Vipassana: Reforming Jails

Two of my classmates, Amanda Thaw and Stephanie Ramsarup, and I have decided to watch a documentary and afterwards, we would share our thoughts and reactions about it. All three of us being from different ethnic backgrounds, I was quite excited to hear their point of views.

"Doing time, doing Vipassana Meditation in Indian Prison"

The documentary being 1 hour long, I will just do a short summary. However, I strongly recommend you to watch the full movie.

The documentary takes place in one of the prison in India with the harshest condition in the country, Tihar. In the past, the living conditions were aweful in the prison; stories of prisoners being beaten up or punished severely were common things. Until Kiran Bedi, a tiny woman with an unbreakable will and fire-ardent passion, was given the position of Inspector general of prisons. She had a goal in mind, we wanted to convicted to reoffend after each time they leave Tihar jail. Previous inspectors believed that by making the conditions as harsh as possible, people will try to avoid to go back. However, there were no effects on the number of repeat offenders. Bedi thought differently, instead of punishing convicted for their actions, she wanted to rehabilitate them, to make them part of society as useful citizens. After years of searching for the perfect programs to meet her goals, she discovered Vissapana, which is a form of self-mediation and self-awareness exercises. Without thinking twice, she contacted immediately the S.N. Goenka, one of the most renowned teacher of Vissapana in India. Shortly after, they organized the first Vissapana class at the prison, which ended up being a complete success. All of the prisoners, most of them being very violent and angry offenders, were a lot more calm and in peace after the 10 days classes.
Vipassana is a form of self-meditation, here is a more detailed definition of this practice:

Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind. It is this observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity, resulting in a balanced mind full of love and compassion.

The program quickly grew within the jail, Bedi and S.N. Goenka quickly organized a massive class which would contain 1000 convicted in the same room. It was very touching to see the prisoners coming out of the Vipassana sanctuary, just completely changed and free of their remorse and shame. I loved to see the prisoners crying the arms of an officer, he was thanking him to allow him to have such an experience. Both seem grateful for each other.

This was a very very short resume of the main points in the documentary, next I will report about the discussion I had with my classmates.

We first talked about the cultural context of India and how it is related to the success of Vipassana. Stephanie being from an Indian background herself, she agreed that the Indian culture had a great impact on the acceptance of Vipassana. Their culture being very tightly connected with religion and practices such as mediation. In India, people value their social relationship and sense of community very much. Stephanie believed that those meditation classes might not be as popular in North America as in another collectivist culture since one is doing it to better participate in their society.
Surprisingly, Vipassana as being already experimented in a American prison and has been documented. The documentary is called "The Dhamma Brothers". (the link is not actually the full movie, but it is the official website) Interestingly, it was said that similar successful rate were observed in Taiwanese and American prisons.

On the other hand, Amanda believed that Vipassana can be as successful in Eastern as well as Western societies. For the reasons that self-meditation is putting a lot of emphasis on oneself and not on others. A prisoner will seek this practice which will fit with the individualist point of views. By concentrating on their emotions and their physical reactions, they detach themselves from those and see their sensations "come as they go". They learn that they are not at the mercy of their impulses, but that you can be in control of those. Vipassana is basically learning to be more self-concious of their bodily reactions.

I also asked them to name me something that they really enjoyed or were surprised about the first time they watched the documentary.
Stephanie was telling me about the first few minutes of the video where a prisoner was hugging and crying on the shoulder of an officer. She instinctively thought that the prisoner was crying because of a negative event that happened. However, afterwrads she realized that the prisoner was not crying because of sadness, but because of gratefulness and happiness. She was saying that interesting how she reacted negatively to the scene even without knowing about the context. Seeing a man cry seem to be always viewed negatively and we always expect the worse. "This man is crying! He must have lost his job." "He could be mourning for the death of a loved one." She realized that she was biased by her Western cultural influences.
Amanda, she found the fact that it was a woman who directed a the whole prison to be very astonishing. She was also amazed at how fast Bedi was able to organize and implement a whole new program in the prison is just a few years. If it would have been done here, the director would have had to fill out countless of paperwork and go through comity boards to first get the project approved. Implementing would have been another very long and tedious story! Compared to India, our society seem to be a lot less spontaneous because of our system being clogged by an infinite amount of paperwork and prolonged procedures.

In my opinion, I really enjoyed watching this documentary. I believe that Vipassana is a very powerful and effective tool to make someone take control of their body and mind. I was thinking that it could not only help convicted to be less violent, but it could also help depressed people to regain some control over their lives. Learned helplessness being a major aspect of depressed individuals, as well as repeat offenders, they will learn through Vipassana that nothing is determined and nothing will last; make them realize that they have a choice and that it is never too late to change their mindset.

Saving our societal system ... or saving our planet? That is the question.

I recently went to a fabulous exposition of horticultural arts from around the world called the Mosaicultures Internationale Montreal.

There were just so many breath taking sculptures, the most amazing aspect of this exhibition is that all the sculptures were made of living plants! Some even had water falls, background music and different type of environment to enhance the experience. The exposition is named "The Land of Hope" and all the artworks revolve around a common theme: awareness of biodiversity and the vital need to preserve it.

Here are two of my favourites:

"Hachiko, the Loyal Dog"

This sculpture was created to represent the sector of Shibuya in Japan. It was inspired by the real story of a dog, called Hachiko, who was the most devoted dog of all time. He would wait for his master everyday at the train station, at the same time, for him to come back from work. However, one day, the owner had a sudden accident at work and died before reaching a hospital. The same day, Hachiko waited at the train station, but his master did not arrive. Unaware of his master death, he waited and waited years at the same train station for him to come home. It was told that Hachiko waited for his master right until himself died of starvation or cold weather.
There were so many movies about Hachiko, Japanese as well as American. I believe that this dog's unshakable loyalty has captured the hearts of both Eastern and Western's people.
This loyalty might also be a metaphor for nature's abundance. Our Earth is giving so much to humanity; wood to build houses, soil to plant on, water to give life... However, we, humans, cannot even pay back the equivalent of a penny to our Earth. Similarly to Hachiko's story, he gave all his time to his master, unfortunately, the man was not able to give back all the affection his dog gave him. As humans, we are so self-centred and uncaring to our most important partner; nature itself. We always want more and more without expecting to contribute the equivalent.

"Mother Earth"

One of my ultimate favourite sculpture would be "Mother earth". The size of this artwork is astonishing and almost overwhelming. Just to give you an idea, her bust is nearly 15 meters tall! There was some soft and relaxing background music and adding the sound of the water falling from her hand, it gave a sense of majestically serenity.
This sculpture was inspired by the North American Aboriginal culture and here is an excerpt of a speech that Chef Seattle expressed in front of Franklin Pierce, President of the United States in 1854 during a conference on the purchase of Native land by white settlers.

We are part of the Earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters, the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family. [...] (Official Album of MIM 2013)

This sculpture is a representation of the Native's perception of nature; that it is considered as something that cannot be separated from mankind. They believe that we make one with our environment and destroying it would like killing a part of us.

It is very fascinating to see how differently cultures from around the world perceive their relationship with their environment. For instance, Japan seems to be very mindful of their natural resources. It was in Japan that the Kyoto Protocol was adopted by multiple countries. Japanese always have new technology and revolutionary ideas concerning the protection of our fragile ecosystem and biodiversity.
I think that their thrive and determination to reduce their ecological footprint could have been influenced by their geographical situation. Being situated on a small island and surrounded by water could have inherently caused the Japanese to be always conscious of their available resources. Land being scarce, they would have to be more attentive their their environment in order to produce enough food/clothing to survive.
On the other hand, us, North Americans, do not have this natural limitation. Our land is vast and fertile, thus we can have food and other living essentials (and non-essentials) in abundance. Therefore, I believe that we lost this connection with our natural environment and resulting in a neglectful over-exploitation of our resources.

I also came across a short interview of Michel Freitag, a famous sociologist and philosopher in Montreal, who talked about the globalisation of our economy and its devastating effects on our planet's health.
Here's the link for the clip: Second Regard (unfortunately it is in French and I could not find any version with English subtitles)
Freitag wrote a lot about the globalisation phenomena and its influence over our society and environment. He is stating that the world has lost the chance to turn back and change its fate; we are slowly destroying ourselves. He strongly believes that what is endangering our survival is simply our economical system and more specifically globalization. Demands are increasing more and more, to keep up with it, we will produce more and more. If our natural resources do not permit us to produce at the rate that we want, we will just use the resources of other countries. Globalization just accelerated this never-ending demand-supply infernal spiral. Freitag was saying that since our economy is now depend of globalization, and if we decided, for the good of the Earth, to stop those international supply trading, our economy will instantly crash, causing so many devastating social consequences. He declared that mankind had two choices: either to end everything that could harm our environment regardless of its effects on our society... or continue our economical practices without thinking of effects on nature and our planet's survival. It seems that we chose the latest. Our planet is slowly dying because of our decision.

Who am I? ... Where do I belong?

I am from an Asian descent, born and raised in Quebec; I have always find the topic of cultural identity and the place of immigrants in the society as very sensitive and a source of heated debate (especially between my father and myself).
Both my father and mother were born in Madagascar, a large island near the south of Africa in the Indian sea. From my father's side, my grand-parents were both born in Madagascar but their own parents originated from the Mainland China. On the other hand, my grand-parents were both born in China and landed in Madagascar when they were very young. My mother and father met and got married in Canada.

I highlighted in yellow the 3 countries that my family immigrated through

It seems like we are a big family of travellers, however, we somehow were able to keep our Asian cultural background intact. My first language was Cantonese and do still talk Canto (but only with my grand-mother). Unfortunately, I feel that we are slowly losing our mother language as the generation goes by... for instance, my brother did not learn Cantonese and do not understand a word of it, and myself, my Chinese is slowly deteriorating since I do not have the opportunity to practice it as often as I would like.
When I was younger, I wanted to be accepted by my Quebecor classmates. It was during high school that I realize that my cultural beliefs were very divergent from my Quebecor classmates. I remember the girls talking about the latest episode Occupation Double or Star Academy; the boys would talk about the last hockey game. I hated hockey (and still do), hockey players are paid millions just to onto the ice and try to win games; doctors, on the other side, are earning so much less and are actually saving lives everyday!
Then, there was an "Asian" clique as well. However, I still did not feel part of their group because they were just "too Asian". I lost most of my Chinese vocabulary and can only speak a few simple words. I could not participate into their conversation... Even if we share the same values and the same likings, I knew that I was too "white-washed" for their group.

I recall a saying that my father shared with me: "We live here in Quebec and we speak French, but Quebecers will never see us as part of their inner group. If we go back in China, even if we look similar, they will see us as outsiders. We do not have a homeland."
In the past, this statement was perfectly describing my feelings; I did not belong to the Chinese community, or the Malagasy community, or the Quebecor community. I never entirely fitted the conventional characteristics for those groups.
As I grew up and met new people, I soon realized that a lot of people (not only myself) did not relate to those stereotypes. I began to see one's culture as a patchwork of life experiences and a multitude of cultural beliefs that you accumulated over the years. Culture now is not a confined category that you have to conform to; it is instead a free flowing and ever-changing part of one's self.

I do not need to be only Chinese or only Quebecor. Some parts of myself originated from China, and some others are from Quebec. Everyone of those pieces having its own history and life experiences, which in end, create this unique human being.

I am unique in my own way

Creatures of habits

I recalled my first day at my Cultural Psychology class. There was multiple guest speakers who came and presented their trips overseas or their experience with their student exchange programs. I found that it was very refreshing to start with those presentations, as well as made the course just more accessible and a lot less constrictive compared to other more theory-oriented classes.
During of one of the presentations, a sentence has struck me:

"Culture changes far more slowly than laws"

 The sentence was so strong yet so simple. It was so obvious (but we never really pay attention to those little details), some beliefs are so deeply rooted within one's culture that its existence does not seem to be questioned any more, even if it considered wrong in our time-frame's mentality.
So many examples are coming to me which fit this statement, but there is one issue in particular that I want to discuss in this post.
Shark fin soup has been considered one of the finest delicacy for Chinese, and in the earlier century, it was only served to the royal court of China. Now, everyone can savour this exquisite meal, but at a very high prize. The demand for shark has thus increased exponentially over the last years; fishermen are catching sharks, regardless of the specie, taking only their fins and just dump them bodies back into the sea. It is undoubtedly a very cruel practice.
A lot of people have been reporting and filming documentaries about the "inhuman" practices and the imminent devastating effects over the sea's fragile ecosystem. Here is a documentary featuring Gordon Ramsey, one of the most popular (and dreaded) chef from England. He decided to investigate this controversial dish.

Fisherman cutting the fins from a shark

Tons and tons of shark fins drying

Bodies of sharks discarded into the sea

The link to the full movie: Gordon Ramsay: Shark Bait 

After watching his documentary, I have some mix feelings about the way that he portrayed this issue. It is a fact that shark finning is wrong and should absolutely be banned. At the rate the demand for shark fins increases, there is no way to keep up with it without completely annihilate very single species of sharks in the oceans. So, I completely agree with him on this point.
However, I did not like how he depicted people from China as ostriches who bury their head in the ground to not see the reality of the events. He just casually asked a family who were eating at the restaurant (famous for its shark fin soup) their reasons for buying shark fin soup. As expected, their answers were very superficial; simply saying that it has a nice taste and that even if the price would go up, they would still eat shark fin soup (but less often)... Ramsay then generalized those sayings to the rest of China. One small bol of soup can easily cost 100 US$ and more; he expected the soup to have something exceptionally delicious and, to his surprise, the shark fin itself does not have any special taste to it... Even at the end of the documentary, he seems so oblivious of the connection between the dish and the Chinese culture; he just completely overlooked the importance of cultural context (which really frustrated me).

One has to acknowledge the Chinese history and philosophy in order to fully comprehend the popularity of this dish and its cultural meaning. It was during the Ming Dynasty that shark fin soup became a delicacy, and was only accessible to the emperor and his acquaintance since only a few cooks were skilled enough to prepare the dish. As a result, since only upper class individuals were able to afford such meal, it became a dish that represent wealth and financial success.
Asian culture highly values other's opinions and how they themselves are viewed by others. One cultural psychology concept that is very much related to this issue is called 'face'. Face could be defined as "the amount of social value others give you if you live up to the standards associated with your position". (Heine 2012, p.251) Heine, one of the most well-known researcher in the domain of cultural psychology, explains that to maintain and improve one's face, you can either try to work on any weaknesses that one could have which might interfere with one's face, OR "present oneself to others in a way that would enhance one's face". (Heine 2012, p.254) For instance, one can buy a luxury car or... invite people to eat shark fin soup at one the renowned restaurant. Another interesting aspect that could have lead to the increase of consumption; the fast economic growth of China might have inadvertently enhanced the demand for shark fin. As people are getting richer, they want their eating habit to reflect their financial success.
In sum, this controversial dish is a symbol of accomplishment, wealth and pride. As it is deeply rooted in Chinese traditions, people's habits and beliefs will not change over-night, even if they would see the most gruesome and explicit video of the shark finning practices.

One of my psychology teacher once told me that "humans are creatures of habit". We do not like to be out of our comfort zone, we enjoy and appreciate predictability. We feel a sense of safety with habits and especially traditions since they are the pillars that links us to our past. Here I am not saying that it will impossible to make the Asian population totally stop eating shark fin soup, what I want to express is that this transition will take time. The more people talk about this issue, the more people will aware, the more spread out the information will be. More and more young Chinese people are against consummating shark fins and the Chinese government is starting to take action to deal with the shark fin traffic.
It is a big step towards the preservation of tour fragile marine ecosystem.

Sources:
Heine, S. T. (2012). Cultural Psychology (2nd ed.). New York, US: W.W. Norton.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/130306/shark-fin-soup-endangered-species-wildlife
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/15/opinion/sonenshine-sharks
http://choateagainstsharkfinning.blogspot.ca/2013/02/the-social-perspective-of-shark-fining.html
http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/shark-fin-soup-whats-the-scoop/
http://www.sharktruth.com/learn/history-of-shark-fin-soup/