Zaltho Foundation

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Prison Project

Purpose: To assist Vietnam Veteran inmates and other inmates in a process of rehabilitation. This, through a Buddhist Spiritual Practice which will include meditation, study, dialogue and empowerment.

A Description of the Project Mission, Purpose and History:

Mission: Visiting veterans (and any others who may be interested) in prison and facilitating meditation retreats focused on recognizing and healing the wounds of war.

Purpose: To establish a firm spiritual base and provide the necessary support (Meditation Teachers, books , supplies) for an ongoing meditation practice focused on recognizing the roots of suffering (violence being but one) and providing practical tools to assist in the healing of these roots; including sitting meditation, breath awareness, communication skills, conflict resolution and emotional healing techniques within the context of Mindfulness Meditation.

History: Claude AnShin Thomas, founder of the ZALTHO FOUNDATION, was invited to facilitate a Mindfulness Healing Meditation Retreat at OREGON STATE PENITENTIARY on the 12th of November '98 for Vietnam Veterans and any other interested inmates. As a result of the positive response to this retreat the ongoing meditation group has expanded and there is a request for another, longer retreat in 1999. Also generated from this retreat is an invitation to bring this practice on to Death Row and there is also now numerous requests for retreats in other prisons throughout the country.

A Description of the Issue addressed by this Project: Inmates live in a culture of violence and are products of a culture of violence. Many who are (or were) abusive, or who committed crimes of violence were themselves as infants, children, and developing adolescents ABUSED. As a result they have been conditioned to destroy and hate. They are conditioned and encouraged to avoid their innermost thoughts.

This process subsequently and unknowingly contributes to an ever spiraling cycle of mistrust and rage which expresses itself in the form of POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, DRUG DEPENDENCY, ALCOHOL DEPENDENCY, SEXUAL ABUSE, DECEIT, STEALING AND ENABLING BEHAVIOR as well as other behaviors that are self abusive. The world they live in is their enemy and as a result these inmates become trapped in an ever encroaching spiral of self-destruction.

A Description of the Community Affected by the Issues and the Importance of the Issue to that Community: The majority of the community that is attracted to this program, which was a total of 87 for the last retreat, are in prison for crimes of violence. The environment that they have been remanded to is punitive rather than rehabilitative. The importance of the issues presented to this community through a Peace Making spiritual model of Mindfulness Meditation Practice is that it provides them with practical tools that enable them to differentiate their own suffering from another's, revealing they are indeed responsible for their suffering and how then to make themselves available, to take action, to catalyze healing. Through this process the practitioners subsequently begin experiencing how to live differently with themselves and within their current culture. As this process begins to unfold the inmates begin to learn how to value themselves in a culture based on perpetuating the practice of devaluation.

The practice is supported once a week by one person who comes consistently to lead the group and assist the members of the group with questions that naturally arise from the process of introspection. This process is also augmented by the support of other facilitators from meditation groups from the local area and other members from those groups. When people from the prison group are released they can directly connect with a group they already have some knowledge of and relationship to.

A Description of Strategy and Plan of Action: To create an on-going spiritually based support for the prison community through an interface with members of spiritually based Mindfulness Meditation communities outside of the prison. These people will come in once a week to facilitate a day of practice, teaching and guidance to members of the on-going meditation group. These people are regular meditation practitioners led by teachers who are themselves Dharma Heirs and Dharma Holders. And this involvement, which is voluntary by nature, not only serves to benefit the prison community but the volunteers themselves are served in their spiritual growth through this act of service, embodying the tenants of the teaching of DANA.

Dana is an ancient Pali word meaning "generosity" or "gift". Going back to the days of the Buddha, the teachings were considered priceless and thus offered freely, as a form of Dana. The early teachers received no payment for their instruction and in turn the lay community saw to it through their voluntary generosity, their selfless giving, that the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter and medicine were provided for the teachers.

This practice while based in the Peace Making Model of Zen Buddhism, proffers meditation techniques and principals that are secular and have universal application in context with any spiritual path or non-religious practice. The mindfulness training allows the practitioners to begin to take responsibility for their self destructive behavior patterns and to realize that the root to these patterns rests in their unaddressed suffering. Through this process of waking up the individual is able to become more purposeful and less impulsive in their actions, and to learn new avenues of redress for the pain from earlier abuse. By establishing a more intimate relationship with themselves and with the on-going support of the teaching and others committed to this path both in prison and not in prison, the prison practitioners are able to realize alternatives to violence in dealing with their needs and they become more positive contributors to their community.

This project will also, in an effort to deal with issues of literacy, provide study texts and encouragement for those members of the prison community that choose to be involved in this project to find ways to utilize what they are learning by becoming active within the prison community to be of service to those within their community that are in need. Yes, because within the prison community there are disenfranchised - rape victims, those who have contacted the HIV virus and those who have progressed to full blown aids, the drug addicted (to include alcohol), and the illiterate.

Benchmarks of Success: A rising membership in the ongoing Meditation Group. A rise in paroles to members of the meditation group. Decrease in violence within members of the group in relationship to each other and in relationship to the larger community. Individual prisoners, presented with new options and new potentials, are given the opportunity to be of service within the prison community.

A description of the project's relationship to the Threshold Sponsor: The Threshold sponsor, Barbara Somerfield, is a supporter of the Zaltho Foundation and the on-going projects of Claude AnShin Thomas.

A Description of the Organizations Social Values and how does the organization reflect these values: The ZALTHO FOUNDATION is a spiritually based foundation committed to ending violence by encouraging and establishing socially engaged projects with an emphasis on the most important ingredient, the individual.

These values are reflected in the ongoing commitment of the ZALTHO FOUNDATION to work actively with cultures of violence and war and violence and their families worldwide through retreats, workshops, and marginalized cultures, Vietnam veterans and all veterans and victims of one-on-one involvement to provide a spiritual foundation through which healing and reconciliation with self and other cultures can begin to take place.

Background information on the key people involved with your project, including the Board of Directors, staff, and key volunteers:

Claude AnShin Thomas, Founder, enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17 and was shipped to Vietnam in 1965 believing he was working for the cause of freedom. He served as a helicopter Crew Chief and Gunner. He knows he has been directly responsible for the deaths of several hundred Vietnamese men, women and children. He knows because the helicopter crews would pool their money and make bets on who would have the most confirmed kills. He was shot down five times and gravely wounded somewhere in the Mekong Delta. After several months in a military hospital he recuperated, was honorably discharged and went to college, dropped out, became homeless, was unemployed and addicted to drugs. Like many who served in Vietnam, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder prevented adequate sleep, "At night memories came -- being shot down, the cries of the wounded, screams of the people I'd killed, screams of the dying." As part of the endless spiral of self destruction he began the search for cheaper drugs which led him to Iran. He lived in Iran and while there was arrested by the Iranian Secret Police (Savak), was imprisoned, tortured for weeks and returned to the U.S.. In 1983 he entered a drug rehabilitation program, cleaned up and through this process returned to his roots in the Martial Arts. As a Black Belt instructor, meditation before and after class became an integral part of his teaching.

A Social Worker referred Claude AnShin to a Mindfulness Retreat for Vietnam Veterans facilitated by the venerable Thich Nhat Hanh which resulted in Claude AnShin living as a member of Thich Nhat Hanh's community, Plum Village, for a period of 3 years. Living in Plum Village among a predominately Vietnamese community brought a new awareness of the painful legacy affecting everyone who participated in this war. Coming to peace with the devastating effects of war, Claude AnShin understands personally what tools can promote healing and conflict resolution. Claude AnShin emerged as a facilitator of groups of Vietnam Veterans, former Terrorists, and other disenfranchised people, as well as Helping Professionals, leading Mindfulness retreats in the U.S., Europe and Asia and in August of 1995 Claude AnShin was ordained a Soto Zen Monk and Peace Maker Priest by the venerable Roshi Bernie Glassman. How Claude AnShin confronted his own war within transformed his life into a compassionate vehicle for helping others.

Because he has intentionally looked at the destructive sources of violence, hatred and war, he is a unique catalytic agent in the arenas most would not consider entering such as: his visits with soldiers in Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia, his pilgrimage from Auschwitz which began in December '94 ending in Hiroshima August '95, his upcoming two month Concentration Camp Pilgrimage in Germany, ongoing reconciliation peace work with former members of the Red Brigade in Italy, and Veterans Retreats. Claude AnShin's focus on awakening people to the roots of war personally and collectively and his profound abilities to help others, suffering the ravages of similar problems, grew out of his direct experience of growing up in our culture of violence, what he lived through during the Vietnam War and what helped him transform into a peacemaker. Roshi Bernie Glassman said of Claude AnShin, "From the very first meeting I was struck by his tremendous openness and vulnerability. He could have remained silent about the hurts he'd inflicted, both on himself and others. Wherever Claude AnShin goes, his presence and message are essentially the same. He has borne witness to killing and out of that came his healing. In the process of making peace with himself he invites others to their lives and sorrows and out of that comes their healing. I never fail to be moved by his interaction with others. His strength lies in his total self exposure. He tells his story, not holding anything back, and in so doing opens up a raw and vulnerable space other participants enter, where they feel safe to talk about their own personal pain, their own demons.

Because Claude AnShin does not request fees, his work has been accomplished by doing and living whatever is necessary to actualize these retreats, pilgrimages and programs. The ZALTHO FOUNDATION was born in May '98 for the purpose of expanding the reach of his message and programs.

< Back | The Practice | Next >

Prison Project

Purpose: To assist Vietnam Veteran inmates and other inmates in a process of rehabilitation. This, through a Buddhist Spiritual Practice which will include meditation, study, dialogue and empowerment.

A Description of the Project Mission, Purpose and History:

Mission: Visiting veterans (and any others who may be interested) in prison and facilitating meditation retreats focused on recognizing and healing the wounds of war.

Purpose: To establish a firm spiritual base and provide the necessary support (Meditation Teachers, books , supplies) for an ongoing meditation practice focused on recognizing the roots of suffering (violence being but one) and providing practical tools to assist in the healing of these roots; including sitting meditation, breath awareness, communication skills, conflict resolution and emotional healing techniques within the context of Mindfulness Meditation.

History: Claude AnShin Thomas, founder of the ZALTHO FOUNDATION, was invited to facilitate a Mindfulness Healing Meditation Retreat at OREGON STATE PENITENTIARY on the 12th of November '98 for Vietnam Veterans and any other interested inmates. As a result of the positive response to this retreat the ongoing meditation group has expanded and there is a request for another, longer retreat in 1999. Also generated from this retreat is an invitation to bring this practice on to Death Row and there is also now numerous requests for retreats in other prisons throughout the country.

A Description of the Issue addressed by this Project: Inmates live in a culture of violence and are products of a culture of violence. Many who are (or were) abusive, or who committed crimes of violence were themselves as infants, children, and developing adolescents ABUSED. As a result they have been conditioned to destroy and hate. They are conditioned and encouraged to avoid their innermost thoughts.

This process subsequently and unknowingly contributes to an ever spiraling cycle of mistrust and rage which expresses itself in the form of POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, DRUG DEPENDENCY, ALCOHOL DEPENDENCY, SEXUAL ABUSE, DECEIT, STEALING AND ENABLING BEHAVIOR as well as other behaviors that are self abusive. The world they live in is their enemy and as a result these inmates become trapped in an ever encroaching spiral of self-destruction.

A Description of the Community Affected by the Issues and the Importance of the Issue to that Community: The majority of the community that is attracted to this program, which was a total of 87 for the last retreat, are in prison for crimes of violence. The environment that they have been remanded to is punitive rather than rehabilitative. The importance of the issues presented to this community through a Peace Making spiritual model of Mindfulness Meditation Practice is that it provides them with practical tools that enable them to differentiate their own suffering from another's, revealing they are indeed responsible for their suffering and how then to make themselves available, to take action, to catalyze healing. Through this process the practitioners subsequently begin experiencing how to live differently with themselves and within their current culture. As this process begins to unfold the inmates begin to learn how to value themselves in a culture based on perpetuating the practice of devaluation.

The practice is supported once a week by one person who comes consistently to lead the group and assist the members of the group with questions that naturally arise from the process of introspection. This process is also augmented by the support of other facilitators from meditation groups from the local area and other members from those groups. When people from the prison group are released they can directly connect with a group they already have some knowledge of and relationship to.

A Description of Strategy and Plan of Action: To create an on-going spiritually based support for the prison community through an interface with members of spiritually based Mindfulness Meditation communities outside of the prison. These people will come in once a week to facilitate a day of practice, teaching and guidance to members of the on-going meditation group. These people are regular meditation practitioners led by teachers who are themselves Dharma Heirs and Dharma Holders. And this involvement, which is voluntary by nature, not only serves to benefit the prison community but the volunteers themselves are served in their spiritual growth through this act of service, embodying the tenants of the teaching of DANA.

Dana is an ancient Pali word meaning "generosity" or "gift". Going back to the days of the Buddha, the teachings were considered priceless and thus offered freely, as a form of Dana. The early teachers received no payment for their instruction and in turn the lay community saw to it through their voluntary generosity, their selfless giving, that the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter and medicine were provided for the teachers.

This practice while based in the Peace Making Model of Zen Buddhism, proffers meditation techniques and principals that are secular and have universal application in context with any spiritual path or non-religious practice. The mindfulness training allows the practitioners to begin to take responsibility for their self destructive behavior patterns and to realize that the root to these patterns rests in their unaddressed suffering. Through this process of waking up the individual is able to become more purposeful and less impulsive in their actions, and to learn new avenues of redress for the pain from earlier abuse. By establishing a more intimate relationship with themselves and with the on-going support of the teaching and others committed to this path both in prison and not in prison, the prison practitioners are able to realize alternatives to violence in dealing with their needs and they become more positive contributors to their community.

This project will also, in an effort to deal with issues of literacy, provide study texts and encouragement for those members of the prison community that choose to be involved in this project to find ways to utilize what they are learning by becoming active within the prison community to be of service to those within their community that are in need. Yes, because within the prison community there are disenfranchised - rape victims, those who have contacted the HIV virus and those who have progressed to full blown aids, the drug addicted (to include alcohol), and the illiterate.

Benchmarks of Success: A rising membership in the ongoing Meditation Group. A rise in paroles to members of the meditation group. Decrease in violence within members of the group in relationship to each other and in relationship to the larger community. Individual prisoners, presented with new options and new potentials, are given the opportunity to be of service within the prison community.

A description of the project's relationship to the Threshold Sponsor: The Threshold sponsor, Barbara Somerfield, is a supporter of the Zaltho Foundation and the on-going projects of Claude AnShin Thomas.

A Description of the Organizations Social Values and how does the organization reflect these values: The ZALTHO FOUNDATION is a spiritually based foundation committed to ending violence by encouraging and establishing socially engaged projects with an emphasis on the most important ingredient, the individual.

These values are reflected in the ongoing commitment of the ZALTHO FOUNDATION to work actively with cultures of violence and war and violence and their families worldwide through retreats, workshops, and marginalized cultures, Vietnam veterans and all veterans and victims of one-on-one involvement to provide a spiritual foundation through which healing and reconciliation with self and other cultures can begin to take place.

Background information on the key people involved with your project, including the Board of Directors, staff, and key volunteers:

Claude AnShin Thomas, Founder, enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17 and was shipped to Vietnam in 1965 believing he was working for the cause of freedom. He served as a helicopter Crew Chief and Gunner. He knows he has been directly responsible for the deaths of several hundred Vietnamese men, women and children. He knows because the helicopter crews would pool their money and make bets on who would have the most confirmed kills. He was shot down five times and gravely wounded somewhere in the Mekong Delta. After several months in a military hospital he recuperated, was honorably discharged and went to college, dropped out, became homeless, was unemployed and addicted to drugs. Like many who served in Vietnam, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder prevented adequate sleep, "At night memories came -- being shot down, the cries of the wounded, screams of the people I'd killed, screams of the dying." As part of the endless spiral of self destruction he began the search for cheaper drugs which led him to Iran. He lived in Iran and while there was arrested by the Iranian Secret Police (Savak), was imprisoned, tortured for weeks and returned to the U.S.. In 1983 he entered a drug rehabilitation program, cleaned up and through this process returned to his roots in the Martial Arts. As a Black Belt instructor, meditation before and after class became an integral part of his teaching.

A Social Worker referred Claude AnShin to a Mindfulness Retreat for Vietnam Veterans facilitated by the venerable Thich Nhat Hanh which resulted in Claude AnShin living as a member of Thich Nhat Hanh's community, Plum Village, for a period of 3 years. Living in Plum Village among a predominately Vietnamese community brought a new awareness of the painful legacy affecting everyone who participated in this war. Coming to peace with the devastating effects of war, Claude AnShin understands personally what tools can promote healing and conflict resolution. Claude AnShin emerged as a facilitator of groups of Vietnam Veterans, former Terrorists, and other disenfranchised people, as well as Helping Professionals, leading Mindfulness retreats in the U.S., Europe and Asia and in August of 1995 Claude AnShin was ordained a Soto Zen Monk and Peace Maker Priest by the venerable Roshi Bernie Glassman. How Claude AnShin confronted his own war within transformed his life into a compassionate vehicle for helping others.

Because he has intentionally looked at the destructive sources of violence, hatred and war, he is a unique catalytic agent in the arenas most would not consider entering such as: his visits with soldiers in Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia, his pilgrimage from Auschwitz which began in December '94 ending in Hiroshima August '95, his upcoming two month Concentration Camp Pilgrimage in Germany, ongoing reconciliation peace work with former members of the Red Brigade in Italy, and Veterans Retreats. Claude AnShin's focus on awakening people to the roots of war personally and collectively and his profound abilities to help others, suffering the ravages of similar problems, grew out of his direct experience of growing up in our culture of violence, what he lived through during the Vietnam War and what helped him transform into a peacemaker. Roshi Bernie Glassman said of Claude AnShin, "From the very first meeting I was struck by his tremendous openness and vulnerability. He could have remained silent about the hurts he'd inflicted, both on himself and others. Wherever Claude AnShin goes, his presence and message are essentially the same. He has borne witness to killing and out of that came his healing. In the process of making peace with himself he invites others to their lives and sorrows and out of that comes their healing. I never fail to be moved by his interaction with others. His strength lies in his total self exposure. He tells his story, not holding anything back, and in so doing opens up a raw and vulnerable space other participants enter, where they feel safe to talk about their own personal pain, their own demons.

Because Claude AnShin does not request fees, his work has been accomplished by doing and living whatever is necessary to actualize these retreats, pilgrimages and programs. The ZALTHO FOUNDATION was born in May '98 for the purpose of expanding the reach of his message and programs.