Doing Time, Doing Vipassana | Film Review | Spirituality & Practice

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana | Film Review | Spirituality & Practice




Doing Time, Doing Vipassana
Directed by Ayelet Menahemi, Eilona Ariel
An extraordinary documentary about the transformations brought about in prisoners after they practiced meditation in India's Tihar Prison.

Film Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
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Imagine the largest prison in India with 10,000 inmates. Out of this number, 9,000 are awaiting trials. A young man caught on the streets as a pickpocket could wait as long as six years for a trial and sentencing.

Tihar Prison had a reputation for being a breeding ground for crime with its unhealthy mix of overcrowding, corruption, violent criminals, and petty offenders. Then Kiran Bedi, an enthusiastic and idealistic inspector general of prisons in New Delhi, arrived to take charge of things. She wanted to make her mark on the system by changing how criminals were treated and finding ways to rehabilitate them so they would not be inclined to return to crime when they left prison.

This remarkable documentary directed by Eilona Ariel and Ayelet Menahemi, two Israeli filmmakers, deals with Bedi's reforms brought about by meditation programs for prisoners. This film includes interviews with inmates and jail officials, the inspector general, and Buddhist meditation masters who taught Vipassana.

According to Kyabje Kalu in Luminous Minds, meditation practice fosters mental stabilization: "In order to develop a stable mind, it is necessary to begin by abandoning attachment to sense objects and distracting activities. To do this, we enter into retreat, restraining our desires and learning to be satisfied with what we have. We sit down in the meditation posture and observe perfect silence; this way the mind can learn to abide in single-pointed concentration." While searching for a tool that would help bring about a transformation in the prisoners' lives, Bedi was told by a guard about Vipassana, which had been tried years ago in some Indian prisons. She brought in S. N. Goenka, a meditation teacher, to try it with a small group of inmates. The results were more positive than anyone expected. In interviews, those most affected by the 10-day Vipassana session talk about the challenges to stay focused, the experience of peace that came over them, the subsiding of anger, and the feelings of compassion for those they had wronged.

In April 1994, one thousand prisoners at Tihar took part in an 11-day Vipassana course: it was the largest event of this kind in history. This was followed by the establishment of a special center offering regular meditation for inmates. An Englishman serving a sentence for drug trafficking describes how his life was changed by participating in the program at the center. Can making your mind a clear pool change your life? Yes, it can as proven in Doing Time, Doing Vipassana.