Dhamma Books

The Dhamma Brothers
[DHDVDTDB]

R220.00

Click to enlarge

Directed by Jenny Phillips, Andrew Kukura and Anne Marie Stein This film is a breakthrough beyond anything we have yet seen about Vipassana in prisons:

The Dhamma Brothers goes deep. It allows the prisoners of Donaldson Correctional Facility near Birmingham, Alabama, to sculpt themselves in the round as human individuals, both photographically and in dialogue. The Dhamma Brothers delves deeply into the atmosphere and the enormous difficulties in the prison world.

Transcending the the darkness inside
The Dhamma Brothers takes the viewer transparently into what it means, for example, for a murderer (most of the guys speaking from this prison are homicides) to take life. To take it horribly.

And what it means to transcend the taking of life. By going to the depths of one's own mind. By dissolving impurities of the mind to discover its true nature: pure love and kindness.

It reveals the deep mind-transformations some hardened life-takers achieved for themselves. The ability to see things differently.

Fly on the ceiling
A solitary fly bothered this meditation room full of life-takers. Bothered them a lot, until they saw the fly differently. Why was it hanging upside down on the ceiling, looking down at them looking up at it? A moment in which a roomful of life-takers understood why not to take the life of this fly.

Drama within reality
The story line of The Dhamma Brothers (if you can call it that, as it is not contrived, but a real account) has dramatic twists in it. This gives surprising outcomes which are all the more impressive, since they come straight out of reality, the real difficulties and oppositions that arose against Vipassana in Donaldson prison. What is striking is how the meditator prisoners handled the opposition and the heavy setbacks it involved.

Yes, the story has tensions in it which are the first real sight of them we have had in Vipassana film; tensions which generate an even stronger message about Dhamma, because they are nothing other than real situations.

Speaking to Africa
The mainly black population group, including prison staff, is a coincidence which makes this film much more at home in South Africa than its predecessors. And it contains a grass roots breed of eloquence that somehow makes it sit right here.

Direction
Finally the quality of direction and production is something we just haven’t experienced in Vipassana film until now; it is a very well sculpted piece of filming, without any sacrifice of verity.

Reviews and comments
“Intriguing — fierce irony and dark hope — powerful honesty and clarity.” – Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

“Well, it is over. But the vibrations are still here. The memories of those last 10 days on the mat, the experiential wisdom which was gained, and all the prospects of peace which were found here, that is always going to linger.” – Benjamin “OB” Oryang, Dhamma Brother

"Comparative review of 3 Vipassana prison films
A number of films have been made by now on the use of Vipassana meditation in correctional facilities or prisons. Those still available include: "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana" and "Changing From Inside".
"Doing Time, Doing Vipassana" describes the introduction of Vipassana meditation as taught by Satyanarayan Goenka (S N Goenka, often addressed as simply "Goenkaji") into the prison system of India. At the time of this highly significant event in world prison history Kiran Bedi, infamous as a champion of anti-corruption drives within the Indian police system, was in charge at the maximum security prison in Delhi, Tihar Jail. "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana" describes how Bedi became aware of the power of Vipassana meditation in this tradition to effect profound and enduring change in people. She was interested in helping criminals out of criminality and had a vision that it was possible. Vipassana meditation came to her attention as the tool to carve this change. Although Vipassana had been employed in Indian prisons before, notably in Baroda in Gujarat, the first course at Tihar Jail was attended by no fewer than 1000 high security inmates. Goenkaji himself conducted this 10-day course. The true story-line has a certain drama to it. Tihar jail now has a permanent Vipassana meditation centre and Vipassana meditation in this tradition has been recommended throughout the prison system of India. Psychological studies have been completed in India which catalogue the positive psychological effects of Vipassana for prison inmates.
"Changing From Inside" documents the before and after of a course of Vipassana meditation, as taught by Goenkaji, at a correctional facility in Seattle in the USA. This film more closely documents the administrative questioning, reservations and concerns that preceded the course itself. A requirement of these courses when held in prisons or correctional facilities is that at least 2 of the correctional facility staff should themselves have completed a 10-day course of Vipassana meditation as taught by Goenkaji. A beautiful moment in this film is when one of the administrators recalls her first Vipassana meditation course; she is visibly moved by the memory, demonstrating the depth the technique had reached for her.
The before and after for the inmates of the correctional facility, another significant and informative feature of "Changing From Inside", is even more dramatic. Issues and reservations which inmates had had prior to the course, had cartwheeled round 180 degrees by after the course into deeply moved personal transformation and positivity. The same was true also for the staff; where other therapies and techniques had been all very well, it was Vipassana meditation that had produced real change that had stuck.
These two films were made on something of a budget and specifically for the fraternity and sorority of Vipassana meditators in this tradition. They are very worthwhile viewing on the subject.
"The Dhamma Brothers", again set within a US correctional facility, this time for very serious offenders, mainly homicides, is a dramatic shift in gear from the previous two in a couple of respects:
Firstly, the depth of presentation of the inmates, their crimes, their lives, their personal feelings and ultimately the ravishingly profound and lasting personal katharsis and change which they experienced far exceeds that of "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana" and "Changing from Inside". Again the concerns of administration are a major point of focus. In "The Dhamma Brothers" this focus becomes itself an unexpected twist which moulds it into a dramatic story line, all the more theatrical because it is for real.
Secondly, the project was conceived in much greater depth than was possible with the limited budgets of the prevous two films. It took 10 years to come into being; 10 years of earnest work, aspirations at times raised and at times thwarted, resolving finally in some moments of sheer personal poetry. This leaves the viewer with a sense of gratitude to the convicted individuals for opening their inner experiences, their journey from the hideous towards the sublime, to others. "The Dhamma Brothers" is a fully professional movie in its own right, in addition to the impact it necessarily has as a real story.
The pricing reflects not only the budget of the film's production but also the niche market to which it has to address itself by default. For anyone who cares about the condition of society, who is concerned about human healing and transformation made palpably possible in a world that at times appears mechanised out of humanity, who has an interest in the power of the individual to transform their own self and mind through deep meditation, for anyone interested in just being moved by a great and human story of the triumph of the good in people, "The Dhamma Brothers" is a film that will express, inspire and move. In this sense it is actually priceless.
Purity of the technique is the key. It ought to be added at least as an afternote, though it deserves to be a forenote, that the technique which we see being taught, learned and put into practice in these films is a technique with a distinctive difference. It jumps out clear from the hoop of all three films that Vipassana meditation technique and the way it is taught in this tradition were the sine qua non for producing the results we see in "The Dhamma Brothers" and the other two films. Should there be any doubt on this point it is only necessary to hear what the inmates of the prisons have to say about it themselves when all else they had tried had failed to dredge the latent depths they wanted to clear." - RC, 2010

This product was added to our catalog on Sunday 28 March, 2010.

Reviews