings as well. I hope Prison Dharma Network can continue such beneficial service for many years to come.

I have tremendous respect for the work of the Prison Mindfulness Institute. It nurtures freedom, inner peace, and human kindness in places where there is precious little of it… a true example of rehabilitation in its deepest sense: learning to live inside (one’s own body and heart) again. This is necessary work in our society, which, believe it or not, incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any other country in the world.

I have been honored to serve as a spiritual advisor to the Prison Dharma Network since its founding and fully endorse the work they continue to accomplish. Through my own experience with prisoners, I have directly witnessed the transformative potential of prison meditation programs.

Please support Prison Dharma Network in any way you can.

How do we bring sanity into one of the most hostile environments of our society ­- our prisons? The Prison Mindfulness Institute has been responding to this question since 1989 by working to change prison cultures through mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness creates mental discipline and stability. This provides the inmates with the tools they need to cultivate a sense of ease, decency and compassion. Isn’t that the point of rehabilitation? Please support PMI!

I will never be the same person again since the day I learned mindfulness meditation. You have changed my life. I now have the tools and knowledge to walk on a brighter path with a spring in my step and I have the courage to face the path.

“I used to get high to cover all my emotions – my anger, my sadness, my frustration. This class has really allowed me to meet myself and work with those emotions in a new way – one that I had been asking for for a long time. I’m sad for my victim that it had to come to this for me to get the help I need but I’m working hard because I don’t want there to be another victim. And my daughter – who is being raised by my mother in the same messed up way she raised me – really needs me to show her the way.”

“Being a person that was incarcerated for over fifteen years, I am always grateful to see your posts. The Prison Dharma Network was instrumental in helping me to transform my thinking and find peace behind the walls. Thank you! Your efforts made an incredible difference in my life…”

We thank you for your support on our spiritual journey. Our sangha is small but we’re close-knit. . It’s not every day (especially in our environment) that acts of kindness and compassion are shown, so we’re very grateful for your network. We would like you to know that any materials you will be able to donate will be greatly appreciated and will not sit idly on any shelf to collect dust.

I wish to express my appreciation for programs like yours, because I’m beginning to understand the type of mind that led me inside here.  And thanks to programs like yours I’m hopeful I can break the habits that lead to suffering and one day obtain peace of mind and help others in my current position.

I am writing to thank you for myself, and those of us imprisoned, for all the unconditional love  you show us through the sending of Dharma books. Indeed, a breath of fresh air through an open window. Not to mention the airing out of our stuffed minds as well.  We appreciate your existence PDN.

I’m currently buried in reading the book you sent me, and I’m very busy with trying to organize a sangha here at TCI. If not for outside help with the dharma I’m not sure where I would be right now. Again, thanks for all that you do. I will share the book with members here then donate it to the chapel library for the entire compound to use it.

I recently finished your book “Path of Freedom.” I found it helpful and inspiring.  Lately I have been focusing on “Right Speech”, and the section on Nonviolent Communication in the workbook  got my attention.  In a prison setting, what is considered “normal communication” is very vulgar and violent.  So it presents the perfect opportunity to practice nonviolent communication, I feel obligated to strive to hold myself to a higher level of accountability and be an example of these teachings.

Thank you for all the books you send. It’s so hard to receive dharma material here. And since practicing awareness meditation, it’s made being on death row bearable, opens you up to see the suffering in the world.

I am so grateful for the help you provide for people like me who are in prison, who would sincerely like to help themselves and others by studying Buddhism.  One thing I know is that when I  leave prison I will be leaving a much wiser and better person for having studied and practiced the Dharma in my life. This whole process would be much harder for people like me if it wasn’t for the people like you.