June 2011
123 posts
Only in prison is chess played at a noise level typically reserved for professional wrestling. #insidevoices
It is wise to set ourselves right before instructing others. — The Dhammapada #buddhism
2 tags
“Buddhism requires diligent practice. People who achieve lofty aims in life do...”
– “Razor-Wire Dharma: A Buddhist Life in Prison” by Calvin Malone
4 tags
1 tag
1 tag
Shit the Inmates Say
Inmate: "Cheese Tortellini. I'd eat the fuck out of that shit."
(commenting on food items available on a commissary slip from another institution)
2 tags
1 tag
Shit the Inmates Say
(honest-to-God, overheard conversation)
Inmate #1: "Hello there, nice to meet you," with an outstreched hand. "My name is Ian. What's yours?"
Inmate #2: "Killer."
1 tag
“It is mindfulness that makes it possible to free ourselves from having a...”
– “Razor-Wire Dharma: A Buddhist Life in Prison” by Calvin Malone
4 tags
1 tag
“The golf culture, which I’ve had ample chances to join, draws its allure,...”
– “Up in the Air” by Walter Kirn
“On threat of torture, in 1633, the Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church...”
– “Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality” by Christopher Ryan, Ph.D. & Cacilda Jetha, M.D.
4 tags
“Americans spend more money at strip clubs than at Broadway, off-Broadway,...”
– The U.S. News and World Report
3 tags
4 tags
“I check the departures monitor. Bad news. Our flight, 119, is twenty minutes...”
– “Up in the Air” by Walter Kirn
2 tags
The Sun
Look: the sun has spread its wings
over the earth to dispel the darkness.
Like a great tree, with its roots in heaven,
and its branches reaching down to the earth.
Source: Juda Al-Harizi, c. 1170-1235 (translated from the Hebrew by T. Canmi)
4 tags
“The WU WEI principle underlying T’ai Chi Ch’uan can be understood by...”
– Benjamin Hoff, “The Tao of Pooh”
1 tag
3 tags
“The WU WEI approach to conflict-solving can be seen in the practice of the...”
– Benjamin Hoff, “The Tao of Pooh”
3 tags
3 tags
“And when you try too hard, it doesn’t work. Try grabbing something...”
– Benjamin Hoff, “The Tao of Pooh”
3 tags
“When you work with WU WEI, you put the round peg in the round hole and the...”
– Benjamin Hoff, “The Tao of Pooh”
1 tag
“If timesaving devices really saved time, there would be more time available to...”
– Benjamin Hoff, “The Tao of Pooh”
1 tag
Stetson Kennedy →
3 tags
““Say, Pooh, why aren’t YOU busy?” I said.
“Because...”
– Benjamin Hoff, “The Tao of Pooh”
3 tags
“Navigare est necesse, vivere non est necesse.”
– To sail is necessary, to live is not. (latin)
1 tag
Shit the Inmates Say
(overheard in the Visitation Room)
Inmate: "Man...they wouldn't even let my sister in. They say that her PANTS were too tight. She had to CHANGE."
Guard: "Oh, was that your sister next to you, the one with the braids?"
Inmate: "Naw, that was my baby mama."
1 tag
“In 1927, a thirty-two-year-old man stood on the edge of the lake in...”
– Benjamin Hoff, “The Tao of Pooh”
1 tag
The Stone Cutter →
2 tags
“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness….One...”
– The Dalai Lama
1 tag
Shit the Inmates Say
Inmate #1: "Hey, have you ever heard of something called the 2nd Chance Act?"
Inmate #2: "No...but I like the sound of it!"
For an accurate depiction of prison life paired with Buddhist teachings, I recommend “Razor-Wire Dharma” by Calvin Malone.
2 tags
“There are about six things prisoners discuss: Crime and Time, Sex, Drugs, Legal...”
– “Razor-Wire Dharma: A Buddhist Life in Prison” by Calvin Malone
2 tags
Daybreak
On the tidal mud, just before sunset,
dozens of starfishes
were creeping. It was
as though the mud were a sky
and enormous, imperfect stars
moved across it slowly
as the actual stars cross heaven.
All at once they stopped,
and as if they had simply
increased their receptivity
to gravity they sank down
into the mud; they faded down
into it and lay still; and by the time
pink of sunset...
“Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes...”
– Sarah Dessen (via kari-shma)
