My OperaLast Week.
Monday, March 19, 2007 12:56:06 AM
On Saturday, March 10th it was time for another Angulimala Workshop. These are the quarterly meetings we hold here for members of Angulimala's team of Buddhist prison chaplains. We always begin with meditation and then through the course of the day we look at some of the changes in the prisons that might affect us, we spend some time on aspects of the Dhamma and prison life, we even touch on what is known in the prisons as 'gaol craft' and in the Report In session we hear from each other how we're getting on. The day also has an important social element that builds good supportive friendship and which is usually helped by the wonderful food that our helpers here go to a great deal of trouble to prepare.
At last week's workshop we spent some time discussing Multifaith Chaplaincy: the implications of so called 'generic duties' and how far Buddhist principles and morality permit collaborative work with other faiths. We have to admit there are differences between us and those of other persuasions and things about which we will never be able to agree or support but despite that we can still extend our metta and try to be friends. Then we moved on to Restorative Justice and tried to look at this from a Buddhist perspective. As I opened the discussion I touched on the Angulimala story which demonstrates that change even in the most extreme of circumstances is possible and reminds us too that the Buddha succeeded where others had failed not by force and with weapons but by persuasion and example; and that led us to reflect on the importance of the precepts and the maintenance of good personal standards. I went on to tell the story of the Lion's Roar Sutta, about the responsibility of a ruler which again really emphasises the need to lead by example. Naturally, we included in our discussion kamma or karma and the responsibility we must all bear for what we say and do. I had better add that I have serious reservations about the term 'Restorative Justice'. It suggests that you can restore things to how they once were, which of course is nonsense. You can't put the clock back but you can learn and move on, growing as you go. The other term we had trouble with was 'victim'. Most of us have been on the receiving end of crime at some time but wasn't that part of the suffering and unsatisfactoriness of our world and does it help to identify ourselves as victims? That label can imprison us as securely as thinking of another human being only as a criminal, an ex-con or offender.
Our Angulimala Workshops are quite long days, starting at 10 o'clock in the morning, and with the committee meeting that follows they are seldom over before 7 pm. I think they're usually productive and useful, as well as enjoyable. That seemed to be the view last week and at least one chaplain said the day had really cheered her up and she hadn't laughed as much for ages.
Sunday was a pretty full day with visitors and in the afternoon Rob and Polly, two actors who started coming here when they were both at Stratford, made a welcome return. Polly was at Drama Centre where I was a founding student and so we always have things to talk about.
On Monday afternoon it was Long Lartin Prison.
Then on Tuesday afternoon I left Tan Manapo and Samanain painting the main building and went off to London with Pie and Prang to meet Khun Jung, the owner of Sripanwa, the heavenly place where we'd stayed in January, to take her to the House of Lords for tea with Lord Avebury. We had a great time and while we were at it celebrated Prang's completion of her PhD thesis. Afterwards we went back to Khun Jung's flat for a chat with her son and daughter and friends.
Wednesday afternoon and evening I spent in Broadmoor, a place of immense care and compassion that I love to go to, visiting Buddhist patients.
On Thursday evening it was the last meeting this term of Warwick Uni Buddhist Society. As usual there was a sitting and I gave a talk. But unusually, afterwards we had a video. It was the Open University film 'The Mindful Way' about Ajahn Chah and Wat Pah Pong, and very nice to see again and on a big screen.
Since then I've been pottering about here trying to catch up on things I've procrastinated over.
I've just let my dogs out and it was snowing!
At last week's workshop we spent some time discussing Multifaith Chaplaincy: the implications of so called 'generic duties' and how far Buddhist principles and morality permit collaborative work with other faiths. We have to admit there are differences between us and those of other persuasions and things about which we will never be able to agree or support but despite that we can still extend our metta and try to be friends. Then we moved on to Restorative Justice and tried to look at this from a Buddhist perspective. As I opened the discussion I touched on the Angulimala story which demonstrates that change even in the most extreme of circumstances is possible and reminds us too that the Buddha succeeded where others had failed not by force and with weapons but by persuasion and example; and that led us to reflect on the importance of the precepts and the maintenance of good personal standards. I went on to tell the story of the Lion's Roar Sutta, about the responsibility of a ruler which again really emphasises the need to lead by example. Naturally, we included in our discussion kamma or karma and the responsibility we must all bear for what we say and do. I had better add that I have serious reservations about the term 'Restorative Justice'. It suggests that you can restore things to how they once were, which of course is nonsense. You can't put the clock back but you can learn and move on, growing as you go. The other term we had trouble with was 'victim'. Most of us have been on the receiving end of crime at some time but wasn't that part of the suffering and unsatisfactoriness of our world and does it help to identify ourselves as victims? That label can imprison us as securely as thinking of another human being only as a criminal, an ex-con or offender.
Our Angulimala Workshops are quite long days, starting at 10 o'clock in the morning, and with the committee meeting that follows they are seldom over before 7 pm. I think they're usually productive and useful, as well as enjoyable. That seemed to be the view last week and at least one chaplain said the day had really cheered her up and she hadn't laughed as much for ages.
Sunday was a pretty full day with visitors and in the afternoon Rob and Polly, two actors who started coming here when they were both at Stratford, made a welcome return. Polly was at Drama Centre where I was a founding student and so we always have things to talk about.
On Monday afternoon it was Long Lartin Prison.
Then on Tuesday afternoon I left Tan Manapo and Samanain painting the main building and went off to London with Pie and Prang to meet Khun Jung, the owner of Sripanwa, the heavenly place where we'd stayed in January, to take her to the House of Lords for tea with Lord Avebury. We had a great time and while we were at it celebrated Prang's completion of her PhD thesis. Afterwards we went back to Khun Jung's flat for a chat with her son and daughter and friends.
Wednesday afternoon and evening I spent in Broadmoor, a place of immense care and compassion that I love to go to, visiting Buddhist patients.
On Thursday evening it was the last meeting this term of Warwick Uni Buddhist Society. As usual there was a sitting and I gave a talk. But unusually, afterwards we had a video. It was the Open University film 'The Mindful Way' about Ajahn Chah and Wat Pah Pong, and very nice to see again and on a big screen.
Since then I've been pottering about here trying to catch up on things I've procrastinated over.
I've just let my dogs out and it was snowing!
