The Quiet Within

A volunteer at Shita Prison shares:

“I was sitting in the New York subway after a year away, during which I started leading meditation in prison. At one point one of those people who stand in the middle of the subway car and give a fiery speech boarded the train. My old response would have been to try and ignore him and maybe be a little afraid. This time I found myself listening to him, waiting to hear crumbs of truth and wisdom, sentences that will illuminate me.

When I realized I was listening to this person, whose life had led him to give speeches on the subway, I thought: wow, how prison work has changed me. Suddenly I listen to these people, marginalized by society and marginalized by my mind. Suddenly I realize that they have much to teach us – specifically because of the pain they live in.”