The Buddhist Newsletter Serving the Inmate and Ex-offender Sangha. The Gyoji Of Dukkha By Noah Toler SMMHC Farmington, Mo.

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1 INSIDE DHARMA The Buddhist Newsletter Serving the Inmate and Ex-offender Sangha "If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together." -- Lilla Watson, Aboriginal activist Volume XV Issue II March-April 2017 The Gyoji Of Dukkha By Noah Toler SMMHC Farmington, Mo. Dukkha is the subject of practice. It s the reason Buddhism exists. Nibbana (nirvana) literally means unbinding. The goal, the end, the telos of Buddhist practice is final and complete liberation from dukkha. Buddha discussed the issue and modeled a practice pathway to overcome the issue. Of course, this is much better than the western philosophic tradition of Existentialism, which arose in the 1940 s. The founders of the movement seem to be shocked that humans seemed to be driven by the dukkha that pervades their lives. The problem with Existentialism is that it never offered a practice path to end, or at least reduce, the dukkha we experience. Thankfully, Buddha saw dukkha for exactly what it is: an activity of the mind. And, the practice path he put together always orients us toward wholesome mental activity. I was recently responding to a friend s letter. She was discussing feeling anxiety about the future. I began to think about all the times I have felt dukkha at not knowing about the future. What is it that causes anxiety? It is not making plans for the future. That is how individuals and communities function. It is the mental activities of craving and clinging to the conception thus fabricated, to the fantasizing and euphoria that occurs as a result. It is a fear of the loss of the fabricated concept, fantasies and euphoria. Often, dukkha does not seem negative because the craving and clinging feels so good. Knowing this, knowing that dukkha is a mental process, knowing that it can be let go, is very informative to me. It means that I constantly orient my practice to my mind activities. I continuously have to ask, What is this? What am I thinking? What am I feeling? Illusion Of Comforts By Santino Walker SECC Charleston, Mo I had resided in the honor-dorm for over eleven years. Through those years I enjoyed the comforts of a washer and dryer, a microwave, access to the phones when I wanted, the privileges of all day recreation and a decent job. This is the longest I d ever resided in an honor dorm in my twenty-two years of incarceration. So maybe you can understand and maybe know how I feel when I tell you that now I am in the hole. There is no canteen or personal property here, nor a telephone call when I want, recreation, microwave, washer nor dryer. Not even a job of any kind. But being here hasn t altered my daily routine I d established while out in general population. In here my ritual is my religion. Knowing that change is inevitable would it be wise to say that by my knowing that I am not perfect, that it would most likely be my fallible nature as a human being, that this would bring about the end of my illusion of comforts and caused me to be placed in a situation I m deluded to think is worse, would all of these be dukkha? Could this put me on the path of the Four Noble Truths? Please, enlighten me. Karma, Confusion and Clarity: Reflections on a Murder in Hopeville Rev. Kalen McAllister, Founder and Spiritual Director of Shinzo Sangha & Co-founder of Inside Dharma Reprint from 2011 Vol IX Issue III On May 2, 2011 one of the men Inside Dharma had been working with, Robert, was charged with first degree murder and armed criminal action. Robert lived in Hopeville, a homeless tent city, and allegedly got into a fight with another resident of Hopeville. Our community was shocked when we heard the news. Robert had been doing great he made it through a very cold and wet winter living in a tent and had started taking some great photographs of Hopeville and his surroundings with a camera that Carol, one of our members, gave him. The photos were so good that Carol had arranged four art shows for him in the coming months. It seemed as though things were looking up finally for Robert.

2 Suddenly his life was changed, the victim s life was over, the friends of both of these men s lives were changed all within a matter of minutes. The City of St. Louis now plans to close this camp and two other nearby homeless camps. They say that the police had been called to this camp about 90 times in the last year. So soon the lives of all the residents of these three camps will be changed. So when I heard the news I could have cried. My mind started with the what if s and if only s. I was angry with the city for wanting to close the camps because of this issue. And yet I understood that if conditions were right it might have been me or a friend in Robert s place. And so I started thinking about all the things that came together in Robert s life, in his parents and grandparents, that led to this particular point in history. Also of the victim s life and everything that led to it, and to all the people of Hopeville, and all of us who are concerned, and those angry people who feel these people are getting what they deserve. What exactly brought us all to this point? It s like when a rock was tossed in the water generations ago, and the waves are still taking effect. And many waves not just one or two per person but hundreds and thousands per person. They make us who we are at the moment. And this rock that just now fell into the water with a huge splash how many generations will this wave touch? Will someone not be born because a homeless person loses their home (tent) and freezes to death? Or perhaps there will be good effects. Perhaps the move will cause one or two people to reach out and find a better solution. We really don t know, do we? I m always surprised in prison that more fights break out in the yard in the spring than any other times of year. I think, wow it s beautiful why would you want to fight now? But perhaps it s the frustration of it being so beautiful and being stuck in such an ugly place that causes the anger. We ve all heard that freedom truly comes from within. And yet we continue to seek it on the outside. If only or if only not. Our emotions ride this train of suffering. I went there immediately upon hearing the news Oh not Robert I cried inside. And yet this moment is just what this moment is. We cannot see the past nor the future. We don t know where this is going. It just is and we just deal with this right now. It s hard to have no judgments or to make someone bad and another good. And yet this is really me - my waves for the future and waves from the past and judgments and emotions, etc. What I do this very moment can bring either peace or suffering. Can I live up to it? A Native American offender once told me in his native tongue Don t fall off your horse. What a great zen expression can I stay on mine? MICRO-DUKKHA By Will Holcomb Shinzo Zen Meditation Center St. Louis, Mo. Everyone knows big dukkha the death of a loved one, a serious illness, a disabling injury, break-up of a long term relationship -- the big events that grab your attention right away and leave you hurting, off balance, and unable to catch your breath. These things are dukkha for sure, but the concept takes in much more. It also includes that feeling of unease you might feel sometimes when you walk into the lunch room -- or waking up the morning feeling out of sorts -- or a feeling or impatience or boredom while performing a routine task. It includes the vague fear you might experience when you wake up in the middle of the night or the feeling or regret, anger or remorse you may feel about something in the past that comes to mind as you re trying to go to sleep. This I refer to as micro-dukkha, the small quiet sense of un-ease and alienation that visits uninvited and lingers too long. If you start paying attention there can be more of this than you might think. It adds up and can compete with big dukkha in terms of the total amount of suffering it brings. The Buddha taught that suffering is the result of wanting the impossible, wanting that which is inherently impermanent to stay the same, wanting the ever changing flux of pleasant and unpleasant to always be pleasant. The solution to suffering, he taught, was to see through that process, and abandon the desire for the permanent and the always pleasant, to just respond to whatever arises skillfully in order to minimize harm and be of benefit to yourself and others. Easier said than done. I try to notice micro-dukkha when it arises. I m not always successful. Sometimes you re floating in it before you realize what s happening. But when you do notice it, let it be an opportunity for investigation. What is this? Where am I feeling this in my body? What does it feel like? Is it fear? Is it anger? Is it remorse? Is it changing or staying the same? Have I felt this before? What am I clinging to? What notion or idea am I holding on to? What do I want to be other than the way it is? What am I unwilling to accept? You can take a few moments to sit down and engage in this investigation or you might do so while taking a walk. It s an excellent time for sitting meditation if you can manage it. You can sit and simply ask the question What is this? over and over. Don t necessarily look for a specific answer. Just asking the question with sincerity can help the mind to re-balance and repair. Identifying and working with micro-dukkha is a skill and a skill worth cultivating. When better able to see it in yourself it gets easier to be aware of it in others. And maybe it can help us be a bit more patient

3 and kinder. Maybe it can help us deal with the big dukkha that awaits us all in this fleeting life. Dukkha in Everyday Life Notes From scribd.com By Toni Bernhard Dukkha is a central concept in Buddhism, which corresponds to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, and frustration. The term is probably derived from dustha, "standing badly," "unsteady" "uneasy." Dukkha is one of the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha's teachings, which asserts that samsaric existence is characterized by unsatisfactoriness. Dukkha is also listed among the three marks of existence. Although Buddhism teaches that dukkha permeates existence, it simultaneously affirms that dukkha can be overcome through following the Eightfold Path. Therefore, Buddhism provides a sotieriological solution to dukkha that allows one to attain Nirvana (the extinguishment of dukkha) Types of Dukkha The question which underlay the Buddha's quest was "in what may I place lasting relevance?" He did not deny that there are satisfactions in experience: the exercise of Vipassana assumes that the meditator sees instances of happiness clearly. Pain is to be seen as pain, and pleasure as pleasure. It is denied that such happiness will be secure and lasting. In analyzing the nature of suffering, the Buddha discussed three kinds of dukkha: Dukkha-dukkha (pain of pain is the obvious sufferings of: 1. pain 2. illness 3. old age 4. death 5. bereavement Viparinama-dukkha (pain of alteration) is suffering caused by change: 1. violated expectations 2. the failure of happy moments to last Sankhara-dukkha (pain of formation) is a subtle form of suffering inherent in the nature of conditioned things, including: 1. Skandhas 2. the factors constituting the human mind This last type of suffering denotes the experience that all formations (sankhara) are impermanent (anicca)- thus it explains the qualities which make the mind as fluctuating and impermanent entities. It is therefore also a gateway to anatta, selflessness (no-self ). Insofar as it is dynamic, ever-changing, uncontrollable and not finally satisfactory, experience is itself precisely dukkha. Ordinary Dukkha This is what we think of as suffering; that routine, everyday dukkha. Not only the biggies like aging, sickness, death, physical or mental distress, losing or being separated from loved ones, but also those other things that cause us suffering on an everyday basis: dealing with that irritating co-worker or spouse, not getting that new big screen TV that you really, really thought you needed, having to balance your checkbook and pay bills when you d much rather be out kayaking. It s interesting that birth is also in the category of ordinary dukkha. Birth is a happy experience, right? The experience of birth itself is likely painful, and it is also our introduction to the wonderful world of dukkha. In fact, the Buddha went into amazing detail in ways in which birth is dukkha. The Dukkha of Change Impermanence is one of the three Dharma Seals of Buddhism - that are marks of a truly Buddhist teaching. I remember at the end of the final episode of Six Feet Under, Nate says to Claire, looking at their family just before she leaves, You can t take a picture of it it s already gone. This is the way our lives are. A moment happens, and it s gone. From one moment to the next, there are changes in our bodies, changes in our environment. This is the way things are but how often do we want to accept change? I sometimes look at my belligerent teen and wistfully see the little girl she was, but sometimes, in almost the same instance, I know she ll outgrow this difficult phase and I see the woman she is becoming as she grows up. Even happiness and positive change is dukkha, because the happy circumstances will eventually change. It s our clinging to the way things are and not wanting to allow this change that gets us into all this dukkha (or clinging to the way we want things to be because we can t accept the way they are). The Dukkha of Conditioned States This one is more difficult to understand and explain. In Buddhist teaching everything is conditioned, meaning it s dependent on something else - interdependence. How is this a cause of dukkha? When this is explained, it is usually in terms of the five skandhas. The term skandha, means, mass, heap, pile, bundle or tree trunk. So - a skandha is one of a bunch of heaps that make up what we call a self. The heaps are form (matter), sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. In other words, together, my body (and also, by extension, my stuff), sensations, perceptions, thoughts, and consciousness are what I call me. But, if I look, I can t really find me in any one of these heaps. These heaps are also in a state of flux and dependent on other things, they are dependent on each other; they are conditioned and impermanent like everything else. There is no separate, permanent self, and no self-that s not dependent on something else. Yet, I m really attached to me. I want nice things to happen to me. Me. Me. Me. This type of clinging to a permanent, independent self is dukkha. If I had to put it briefly, dukkha all comes down to attachment and clinging. Learning to be flexible, accept change as a constant, and to let go and not need to force and control everything is what dealing with dukkha is all about. The Buddha described the Eightfold Path as the path leading to the cessation of dukkha but that s for another post. Right now it s enough to try my best to follow the path and deal with

4 the daily dukkha as it comes at me. In the words of Mr. Ashleigh Brilliant, I try to deal with one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once. Dealing with DUKKHA: On the Illusion of a Spiritual Bypass and the Need of a deep and radical Acceptance of Suffering. If you want something to let go, you have first to let it be. But when you let it be, it will not go away from your life and your experience. The process of letting go is not a process of disappearance of phenomena in our lives whether the good ones nor the bad ones. Its aim is not turning us into emotional zombies; it s the process of the disappearance of our resistance to the phenomena and of our ignorance. I want to start this discussion on the dukkha with the following statement from the Buddha taken from Dr. Walpola Rahula s Book What the Buddha Taught. So the Buddha gives according to the dukkha the following Statement: 'In short these five aggregates of attachment are dukkha. Elsewhere he distinctly defines dukkha as the five aggregates: bhikkus, what is dukkha? It should be said that it is the five aggregates of attachment. Here it should be clearly understood that dukkha and the five aggregates are not two different things; the five aggregates themselves are dukkha (Dr. Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught ). When we look carefully at the following statement of the Buddha, it becomes to us clear and obvious that dukkha is actually a basic characteristic of existence (aside to and anicca). This becomes clear to us also through the practice of Vipassana meditation in the most obvious and precise way. Based on this perspective and in its light we must understand that it is actually impossible as long as we live to bring the internal and the external processes or the factors themselves leading to dukkha at their energetic functional base for example - in there most basic meaning and nature - in the world to stop. As long as we live in the samsara the factors leading and conditioning dukkha will continue to exist. But the problem here is actually not really the Aggregates of Attachment. The problem is here that we try very often by our Ignorance, by our resistance to accept the truth, in a very pathetic way to make the samsara what it can t be: to turn it to nirvana. In the same way we try to make from the aggregates what they can t be: to try to eliminate their nature as Aggregates of Attachment, as dukkha, as suffering. We try to deny in any way this truth, trying unconsciously to hold on the one hand on our attachments, cravings and grasping, not really willing to abandon all of our desires, while on the other way we try unconsciously to convince ourselves that a combination of the Illusion of samsara, our own illusions and the illusion of our attachment are going hand in hand with our spiritual Practice and that in a Way this practice will bring us this Solution at the End. Ajahn Chah is teaching us the following on this Attitude: "The real foundation of the teaching is to see the self as being empty. But people come to study the Dhamma to increase their self-view, so they don t want to experience suffering or difficulty. They want everything to be cozy. They may want to transcend suffering, but if there is still a self, how can they ever do so? We want to get in the same package and offering all our illusions, cravings, grasping, but without experiencing the suffering itself. We want to create suffer, but are not willing to take its consequences. We try to eliminate one Illusion by creating dozens of new; we try to eliminate illusions, cravings and grasping by producing hundreds of new ones for every one we claim to purify. So when we have to deal with suffering, we are not really try to deal with it, but we are looking for each possible way not to confront us with it; When we try to work with hard emotions like anger or fear we tend not really to confront us with them, but we search any Way and any spiritual bypass to avoid those feeling and the suffering related to them. In this way we still live in what can be defined a spiritual Self Denial, we still live and dwell in Illusions although we have undergone a spiritual path and this is the reason why we might steel experience a lot of suffering on our spiritual path too. What is also important to understand is that it s not enough to understand this logically through our thinking Mind, but through direct wisdom. As we see the acceptance must be here much deeper, not at the Level of the discursive mind, but on that of our Buddha Nature. Moreover, even after we have dissolved the I as to a certain Level on the first steps in Vipassana, it s not really enough in order to gain this deep knowledge and understanding of the truth of dukkha. This process is a long term practice and it doesn t happen at once. We have to cultivate a deep acceptance of this truth through mindfulness each day, moment by moment for a very long time and period, so only then a radical transformation is possible. This transformation happens then through the abandonment of our attempts to preserve samsara and through getting rid of our resistance to accept this truth. We should always remember and keep in Mind that there must be first of all a deep acceptance of dukkha as a characteristic of reality and its inevitable existence in samsaric life. When we can understand, perceive and especially accept this through by surrendering to our Illusion and our resistance on those levels, which means a deep understanding and acceptance that it is going nowhere, we can free ourselves from it on the other Level through letting go of our resistance to it. Therefore the Letting go on the one Level, is conditioned by letting it be on the other Level. We must at the end understand that there is dukkha, but none to accept it, that there is dukkha, but no receiver. This is how dukkha can cease, how we can free ourselves from suffering and gain peace and freedom. A Practice to Alleviate Suffering We ve looked at the three kinds of suffering, or dukkha. Now it s time to explore how to alleviate dukkha in our everyday lives. I call this the tracing exercise. First, I try to become aware of when dukkha is present. This requires mindfulness because all three kinds of dukkha can be subtle and hard to

5 recognize. I m helped by a Chinese Buddhist image of dukkha: a cart with a slightly broken wheel that jolts us each time the wheel rolls over the broken spot. So, as soon as I feel a little off kilter or dissatisfied, I stop and say: Ah, this is dukkha. Then, I trace my experience backwards until I find the place where I m not getting what I want, or I m getting what I don t want: the craving or longing that is tanha. Lastly, I consciously try to let go of this craving - to just accept the circumstances of my life as they are. Here s an example of how I could have used this tracing exercise to alleviate viparinama dukkha - which arises when, inevitably, the universal law of impermanence leaves that craving unsatisfied. In watching a sunset, I first become aware that in the midst of this joyful experience, I m feeling off kilter - a bit of unease and dissatisfaction. Then Idd trace that dissatisfaction backwards until I found its origin. And there it would be ± in my craving for that sunset to last for hours. That s not going to happen, but, with the insight into anicca (impermanence) as my guide, I could have then made a conscious choice to let go of my craving for the sunset to be other than the fleeting phenomenon that it is. Having done that, I would have had a chance to really enjoy the pleasant experience while it did last. Here s how I ve used the tracing exercise to alleviate sankhara dukkha, or stress-filled mental formations. This last holiday season, I was home by myself and began to feel uncharacteristically blue and cranky. It took me by surprise because I ve grown to enjoy solitude. But there I was, off kilter. Instead of letting it brew until it turned into full blown anguish and misery, I began the tracing exercise. I soon found the source of my discontent. It was in my mental chatter or formations. Without being mindful of it, I d been spinning stories about how I thought the holidays should be. I should be able to go to my daughter s house. It s not fair that I can t travel. But the circumstances of my life (chronic illness) prevent me from getting what I want. I knew immediately that I d found the source of my crankiness and that I had a choice. I could continue to stay in the throes of sankhara dukkha or I could let go of my longing for what I could not have«i let it go and immediately felt a great sense of relief. Getting to the root of dukkha - this constant dissatisfaction with our lives - is the key to being able to let go of craving. If we heed the words of the Buddha in Samyutta Nikaya and become mindful of when we re not getting what we want or when we re getting what we don t want, we can then make a conscious choice to let that craving go. When I use this tracing exercise - even if I only succeed in letting go for a few moments it s a welcome respite from being mindlessly driven to try and fashion every circumstance of my life to be to my liking. It s also a taste of freedom - a taste that lingers. This freedom has a spacious, open quality to it. It s a moment of ³cessation which is the promise the Buddha gave us in the third noble truth: through the abandonment of craving, cessation of suffering is possible. The eightfold path of the fourth noble truths contains the Buddha s complete lesson plan for understanding suffering and abandoning craving; it s the path that offers us the possibility of fulfilling our human potential through the cultivation of wisdom, ethical intentions, and mind training. The Buddha gave us a lot to do in this short lifetime, starting with getting down in the trenches with dukkha and culminating with its cessation through the cultivation of the eightfold path. I, for one, need to get to work. Art By James Bailey Note From Rev. Kalen McAllister Unfortunately Inside Dharma can no longer provide books directly to inmates, the problem with books is different states have different rules about sending books to inmates and many times the books are returned and Inside Dharma is then obligated for the return postage and we can't afford all the returned postage. If your prison has a chapel library secure a letter from the chaplain detailing how books can be donated and Inside Dharma will review sending books to the library on a case by case basis. Thank you for your understanding

6 Editor s Notes Dom Lupo - Inside Dharma Editor It seem the more I try to be on time with this newsletter the later it gets. My apologies friends for not having this done sooner; but you can t change what has pasted. Well Dukkha must have been a topic that no one wanted to touch because very few sent anything in. I m not sure why since it s in our lives all the time. In any case we move on. As my life has been normalizing, if that s a real thing, I find myself wanting to engage with the world around me. Now I have to tell you that this is not an easy task for me. Because of my conviction I have a lot of fear around meeting new people. You know how it is. When you meet someone new it s begins the game of 20 questions to find out who you are. Even on-line the questionnaires are a laundry list of question to discover who you are. All this has got me asking the question Who am I? There are so many ways to define who you are and yet is that who I am? You have your gender identity, your sexual identity, your occupation, your mistakes, your accomplishments, your relationships and the list goes on with categories that inform our identities. What exactly does Buddhism teach about who we are? Is it to abandon such labels and live purely in the moment? Don t we need self-identity insofar as Buddhism by design appeals to reason and circumspection which are the main components of this self? We watch the mind and discover how we work so that we can make better choices, don t we, or at least I do. But to do that don t I need to understand what my identity is? I know that I am posing a lot of question here and that s because I don t have any real answers. Buddhism teaches that the self doesn t exist and that suffering can only be escaped by transcending the self and its attachments. Yet on a day to day basis it s impractical to live selflessly. When I was in prison my identity was reduced to a number or my crime. That s who I was in there and if I would have told a guard that I was the Buddha Nature instead of giving my name and number when asked who I was, after they stopped laughing at me, I would have gone to the hole. So who am I? And how do I release myself from the self yet still function in a world that wants me to have clear identity of who I am. If fact for us to to be functioning member of this society we need to know who we are and what our values are so we can be kind, compassionate and Buddhist. With my own confusion on this matter I turned to the web. At The Zennist in the article Buddhism and self-identity the author writes this: In more detail, the aryan vision consists in being able to noetically distinguish the temporal aggregates of body, feelings, thoughts, inclinations, and sensory awareness from the self (atma), or the same, our Buddha-nature. Here, the self is not a psychosocial self. It transcends it, that is, transcends the temporal aggregates just mentioned. Whereas the normal adult self or ego continually works on behalf of the aggregates, to maintain their health and integrity, the higher self or Buddha self is removed from the fear, inherent in the aggregates and their dissolution. It alone fully knows the end of suffering. It is also our refuge, as the Buddha points out before his own aggregated body died. So the topic for the next issue is going to be Who am I. How does our practice inform this identity? How do we rise above our identity to experience true Buddha Nature or is our daily experience the true Buddha Nature? I truly am looking forward to what you are going to send in. And pleaseeeeeeeeeee submit an article. We have over 800 members yet only a handful of people submit. Even if you don t think you have anything to offer, you may pose a question that brings an answer to someone else. When submitting anything please follow submission guidelines. And please have all submissions in by April 26th As always and with deepest bows to this Sangha, good luck with your practice. Chris Cowan JCCC Jefferson City, Mo. Respect I will respect everyone And nobody at all shall respect me! I, a disciple of the Compassionate Ones Should remain steadfast in this way The Middle Way Stop Being attached to wrong attitude and viewpoint Start Realizing the emptiness of inherent existence But if one is still intensely preoccupied with the questions of role as in, "Who am I, how do I fit in? Where am I going in life?" they can t be much good at accurately following the path of Buddhism which demands we acquire the aryan or noble vision.

7 Important Notice Call For Art Inside Dharma is gearing up for a huge art sale/display in Submissions can be any medium and please refrain any sexually explicit content, it will not be used. If you re an artist and would like to donate to this incredible fund raiser please send your art to: Inside Dharma P.O. Box St. Louis, Missouri Here are a few examples from past art calls. The newsletter in printed in black and white but the art is in color. As always we encourage your question, comments and contributions! Send your letters to: Letters to the Editor Inside Dharma P.O. Box St. Louis, Mo Submission Guidelines 1. Submissions need to be printed 2. Submissions need to be printed large enough to read, no very small print. 3. Submissions should have paragraph breaks if you want them in your submission 4. Submissions need to be 1000 word or less (preferably less) 5. Submissions cannot be returned

8 Inside Dharma P.O. Box St. Louis, Missouri NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID ST. LOUIS MO PERMIT NO Return Service Requested This newsletter is dedicated to you, our readers. Without you there would be no Sangha Inside Dharma is a bi monthly Buddhist newsletter published by Inside Dharma, a not for profit organization based in St. Louis, Missouri. We publish Buddhist articles, stories, humor, and other writing submitted by current and former residents of correctional facilities, as well as friends, supporters, and spiritual teachers. Inside Dharma is dedicated to the free giving of the Dharma (Buddhist teachings). There is no charge to offenders or ex offenders for subscriptions. However, donations are always appreciated. If you are interested in distributing this newsletter, please write to the editor or just send us the addresses to be added to the mailing list. This newsletter may be reproduced, whole or in part, for free distribution. Prior permission from the editor is required for any use for which a charge is applied. All submissions are subject to editing and Inside Dharma has the right to publish submissions, in whatever format and by whatever means it deems appropriate in its own or other Buddhist publications.