Vipassana in Mongolian Prisons

Previously I have shown a couple of videos made by Goenka’s vipassanā students about the good effects of introducing vipassanā practice into prisons. The first of these looked at the Indian prison service, with Doing Time, Doing Vipassana from 2004; the second was The Dhamma Brothers in the US prison service from 2007.

The current film is made about similar efforts being made in the Mongolian prison service in the years 2014-5, with an update at the end from 2018. The film is made entirely by Mongolians themselves, and similarly have indigenous teachers leading the teachings.

The film is somewhat more poetic than the previous films mentioned, as it presents at times illustrated inner monologues of some of the people incarcerated, the despair of prison, and the realisation of what they have done, and how they need to move forward and out of it.

As with the other films there are also interviews with the students which reveal what good effects the practice has had on them, and how they are planning for the future, especially for life when they get out of prison. The film is very moving at times as people come to see the reality of their actions and consequences, and determine to do better by themselves and others in the future.

The prison authorities and the responsible people at the Justice Department have also been suitably impressed with the changes seen in the prisoners, and have expanded the programmes so that by the end of 2018 more then 1,300 prisoners have done the course, and there are ongoing efforts to increase this number, as well as provide facilities for daily practice in prisons.