Dharma on Death Row

Drawing by Daniel Lucas

I provide pastoral counseling to Daniel Lucas. Since the age of 19, Daniel has lived at the maximum security prison in Jackson, Georgia. He is on death row. Daniel was homeless and hopeless, and at 19 years of age he and an accomplice committed a brutal murder. His co-defendant was put to death four years ago.

Three years ago at the age of 32 Daniel became interested in Buddha dharma. It fascinates me how this man, sequestered in a maximum security prison, came in contact with such teachings. (He was drawn to Buddhist paintings in an art book he found in the prison library.) It is a further fascination that Daniel Lucas, who spoke very little to anyone his whole life, spoke up for himself when the prison tried to prevent him from pursuing his interest in Buddhism.

Daniel taught himself the dharma and struggled to teach himself to meditate. He did not know anyone with these beliefs or who did these practices. Never-the-less, he found Pema Chodron and Thich Nhat Hanh. He wrote to them and they corresponded with him sending him books, practice materials, and instructions.

Daniel learned about taking refuge and boddhisatva vows and wrote to Gampo Abbey to learn how he might take the vows. Les Ste. Marie at the Abbey was the first to maintain a correspondence with Daniel and he contacted us at Atlanta Shambhala seeing if we could arrange for Daniel to receive vows. Plans were made with Acharya Richard John that when he came to teach in Atlanta, he would visit Daniel. When Shastri Holly Gayley, who was teaching in Atlanta at the time these plans were being made, learned of all of this, she donated the money for the liturgy and practice materials to be sent to Daniel.

Daniel received the vows from Acharya Richard in fall 2014. Since that time, I have been visiting Daniel at Jackson prison about twice a month, and I also talk with him by phone. Daniel is more knowledgeable about dharma than I am. He is a serious practitioner.

Essentially, he lives the life of a monk. He has a small cell and no freedoms. He is permitted seven books at a given time. This means that when he receives practices or dharma books, he takes notes and commits the practices to memory so that he can give up those materials in order to have others. He has become a vegetarian. He sees no others except for the allotted one hour a day of yard time. He studies dharma and practices.

Daniel is able to see the sky when he is lying on his bunk looking at a window high up in his cell. He practices formless meditation in this way. His other practices include shamatha-vipashyana, tonglen, Vajrasattva purification practice, and lujong (Tibetan yoga).

While in prison, Daniel began to draw. At that time inmates were permitted art materials but this is no longer so. Now Daniel is allotted only paper, one pencil, and one pen. Recently, Daniel bought some colored pencils from a fellow inmate who no longer used them. These are worn down to be about two inches long. Above is a drawing of Buddha Daniel drew with his “new” pencils.

I am a person who is phobic about driving. But I drive one hour each way to Jackson, Georgia twice a month because I so look forward to being with this person. Daniel and I talk dharma and practice. We have some difficult conversations: about death, about emotions that arise with practice, about acceptance and forgiveness. I have learned about his childhood, filled with abuse and neglect, where “home” was a place that filled him with dread.

The time is coming soon now for Daniel. He has begun to give away all of his worldly goods. Mostly these are dharma materials. Recently, Daniel gave me CDs of songs being sung at Gampo Abbey. Daniel likes these a lot and I feel kind of bad accepting this. However, Daniel gave them to me for the Atlanta Shambhala Sangha. I had mentioned to him that we didn’t sing much and I wished I knew more songs that I might share. And then these came in the mail.

I am writing this because I want the sangha to know about Daniel Lucas and how we came to be involved with him. His legal team keeps in touch with me and I expect to see more of them in the next few months. These people are all fantastic – smart and open-hearted. The fact that Daniel has magnetized these people to become a part of his life makes an impression on me. Add to this group, people you may know or know of, e.g. Richard John, Holly Gayley, Les Ste. Marie, Pema Chodron, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the sanghas of Lama Yeshe, the Dalia Lama, and Gampo Abbey.

Daniel has much regret. And guilt. And shame. And sorrow for what he did. Prison actually helped Daniel. With basic needs of food and shelter provided and the time to become sober, Daniel became clear of mind. And of all places, it was here that he found something that made sense to him – dharma.

You may appreciate that dharma is not the easiest view of life to understand or practice. So you may be able to appreciate too that Daniel is extremely intelligent, as well as artistically gifted, warm, generous, and earnest. He takes his Bohdisattva vow seriously, trying to live with kindness. He is lively with a positive outlook regarding life. Richard John described it best, when after meeting Daniel he said, “He just beams.”

I have every reason to believe that Daniel Lucas will be executed before the end of this year. I will want to share his death with you all when this comes about.