When Bhiksuni T.N. Giới Hương requested that I write the foreword for A Buddhist Nun and American Inmates, I was honored to do so. This book has been reprinted seven times in Vietnam with Dong Phuong and Hong Duc Publishers. It was only on this seventh occasion that she had the time to release her work in English. I considered it a great honor and an even greater responsibility.
There are so many lives at stake within the prison system and by the very nature and reality of interconnectedness many more lives are at stake on the outside. Prison can be a hopeless place bursting at the seams with violence, ignorance, hatred, and fear. This book seeks to balance some of those long-held beliefs and feelings and guide prisoners to practice.
I first met Bhiksuni TN Giới Hương in 2007 when I was thirty-two years old and in a maximum security prison with parole eligibility forty-four years away. It is now 2020; I am forty-five years old and received a sentence modification in 2016. I am awaiting transfer to a minimum-security facility and I will seek parole for the third time two weeks from now.
It is within this frame of mind that I contribute this foreword. I mentioned my current circumstances because that is all we really ever have-the present moment. Many of the original contributors, myself included, ended up in prison because of decisions we made at what was once a present moment in our lives.
What I have tried to do with my contributions to this book is share my story to demonstrate for others that despite horrible decisions that alter the course of one's life, there is hope for redemption. Every human being, including every prisoner, has redemptive qualities.
There couldn't be a better time for the translation and re-publication of this book. The current atmosphere surrounding the justice system in this country and specifically the prison system, with what has become known as "mass incarceration," has to be addressed.
The letter and stories that Bhiksuni TN Giới Hương has compiled offer a clear snapshot of how inmates exposed to the Buddha's teaching can change.
This book, A Buddhist Nun and American Inmates, puts a human face to the causes of crime, living with the consequences of those crimes and finding a purpose to life within the aftermath, all through the teachings of Buddha.
Inmates are very often overlooked simply because of the label, "inmate." What Bhiksuni TN Giới Hương has done here is turn that stereotype on its head, and through her compassion, given us a voice to share with the world. She has shown that we matter to the world.
The people in this book are real with their actual names or pseudonyms. It shows what is possible when someone adapts the simple teachings of the Buddha to their life.
Many people had a hand in presenting this volume of work but it cannot be stressed enough that this wouldn't be possible without the hard work, kindness, and determination of Bhiksuni TN Giới Hương. She came from Vietnam, a different country with a different culture. She spoke a different language and was determined to help those whom most of society ignored or didn't have time to care for. That compassion and direct action is what the Buddha's teachings are all about.
May the merit of this work extend universally to all who read it.
Namo Amitabha Buddha.
Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution
Wisconsin, August 29, 2020
Triple bow with deep respect,
Tojin - Douglas Stream
