[Marxism] The Dhamma Brothers

[Louis Proyect]

My interest in the documentary “The Dhamma Brothers” was heightened by 
the conflict in Tibet, where Buddhist monks have been charged by some 
leftists as functioning as CIA agents. In some ways, I feel torn between 
sympathy for the Tibetans and suspicion that they are being manipulated 
by Washington. Long before I became a socialist, I was sympathetic to 
Buddhist ideas even though I never practiced meditation or any other 
exercises associated with the religion. In the early 1960s, Buddhist 
ideas pervaded the “new poetry” movement in all its aspects, from Jack 
Kerouac’s novels to the poetry of Gary Snyder. Indeed, Kerouac’s “The 
Dharma Bums” (dhamma is the Pali language equivalent of the Sanskrit 
dharma) is all about Gary Snyder, who is called Japhy Ryder in the 
novel. The dramatic tension in this novel—Kerouac’s finest after “On the 
Road”—is maintained by Kerouac’s (named Ray Smith) failure to get past 
his ego, no matter how hard he tries through meditation, reading 
scripture, etc.

If Kerouac had problems, can you imagine the hurdles that would have to 
be overcome by “The Dhamma Brothers”? These were hardened criminals, 
including some death row inmates, who were incarcerated in the Donaldson 
Correctional Facility in Alabama. They live behind high security towers 
and a double row of barbed and electrical wire fences, the last place in 
the world where Buddhism might take root. But take root it did through 
the efforts of Bruce Stewart and Jonathan Crowley, two trainers from the 
Vipassana Meditation Center in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. They were 
invited to lead a 10 day meditation seminar by Jenny Phillips, a 
cultural anthropologist and psychotherapist who believed that prison 
life could be more bearable after mastering Buddhist meditation techniques.

full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/the-dhamma-brothers/