"Prison activist and meditation teacher Fleet Maull shares his journey of transformation and service amidst the anger, violence, darkness and despair of a maximum security federal prison"--Back cover.

Razor-Wire Dharma is an eloquent, enlightening, and utterly inspiring personal story how one man found Buddhism—and real, transformative meaning for his life—despite being in one of the world's harshest environments.

Take a trip through the realms of hell with a man whose temporary visitor’s pass gave him a horrifying—and enlightening—preview of its torments. This true account of Sam Bercholz’s near-death experience has more in common with Dante’s Inferno than it does with any of the popular feel-good stories of what happens when we die. In the aftermath of heart surgery, Sam, a longtime Buddhist practitioner and teacher, is surprised to find himself in the lowest realms of karmic rebirth, where he is sent to gain insight into human suffering. Under the guidance of a luminous being, Sam’s encounters with a series of hell-beings trapped in repetitious rounds of misery and delusion reveal to him how an individual’s own habits of fiery hatred and icy disdain, of grasping desire and nihilistic ennui, are the source of horrific agonies that pound consciousness for seemingly endless cycles of time. Comforted by the compassion of a winged goddess and sustained by the kindness of his Buddhist teachers, Sam eventually emerges from his ordeal with renewed faith that even the worst hell contains the seed of wakefulness. His story is offered, along with the modernist illustrations of a master of Tibetan sacred arts, in order to share what can be learned about awakening from our own self-created hells and helping others to find relief and liberation from theirs.

An Invitation to Discover Personal Freedom, Authentic Relationships, and Limitless Possibility What is the greatest obstacle to your fulfillment, success, and happiness? “It's the belief,” teaches Fleet Maull, “that your current situation, whatever it is, has the power to determine your future.” Before he was a revered meditation teacher, Fleet Maull served 14 years in prison for drug trafficking. And during that time, he embarked on a path of transformation and service that today has helped tens of thousands—from inmates to hospice patients to top-level business leaders. With Radical Responsibility, he invites us to experience for ourselves the life-changing journey from victim to co-creator. Here, he guides us step by step to shift our fear-based conditioning into the habits of courage, compassion, and positive change. Join him to delve deeply into: • The complete Radical Responsibility® method for breaking free of your learned limitations and accessing limitless possibility • Discovering basic goodness— your indestructible inner resource for happiness, connection, and strength • Fleet Maull's mindfulness-based emotional intelligence (MBEI) model—neuroscience-informed principles and tools for shedding shame and blame and embracing self-awareness, resilience, and freedom from our self-created suffering • Getting off the Drama Triangle and into the Empowerment Zone—profound practices to transform interpersonal conflicts • Creating your life plan—a clear and achievable map for living your highest purpose, and many other chapters of real-world-tested insights and strategies If you would like to take your life to the next level and truly optimize your health, relationships, career, and other life pursuits, Radical Responsibility will give you the expert guidance to move beyond the inner walls of your beliefs and realize your full potential. This book includes access to guided audio sessions for many of the exercises, available online.

"The first half of the book studies the development of hell as a philosophical cncept from Early Buddhism through the Madhhyamika and Vijnāňavāda schools. The second half, based upon the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra, presents an analysis of the eight symbolic Buddhist hells as a journey into self-reflection."--Jacket.

The book has two audiences: prison inmates who want to start practicing Buddhism and volunteers from American sanghas who want to work with prison dharma groups. The book discusses the basics of meditation, compassion and precept practice within the correctional facility context. Whitney discusses some of the history of Buddhist involvement in American prisons as well as the history of constitutional interpretations of religious freedom as applied to inmates. The book is meant to be as practical as possible and it emphasizes Buddhism in action - through the precepts, peacemaking and sangha building inside and out.

A damned man struggles to find meaning in a library, the dimensions of which are measured in light years.