< Issue No. 17 (2022)Article
The Body is Jailed, But the Mind is Free: Tibetan Buddhist Mind Training in Ontario Prisons
Sherab, Khenpo Kunga, University of Toronto
Abstract
This article reflects on five years of adapting the Tibetan Buddhist lo-jong (Tib. blo sbyong), or “mind training” tradition, to prisoners in Ontario penitentiaries in my role as a prison chaplain. The Mind Training traditions are pithy and practice-oriented presentations of the Mahāyāna path that arrived in Tibet in the 11th century. My prison chaplaincy has attempted to connect the Mind Training tradition with secular therapy models. More generally, this work has sought to work with prisoners to explore mental and physical health models, or as I put it in my chaplaincy, mental freedom during physical incarceration. In this article, after giving a brief historical and doctrinal introduction to the Tibetan mind training tradition, I share ways I have adapted its techniques and models of mental health to teaching prisoners, including exercises, collaborative homework, individual counselling, and group sessions.