Statement of Purpose

The Shambhala Prison Community (SPC) is founded to serve spiritual and educational needs arising within Federal, state, county and municipal prison systems and jails, and their associated communities, both in the United States and internationally.

The SPC derives from the buddhist spiritual tradition, in particular the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma branches of Tibetan buddhadharma, and the Shambhala teachings, as expounded by the Ven. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Exiled from Tibet in 1959, living in the United States from 1970 until his death in 1987, Trungpa Rinpoche is generally credited with having brought buddhadharma from the East to the West. He was the founder of many unique teaching vehicles-religious, secular and artistic — all of which are included within the Shambhala educational path propagated by the SPC. The SPC represents these upayas or teaching vehicles to the prison community.

This educational tradition should not be confused with dogmatism. Not fixed views, but flexibility, depth and realization of mind, are virtues characteristic of the Shambhala buddhist vision.

The SPC offers basic training in the form of the sitting practice of meditation, as taught by the Buddha Shakyamuni 2,500 years ago, and passed on from teacher to student in an unbroken line since that time. Meditation is common to all branches of buddhadharma, no matter what the country of origin or school of thought. At the same time, Trungpa Rinpoche said that if the insights of meditation are valid, then they should be expressible in purely human terms. The authentic practice of sitting meditation does not belong to one tradition, nor is it in itself a religious act; it is available to people of all beliefs and backgrounds. Meditation is not a propaganda mechanism to convert people to buddhist beliefs; it stands on its own. Meditation may be employed by the practitioner to uplift existence altogether and to find the meaning of life and death in the midst of great suffering. Meditation is the ultimate educational and scientific tool, because the observer is the subject of his or her own inquiry, and all the world's powers are discoverable within the depths of the human mind.

The journey of meditation begins with a glimmer of insight into the possibility of individual liberation. Without that intelligence, how would one be inspired to look further? The meditative journey leads to and makes use of all varieties of selfless endeavor, such as hospice, artistry, little expressions of ordinary kindness, mental training and whatever else might arise within even an oppressed environment. A sense of dignity, as well as faith in ourselves and the instinct to help others, all reflect an awakened heart, which is the premise of the meditative or contemplative path.

The spectrum of education includes literacy, high school and university equivalency programs, drug and alcohol counseling, anger management, stress reduction, bodily disciplines and psychological services. Education may begin during incarceration and continue upon release; or it may be preventative, such as with youth at risk. The SPC assists inmates through meditation instruction by providing instructors qualified to present the Dharma, which is the science of meditation; pastoral counseling; the distribution of books and recorded tapes; written correspondence; and newsletters, magazines and pamphlets relevant to the meditative path. We envisage providing to ex-prisoners a network of community support, job training and job placement, spiritual and emotional sustenance, and half-way facilities which bridge prison and the outside world. The Shambhala Prison Community also comprises prison staff and others working in the correctional field. One of the great possibilities for humanitarian advance within the prison system lies with educational programs for correctional personnel, rooted in the practice of mediation. The notion of undivided community including both inmates and prison staff awaits further discovery and development. Beyond the immediate prison environment, there are ex-prisoners, victims, family and friends, volunteers, professionals in the criminal justice field and others simply drawn to such great suffering and need — all forming a community, inextricably bound together by circumstance.

We seek to involve the outside world in the actual life of the prison system through the financial support of SPC work, exchange of information, volunteerism and — generally speaking — meeting the fear which breeds crime and the reactions to it. It takes bravery to meet fear; only through meeting fear can it be overcome. The contemplative path exposes neurotic habitual patterns, which arise from fear and which give fear its particular direction. For the individual practitioner, this is like a potent medicine acting upon the mind's sickness. Made up of individuals on the contemplative path, the collective prison community may discover over time the benevolent and definite justice natural to enlightened society. The vision of the SPC accords with the vision of Shambhala, which is the general vision of enlightened society. This vision of Chögyam Trungpa is carried on by his students, principally by the present lineage holder, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, who serves as an adviser to the SPC, as does the great Khenchen, the Ven. Thrangu Rinpoche, former abbot of Rumtek Monastery, and present tutor to the XVIIth Gyalwa Karmapa, the supreme head of the Karma Kagyu lineage. The principal adviser to the Shambhala Prison Community is the eminent scholar and meditation master, the Ven. Dzogchen Pönlop Rinpoche.

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