n this two-part class, participants will be invited to study and reflect on a short teaching by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu entitled “The Prison of Life” (free download).

Just as prisons are rationalized as necessary containment for those whose criminal convictions make them untrustworthy or undeserving of freedom, we rationalize our self-created imprisonment as a necessary means of avoiding unforgivable mistakes on our spiritual journey. Buddhadasa asks us to look at the prisons we make for ourselves out of desire for purity and goodness, our instincts, and even our teachers. This is a subtle and challenging inquiry, but necessary when your discipline brings you to a frustrated and joyless state. Kyira, also known as Acharya Abhaya, will offer contemplative and meditative tools to support engaging with the text, developed with the insight of all that she has learned about prison journeys in her years as a correctional chaplain.