Welcome to Dai-KaiJo
Dai-KaiJo's purpose is to support the spiritual development of prisoners interested in Zen Buddhism around the country. Zen practice seeks to help practioners 'awaken' to the reality of life through the practice of seated meditation. Dai-KaiJo supports prisoners primarily through the publication of our newsletter/journal "Dai-KaiJo," in which articles, methods of practice, and Buddhist teachings and commentaries will be explored; as it is pertinent to a prison practice, by senior "civilian" Buddhist teachers and by senior prison practitioners. Most of the material is written by inmates.
Reading and Distributing Dai-KaiJo
The current issue of the newsletter is available is the left-most column of the home page. Prior issues can be accessed by clicking on the link at the top of the page.
The newsletter can be read on the web site and articles are formatted so that they can be easily printed. If you wish to distribute copies, you are free to do so without seeking permission, as long as you distribute the newsletter in its entirety, and in its original format. If you wish to distribute multiple copies, use the 17 x 11.pdf' format. Ask your printer to print front and back, collate the sheets, and use 17"x11" paper.
Mail List
Our organization is very small as is our budget. To help keep our costs down, if it is at all possible for you to print an issue off the web site and mail it to a prisoner, it would help us greatly in reducing our expenses. If not, please send a letter to the address listed below containing the name and address of the person who wishes to receive the newsletter.
About Dai-KaiJo and Zen Practice In Prison
There are two major schools of Buddhist thought: Theravadan and Mahayana. Japanese Soto Zen is a tradition of the Mahayana school. And while there is a plethora of books and information available to the general public, there is very little available (at no cost) to the incarcerated Mahayana student, particularly Soto Zen.
Dai-KaiJo's goal is to make Buddhist teachings more accessible to incarcerated practitioners; to connect local Zen centers with locally incarcerated students, and to advance the Soto Zen religious presence within the penal system in theUnited States, thereby drawing two major streams of thought (religious and reformational) into one focused accomplishment.
Buddhism is a religion of self-confrontation. It is about taking responsibility, not just for oneself, but for all things. The notions of greed, anger, and delusion are confronted again and again in Buddhist literature and "force" the practitioner to look deep inside themselves and see how these poisons have, and are, destroying their lives. Dai-KaiJo has found that these focused points, which come directly from the Buddha's teaching, are extremely beneficial to the reformation process. Not because they are part of some "foreign" religion or some stated set of therapeutic values, but because prisoners themselves take the steps forward; they confront themselves; they look at their own fierce and painful tenacity and look deeper yet at how to change it. This change, we believe, is right on par with the goal of judicial reformation, though that, per se, is not our focus; only one of the many products of the Zen practice.
If you believe this is a true mission, please, we implore you, help us to help those who so desperately need and want to make those changes in their lives. This simple act of compassion can affect thousands of lives.
Dai-KaiJo is a volunteer effort and contributions are welcome to help us defray expenses. To make a financial contribution, please visit the bottom of our donations guidelines page. To submit an article for publication, please visit our submissions page.