The Dhamma Brothers
The Dhamma Brothers | |
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Directed by | Jenny Phillips Andrew Kukura Anne Marie Stein |
Release date |
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Running time | 76 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Dhamma Brothers is a documentary film released in 2007 about a
The film was directed by
The Dhamma Brothers has been compared with another documentary, Doing Time, Doing Vipassana (1997), which documented a large-scale meditation program at Tihar Jail in India with over a thousand inmates using the same meditation retreat format.[3][6]
Meditation program
Director Jenny Phillips, Vipassana teacher Jonathan Crowley and Dr. Deborah Marshall were largely responsible for the meditation program's inception at the prison.[1] Phillips had previously studied prison culture in Massachusetts. In 1999, she heard that prisoners at Donaldson were practicing meditation and she then organized the first ten-day intensive retreat there[7] in January 2002.[8] Phillips believes that was the first time a ten-day retreat had been held in a United States maximum-security prison such as Donaldson.[7] Previous US courses had been in county jails.[9]
The meditation program taught was
Reception
Jack Brown of the
The meditation program at Donaldson was temporarily stopped shortly after the second meditation retreat. According to
The film also includes interviews with local residents who provide statements about the meditation program, perceiving it as Buddhist. In an interview with NPR, Donaldson warden Gary Hetzel "says he's convinced it's not religious, and has encouraged staff members to take a meditation course to dispel misperceptions."[15] The program is described as non-sectarian on the organization's website.[16]
Studies by Stanford University, University of Washington and participating prisons have reported sharp declines in disciplinary action, violence, self-reported drug use and recidivism following implementation of the program.[17][15][18][19][20]
Awards
- Tied for Best Feature Documentary at the Woods Hole Film Festival 2007[7]
- NCCD PASS Award Winner 2007[21]
See also
- Satipatthana Sutta
- Vipassanā
- Vipassana Movement
- Doing Time, Doing Vipassana (1997)
References
- ^ a b "The Dhamma Brothers". The Hollywood Reporter. April 15, 2008.
- ^ "About.com movie review of The Dhamma Brothers". Worldfilm.about.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
- ^ a b "TV Guide review of The Dhamma Brothers by Ken Fox". Tvguide.com. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
- ^ Scheib, Ronnie (April 8, 2008). "Variety review by Ronnie Scheib". Variety.com. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
- ^ "Publishers press release about the upcoming book". Pariyatti.com. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
- ^ "TV Guide review of Doing Time, Doing Vipassana by Ken Fox". Tvguide.com. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Joiner, Whitney (September 13, 2007). "New York Times review of The Dhamma Brothers by Whitney Joiner". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
- ^ a b Publishers press release about the film
- ^ a b "Vipassana Meditation In American Prisons" Archived December 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, North American Vipassana Prison Project
- ^ "From Murder to Meditation". Khabar Magazine. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
- ^ New York Times review of The Dhamma Brothers by Jeannette Coutsoulis, April 11, 2008
- Valley Advocate. Thursday May 29, 2008. Retrieved on October 9, 2010.
- Village Voice. Tuesday April 8, 2005. Retrieved on October 9, 2010.
- ^ "Vipassana Prison Trust"
- ^ National Public Radio. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
- ^ "Vipassana Prison Trust"
- ^ "The University of Washington Meditation Research Project"
- ^ "Vipassana in Prisons: History & Spread". VRI. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
- ^ "Vipassana in Mongolian Prisons". March 8, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
- ^ "Vipassana: The Path of Liberation". YouTube. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
- National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 11, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
External links
- Official website
- The Dhamma Brothers at IMDb
- North American Vipassana Prison Trust Archived June 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
- Watch The Dhamma Brothers at Culture Unplugged
- The Dhamma Brothers: Vipassana Meditation in Prison, audio interview on Buddhist Geeks
- Grady Bankhead's Personal Web Site