Prison Chaplaincy

Talk by Devin Ashwood delivered 29th October 2011 at the WCF conference: "Western Buddhism: Engaged Buddhism?"

My name is Devin Ashwood and I work as a Buddhist Chaplain in the Prison Service.

I have been asked to talk a little about Buddhist Chaplaincy in Prisons and while I had very little idea of what I would talk about, I agreed. At first, I thought I could say all there was to say in about five minutes, but the more thought I gave it, the more I realised that there are a lot of stories to tell! I wanted to tell the story of the mission of Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy in the light of the stories that inspired it. I also wanted to touch on the social, political and personal influences and effects of prison work as well as speak of the people involved and all this in the context of a conference on 'Engaged Buddhism'. – This is all clearly a tall order for a short presentation and the result of what I have to say is rather piecemeal so please accept my apologies for the lack of a polished presentation.

My work in this field started about six years ago when I became aware that Exeter Prison had a vacancy for a Buddhist Chaplain and my teacher kindly supported me to offer myself in that role. Since then I have learned a great deal about prisons and chaplaincy.

Prisons are not an area of society that many people show an interest in, they exist behind high walls and locked doors. It is a criminal offence to take recording equipment into them, so they are largely hidden from public view and the public generally show little interest. What goes on in prisons and the kind of people found in them are rarely reflected fairly in the dramatisations that we see on our screens. Headlines in newspapers scream for tougher sentences for drug pushers, paedophiles and other ‘monsters’. But who are these people who are locked up and in all but the most exceptional cases forgotten about? Unsurprisingly, they are people like you and I trying to find a way of freedom and happiness.

To the uninitiated, prisons often appear to be very strange places and in the years I have been visiting, I have begun to find them more normal. I don't know if that is a good thing! During this time, I have been quite ignorant of playing an intimate part of a phenomenon.

Something has been going on behind locked doors!

A friend recently pointed out that the Daily Telegraph reported Buddhism as the fastest growing religion in prisons here in the UK. This was interesting to me, and having the respect I do for broadsheet journalism; I thought I would try and look into this for myself. I unearthed that indeed, the Ministry of Justice do publish Offender management statistics.

So I looked into this alongside trends in overall UK Buddhist populations for a comparison. What I discovered was eye opening:

Under successive Labour and Conservative leadership but with arguably a significant tabloid influence on both parties’ policies, the total prison population in England and Wales has (some would say shamefully) doubled in the past 20 years in 1991, it was 42,000, it is now about 83,000. An increase of around 100%. While other religious registrations in prisons have increased broadly in line with the overall prison population, the story with Buddhists is rather different. In the 2001 census, 0.3% (151,000) of general UK population reported themselves as Buddhist and by this time, already, proportionally more than twice as many (0.7%) in the prison population (449) described themselves as Buddhist.

Looking at just the last ten years;

  • In the year 2000, there were 285 Buddhist prisoners in all of England and Wales, a tiny fraction of the overall prison population, this rose to nearly 1,872 in 2010, that’s more than one in every 50 prisoners (2.2%) registered as Buddhist. An increase of a massive 557% in just ten years.
  • While some of this increase is due to a recent trend in Vietnamese and other eastern gangs shipping over illegal immigrants to work off their ferry fee in cannabis factories, this does not make such a significant difference, as most Buddhist prisoners (? to ¾) are described as ‘White British’.
  • The experience of the chaplains on the ground suggests that the vast majority of white Buddhists in prison are made up of people converting to Buddhism in prison (rather than people already practicing Buddhism getting into trouble!).
  • The Ministry of Justice statistics also reveal another interesting fact. That there is a significantly disproportionate weighting of Buddhist prisoners with long sentences which suggests to me that people who have existential issues arising for them in the face of long term imprisonment see a way in Buddhism that they cannot find in other paths.

So how might this phenomenon be explained?

A little history of Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy Organisation may go some way to offer an answer.

In 1977, A Buddhist monk named Ajahn Khemadhammo found himself in the old Hampstead Buddhist Vihara on Haverstock Hill after studying in Thailand for many years with the Venerable Ajahn Chah. It just so happened that this was the Buddhist contact address for the Prison Service, so when a couple of prisons requested someone visit Buddhist prisoners for the first time in that year, Ajahn Khemadhammo asked Ajhan Chah what he should do. ‘Go!’ was his teacher’s response... so he went. But as the years progressed and the number of Buddhist prisoners grew, it became clear that the newly appointed ‘Visiting Buddhist Minister’ would no longer be able to see everyone and more people would need to be involved. Hence Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy Organisation was founded on Magha Puja Day in February 1985.

Following consultation with the Prison Service Chaplaincy, Angulimala was recognised in March of the same year as the official representative of Buddhism in all matters concerning the Prison Service in England and Wales.

Angulimala has since been referred to as the Buddhist Nominating Authority and is now officially the Religious Consultative Service to the Prison Service for Buddhism and the Prison Service contributes to its costs.

Angulimala has the backing of most major Buddhist organisations in the UK and chaplains represent a wide range of backgrounds supporting all traditions of Buddhism. Membership is open to anyone in sympathy with its aims, whether they wish to play an active part or not. We now have about fifty chaplains working in around a hundred and twenty of the penal establishments in England and Wales. A committee that meets quarterly and which helps with the wider organisation oversees our several activities. Currently Lord Avebury is the Patron, Rev. Saido Kennaway of Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey co-ordinates the appointment of Buddhist Visiting Ministers and is the Secretary, Dharmachari Sunanda is the Treasurer, John Preston co-ordinates Angulimala Scotland and the Venerable Ajahn Khemadhammo is the Spiritual Director. While Ajahn Khemadhammo is from the Theravadan forest tradition there is broad agreement that what should be offered is a basic Buddhism with provision when necessary for whatever school or form of practice that might be required.

In addition to the 120 (of 140) establishments we now visit, we also, cover the 3 special hospitals, and some Immigration Removal Centres. In addition to this, there are 15 prisons in Scotland, many served by our sister organisation, Angulimala Scotland. We currently have vacancies in about 20 establishments in England and Wales and we would like to fill them (please contact if interested).

I feel confident that the availability of Buddhist teachings and practice in prisons facilitated by Angulimala’s great effort has been the major causal condition for the exponential increase of Buddhism in prisons... Buddhists have undoubtedly been by far the most organised non-Christian faith in prisons in the UK.

So Angulimala was one of the first formalised Buddhist organisations in the UK set up with a specific mission of engagement in a particular domain of society and to my mind, it has been a great success in developing a practice sangha right where it is needed most – among some of the most disenfranchised suffering beings in our society.

Indeed it is the story of a suffering person that transformed in the light of Buddhist teaching that gave the Buddhist Chaplaincy organisation its name and this story deserves to be recounted. As you are probably aware, the name, Angulimala, comes from a famous Buddhist story of engaged Buddhism1, and I would like to retell it here in brief so you may contemplate it in the light of this conference.

The story as I heard it began with a man who later became known as Angulimala. He was born to the Brahmin caste, a son of the king’s advisor and was raised in relatively luxurious surroundings. Some of the folklore that informs his story suggests that he was born under the sign of the robber and thus his father considered infanticide but instead chose to call him ‘ahimsa’ (harmless). He became a humble, easily pleased and very likeable young man that went off to study and soon became the teacher’s favourite. Toward the end of his studies, the other students became jealous of their relationship and because they could not find truthful cause to slur him, they planned to break into three groups and each take it in turn to approach the teacher and tell a lie to discredit Ahimsa. The first approached the teacher and said “The word is that your student Ahimsa is planning to replace you”. The teacher angrily defended his pupil, the second group did similarly and then the third group said “You need to open your eyes” and claimed that he was becoming close to the teachers wife and that he intended to replace him. Finally the poisonous seed of doubt took root in the teacher’s heart and he decided “I must get rid of this boy”... So what could he do? He went to Ahimsa and said “You have completed your studies and must now return home; but for your studies to benefit you, you must first honour your teacher, and what would the teacher have from him as an honorarium? 1000 human fingers taken from the little finger of the right hand! Maybe assuming that Ahimsa would be captured or killed quickly in the effort, however this underestimated the one who would become Angulimala.

So Ahimsa took many weapons and went to haunt a forest about 30 miles from Savati where the Buddha’s main monastery was located and there he attacked travellers on the road and killed them for their fingers. As time went on, people only went through the forest in larger and larger groups, but due to Ahimsa’s formidable physical powers, he overcame even well armed groups of travellers. To carry and preserve the fingers he collected, Ahimsa strung them on a thread and wore them around his neck, thus he became known as ‘Angulimala’ or Mala of Fingers! His reputation as a brutal serial killer spread fast and wide and he mercilessly ran down all who tried to escape.

It transpired that the Lord Buddha became aware of Angulimala and went to save him. At about this time, Angulimala’s mother realised that the man must be her son and also went out to persuade him to stop. However, the activity of killing hundreds of men, women and children had driven Angulimala into such a state of depravity that even his mother could not stop his madness.

After he had terrorized the road, he spread out to villages and towns and refugees from his atrocities went to Savati to petition to king to do something.

He now has 999 fingers and needs just one more when he saw his mother coming toward him. What does he do? He goes to kill her. But then he sees another, a man with bald head and safron robe and he thinks “here is an easy picking!” and he goes to kill him. Though the Buddha was well known, Angulimala did not recognise him and ran after him. Now Angulimala was renown for being able to outrun a deer or even an elephant and though the Buddha was calmly and serenly walking away, Angulimala with all his might could not catch him. He wondered “How is it that I, who am so fast cannot catch this monk who is only walking.”, so he doubles his effort but still to no avail. So he shouts aloud “Stop!” and the Buddha turns and calmy replies “I have stopped Angulimala, It is you who have not stopped!”

Now Angulimala knew that these monks always spoke the truth, so he was puzzled how this monk had said something impossible, that he who was walking had stopped and Angulimala who had stopped, had not stopped, so he asked the Buddha to explain this. The Buddha replied: “Angulimala, I have stopped forever, I abstain from violence from living beings, but you who have no restraint toward living beings, that is why I have stopped, but you have not”. Angulimala realised there was something special with this ascetic and that there was something deep and powerful in the stopping. He realised then that he had met the Buddha and renounced evil forever and asked to join the sangha. So he was ordained as was traditional with the words “Come Bikkhu” and began his training immediately.

Meanwhile hundreds of refugees from the region had gone to the king and beseeched him “Please you must do something to stop this monster who has laid waste to the region”. The king, while unconfident in his ability to stop him, knew his duty and raised an army of cavalry to hunt him down. However, being a disciple of the Buddha and thinking he may die on his mission, he first went to the monastery to pay homage to the Buddha. When he arrived, he told the Buddha of his hopeless quest to put down a man of such awesome power. The Buddha said “If Angulimala had renounced violence, has taken the robes of a monk and lived compassionate for beings, never killing, stealing or engaging in sexual misconduct, a virtuous man, what would you do?” The king replied “I would give him my protection, I would rise up before him and offer him a seat and give him all his requisites, but of course, this is not possible that such a depraved monster as Angulimala could ever make such a transformation.” The Buddha pointed to Angulimala among his monks and said “Great king, here is Angulimala”. The king then said, “With all my army, I could not put down the mighty Angulimala, but you Lord Buddha, without weapons, you could tame him, only you could have done it”. The king left rejoicing.

Angulimala’s story does not end there... he had many challenges in his training, people feared him and gave him no alms. During his meditation, he was haunted by images of those he had killed so he could not concentrate, but by the Buddha’s skilful teaching, he was able to transcend all difficulty and become one of the Buddha’s greatest disciples.

So this is a story of transformation, a story of going into the world and practicing Buddhism in the face of ignorance, violence and selfishness. This story is a parable highlighting the humanity and potential of those written off by society as irredeemable.

Experience of a Buddhist Chaplain

Working in a prison, I regularly come in to contact with the sort of people that might be branded as ‘monsters’ by a certain section of the media. The types of people who may be facing the death sentence if there was ever a referendum on it. But what always strikes me is how human they are, how they are sensitive to interpersonal approval and disapproval, how they have insecurities, hopes, fears and how they want to be free and happy. All have stories, conditions that create them the way they are; but few wish to talk of their past, maybe preferring to leave painful memories behind or maybe not wanting to invite yet another person to judge them for their past karma.

I do not look up peoples criminal record before I meet them and only occasionally am told by the prisoner or by some ‘well meaning’ duty chaplain what it is that got them sent there. I often feel sad to hear what they have done, but if I do hear of a man’s past, I make a clear commitment not to judge the person I meet as the person they once were. I doubt I could be much good to them if I did.

I have had letters sent to me by prisoners that were later released or transferred to other establishments. I think exerts from them may give a sense of the kind of people I meet:

A: “…I have also been trying to establish a meditation practice. At first everything was going well, but now a few weeks in and things have gone from bad to worse, I can’t even count from 1 to 10 without being distracted. I am always worrying whether I am sitting properly or whether or not something else is right. Is this normal, I seem to start off OK, my body seems to settle OK, I make sure I say the three refuges, and that my intention is clear, ‘to cultivate mindfulness for the benefit of all beings’ but after about five minutes I start forgetting what I am doing and my mind wanders all over the place.. I am at the point of packing it in for a while; I’ve read a couple of books on it but can’t see what I’m doing wrong”

M: “I have been reading Stephen Batchelor’s books… ..This man is really special to me, because he has no dogmatic mission, and he has spent years in monastery’s as a monk researching, and writing. He has amazing ability to communicate very complex, difficult material, elegantly and concisely. So I’m still working away ! Keeps me out of mischief”

B: “I am trying to be mindful most times and I realise the way is letting go, which is very clear to me. I think I’ve always looked into myself most of the time and that left me selfish and greedy only caring about me; but I think I am beginning to really see that there is no me or you or them or us, they’re only aspects of the same thing or simpler still, there just is, it’s my mind that provides the delusion of separateness. Is that right?”

R: “I would like to thank you for walking with me on my first steps and guiding me towards the path to happiness”

If you knew before meeting them that one of these people was considered a dangerous sex offender and another was a wheelchair using man imprisoned for claiming disability benefit without disclosing his savings. Would it change how you related with them?

As a Buddhist chaplain I avail myself to support Buddhists from a wide range of backgrounds. While I have trained in the Soto Zen tradition, I wish to be the most service I can be, so I have enjoyed finding out about a wide range of Buddhist practices and perspectives. Buddhists from around the world find themselves in prisons in the UK, all with stories to tell, stories that reflect the ever-smaller global village we live in. A Theravadan man from Thailand accused of trafficking women for prostitution, a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist national allegedly trafficked here by organised criminals to work in a cannabis factory, a Chinese man who found himself in trouble trying to get by in a country that no-one can agree whether he has the right to be in or not. Some prisoners who are new to the country speak English well, but many not at all. I imagine that being locked up in a strange country with an alien culture with which one cannot even communicate must be a frightening experience.

I have even come across second-generation western Buddhists returning to practice after a life of drugs and chaos has landed them at the mercy of the justice system.

Some such as those above were born into Buddhism and their approach is often different to the majority of Buddhist prisoners who came to practice in prison itself.

Most of the men I see have used drugs in the past and many still do. A good few have been to prison many times before and all are subject to an institutional system that offers a mix of punishment, rehabilitation and public protection; how much of each is intended may not be well understood by those that send them, let alone those who serve the time.

I sometimes ask myself, what do I have to offer by going into a prison and meeting with a group of men who for various reasons have a similar label to myself? I have no formal authority to teach in my tradition but I have stumbled into a role as a Buddhist chaplain, a role people look to for guidance and support. This stumbling was in part due to a desire to realise support for my own practice in the absence of opportunities for extended residential support. However, the acknowledged selfish motivations seem to be less to the fore as the years pass and I realise not only that support is always present but also that the practice is one of devotion.

This devotion does not know if it is helpful, but I hold a space for silence, sometimes giving guidance to encourage people to sit upright and be still in the centre of their experience. Sometimes we talk about Buddhist teachings but interestingly, I feel that my practise is most evident and what I have to offer so distilled, as when I am serving a group of people who do not speak English. Here, with the koan of how is the teaching expressed without words? It is somehow most clear that all I have to offer is myself in the moment of meeting. My only method of communicating the teachings I receive is through a mindful and compassionate attention to my physical presence with them. The way I greet people, unlock the door, walk into the room, offer incense, bow, sit and ring the bell, these simple, physical activities are my only opportunity to realise our connection and so demand a deep commitment to practice, a physical, devotional practice that I hope to engage in all aspects of life.

But is this Engaged Buddhism?

I’d like to refer to the words of Ajahn Khemadhammo who has said that he always disliked the way that some individuals try to thrust their ideas and beliefs on other people and that he is only really comfortable speaking about Buddhism and what we do in prisons when asked. I feel this way also. To us, this is the Buddhist attitude. We have a responsibility to make Buddhist Teachings and Practice available in prisons and to respond when required, but after that it is up to the individual.

Ajahn Khemadhammo has also said “I really wish there weren’t prisons. Buddhism teaches that none of us are perfect and that all determined actions have their results so we might question whether it is right for anyone to sit in judgement on another and impose penalties and whether indeed it is necessary.”

He adds “But the reality is that prisons do exist, society does demand something from those who offend against its interests and many thousands of human beings now and in the future will spend portions of their lives in prison.”

To him, “It is shameful that that time should be wasted. So, as anywhere else, in order to alleviate suffering and offer people the hope of a better and happier future, but especially for prisoners to salvage something positive from their predicament, we try to make the Teachings and Practice of Buddhism available in the prisons.”

When it is suggested that he is embracing Buddhist social action, Ajahn Khemadhammo’s reply is that what he does in the prisons is more or less what he does in the monastery. The difference is that while for most people they can come to the temple, for prisoners we have to take the temple to them.

Many speakers at this conference have pointed out that ‘engaged Buddhism’ is just Buddhism. This is particularly true in the Mahayana tradition where working for the welfare of all sentient beings is emphasised and the Theravada schools have been doing this also.

Similar to many, I have worked and campaigned in the front lines in the market place; in human rights, animal welfare, ecological sustainability, social change for justice, health and transformation in prisons, addiction services - in the streets and on the internet. This lists a limited selection of the avenues in which many of us have sought to help ourselves and others before we came to practice Buddhism. Some of us find we have expended less energy in the market place since starting committed practice but I don’t know that we have caused any more harm or helped less as a result. Some of us have expended more energy in social activity since engaging in practice and I don’t know this is a good or a bad thing. I remember intentionally moving away from certain direct action groups when I saw my own self-righteousness and anger reflected in others as we projected this in ways that seemed very harmful, despite it being in the name of compassion and justice. Many evils it seems are just people trying to do good in ignorant ways.

Practise not only helps to bring awareness to deluded action but transforms intention so although we may expend less energy when practicing, maybe the energy we do expend causes less harm and may even do some good.

I am very happy to support engaged Buddhism whether this takes the form of sitting still in prisons or at home or chaining wrists to railings; for without the encouragement and support to pay attention to our karma, to our motivation, we may unintentionally plant the seed for great evil in the middle of doing works for the greater good. It seems to me that this paying attention to our motivation in the context of the Buddha Dharma which makes our engagement Buddhist.

I feel as Jan Willis’s talk was been titled: “Buddhism has always been Engaged”. The stories of Angulimala presented here are I feel a testament to this.

Reference:

  1. The Story of Angulimala which can be found in the Majjhima Nikaya, the mid-length discourses of the Buddha

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