Yesterday was my day to see Yard 11-which, for years, was just one man, I’ll call him Ron. Ron and I had many conversations over the years about getting older on Death Row, about his early “spiritual” days listening to the many teachers from the East who visited the US in the 60’s, about his crocheting hats for the homeless, but most of all about being lonely there on The Row.

My intention in researching this topic is two-fold. I was born in Seattle, Washington and spent much of my life in the San Juan Islands. North American Indian lore is rich in those parts. Most of the region’s many rivers and mountains are named after Northwest tribes. Totem poles and Tlingit art were a part of my upbringing, as were salmon, seals, orca whales, eagles, crows and horses.

I was days before my 14th birthday when Jethro Tull’s album Aqualung came out in 1971. Hearing the songs for the first time gave me full permission to raise my voice and question what I had been force fed about organized religion. The songs spoke to the religious ideals of high culture, which I felt as distrust.

This is a piece I wrote for some chaplains on the topic of integration. It was inspired by the reality of our fast-paced life these days, and how it is so very difficult to fully integrate all that life deals us when we don’t build in the time to slow down and let the ground of our being rest in nature for awhile. I hope it offers a reflective moment to you and that you are inspired to STOP and reflect now and then.

The goal of this paper is to discuss the Rangtong and Shentong views of emptiness through the lens of Tibetan Buddhist history as well as through the lens of some of the general points of Buddhism. Through this discussion, I hope to point out that when discussed in a political/historical setting the Rangtong/Shentong perspectives take on a different, less philosophically charged focus.

The day my chaplaincy supervisor at San Quentin State Prison asked me to coordinate a program that would bring animals into the prison was a happy day indeed. Animal chaplaincy has been a focus my entire life, though it was only after my formal chaplaincy training began several years ago that I heard the term animal chaplain. My excitement did not match the obstacles that met us in this endeavor. Starting a program in San Quentin is not something that happens overnight.

Whitney’s book is written for several audiences: for “free people” who want to share Buddhism with inmates in prisons and jails; for the incarcerated who want to learn more about Buddhist practice; and for those interested in how Buddhism exists in prisons. Most prison-related books are written from personal experience, or from a criminology perspective, but few weave both sides together as does Sitting Inside.

My two-and-a-half-year-old grandson Theo is fascinated with the different items in my house related to Tibetan Buddhism. He loves playing with the malas, the prayer wheels, the bells, and has been identifying Buddhas in his neighborhood since he was around two.

I made this chart for chaplaincy students and the inmates in my groups in San Quentin. I hope you find it useful. In 2021 I was blessed to have Professor Donald Lopez, Buddhist Scholar, look it over and suggest edits.