As for the teachers, we are often stunned by the bleakness of the prison environment in which the forces of rehabilitation have been in retreat for so many years, to be replaced by a reliance on punishment, rigid restrictions, and a fundamental denial of basic goodness. They practice mindfulness and awareness in the midst of never-ending chaos, hustle, noise, and the continual fear of threat and intimidation. They contemplate egolessness while their sense of inherent worth is daily eroded. We enter this hopeless mix with an often dubious view of our ability to make a difference. Yet things happen.
Prison is a hard world of boredom and loneliness, but it is a fertile ground for the teachings.
Nowhere does the path seem as random as it does behind bars. Prisoners make their way alone through some very rough terrain with very little guidance, but they are driven by the immediacy of their homelessness and pain. To teach in this environment is to encounter your own mind in a most vivid way. The result is a mutual dharmic project between the teachers and the prisoners. Sometimes everything clicks and we see the power of the practice happening before our eyes.