The Buddhist on Death Row: How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place

by David Sheff Narrated by Michael Boatman

Overview

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Boy explores the transformation of Jarvis Jay Masters who has become one of America's most inspiring Buddhist practitioners while locked in a cell on death row.

Jarvis Jay Masters's early life was a horror story whose outline we know too well. Born in Long Beach, California, his house was filled with crack, alcohol, physical abuse, and men who paid his mother for sex. He and his siblings were split up and sent to foster care when he was five, and he progressed quickly to juvenile detention, car theft, armed robbery, and ultimately San Quentin. While in prison, he was set up for the murder of a guard-a conviction which landed him on death row, where he's been since 1990.

At the time of his murder trial, he was held in solitary confinement, torn by rage and anxiety, felled by headaches, seizures, and panic attacks. A criminal investigator repeatedly offered to teach him breathing exercises which he repeatedly refused. Until desperation moved him to ask her how to do “that meditation shit.” With uncanny clarity, David Sheff describes Masters's gradual but profound transformation from a man dedicated to hurting others to one who has prevented violence on the prison yard, counseled high school kids by mail, and helped prisoners-and even guards-find meaning in their lives.

Along the way, Masters becomes drawn to the principles that Buddhism espouses-compassion, sacrifice, and living in the moment-and he gains the admiration of Buddhists worldwide, including many of the faith's most renowned practitioners. And while he is still in San Quentin and still on death row, he is a renowned Buddhist thinker who shows us how to ease our everyday suffering, relish the light that surrounds us, and endure the tragedies that befall us all.

Editorial Reviews

NOVEMBER 2020 - AudioFile

Jarvis Jay Masters was an angry and anxious inmate on death row in San Quentin when an investigator urged him to try meditation as a way to find calm. Masters becomes a Buddhist and a peacemaker in the prison, and in those finds a sort of liberation. Narrator Michael Boatman’s graceful, gentle tone and deliberate pacing are compelling as he masterfully guides us through Jarvis’s emotional journey. Through his Buddhist teachers and constant, striving practice, Jarvis comes to terms with the violence that he has experienced and perpetrated, and copes with multiple emotional tests as he loses court appeal after court appeal, a teacher dies, and his marriage fails. Jarvis may be serious about his purpose in life, but his sense of humor and humility lighten the load, and Boatman is right there to capture the right mood for every word. A.B. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

★ 03/16/2020

Sheff (Beautiful Boy) draws from research and personal correspondence to tell the stirring story of Jarvis Jay Masters, a convicted murderer awaiting execution on California’s death row who converted to Buddhism and has found a kind of freedom despite the death sentence looming over him. Masters was 19 years old when he was convicted of armed robbery and sent to California’s San Quentin State Prison in 1981. Nine years later, he was convicted of the murder of a prison guard and sentenced to death. After being advised by a criminal investigator working on his case to perform breathing exercises to help with anxiety, Masters became interested in Buddhism. He discovered that practicing the faith allowed him to change the ways he related to himself and to others, and Sheff captures the difficult, powerful realizations Masters gained as a result of his practice (“Buddhism is about how we’re all the same, in this world together, struggling. Life is hard for everyone—we’re all suffering together”), leading him to become a comforting, beneficial presence to his fellow inmates. In an epilogue, Sheff asks readers to consider how one’s perspective can turn a situation of “sadness, pain, and regret” into “light and joy and love.” This Buddhist Dead Man Walking will pull at the heartstrings of any reader. (May}

From the Publisher

This book shows vividly how, even in the face of the greatest adversity, compassion and a warm-hearted concern for others bring peace and inner strength.” —His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“An inspiring book about how meaning can be found even in—perhaps especially in—adversity. It’s a study of Buddhism, of criminal justice, of the ways people connect with each other, and it’s written with deep feeling and verve.”—Andrew Solomon, Author of New York Times Bestseller Far From the Tree

“This profound, gorgeous book displays the miraculous human capacity to find redemption, and even joy, no matter who or where we are. Jarvis Masters’ story proves that we are all united by our suffering and by our potential to help others who suffer.”—Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking

“I’m a friend of Jarvis Masters, so I know the truth of this book, but I want to hail its power. I believe it will encourage many people to examine their own lives and their unrealized potential for awareness, generosity, commitment, and courage.” —Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explain Things to Me

"This is a beautiful, profoundly spiritual book, and a page-turner. Jarvis Jay Masters’ transformation from an unloved child of violence and poverty to Buddhist teacher on Death Row, is thrilling. Reading it changed me, threw the lights on, opened and gentled my heart. I’m going to give it to everyone I know". —Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author of Almost Everything

“This book celebrates a liberation not gained by guns and gangs, prison breaks and murder, but by sitting with one’s breath and believing in the perfection of the universe and all who strive and suffer within it. The Buddhist on Death Row is a deeply useful reminder that we can all be free regardless of where we are placed.” —Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple

"An indelible portrait of an incarcerated man finding new life and purpose behind bars." —Kirkus Reviews

“Stirring...Sheff asks readers to consider how one’s perspective can turn a situation of “sadness, pain, and regret” into “light and joy and love.” This Buddhist Dead Man Walking will pull at the heartstrings of any reader.”—Publishers Weekly (starred)

"Fascinating, uncommonly uplifting" —San Francisco Chronicle

Library Journal

02/07/2020

Best-selling memoirist Sheff (Beautiful Boy) documents how Jarvis Jay Masters became a Buddhist in one of the most unlikely of places: death row at San Quentin State Prison. After a childhood of turmoil and violence, Masters entered prison for multiple armed robberies and was quickly radicalized in the Black Guerilla Family. Although he maintains his innocence, Masters was found guilty of conspiring in the murder of a prison guard and sentenced to death. To deal with the stress of his trial, a member of his defense team introduces him to meditation. This ultimately sets Masters on a path toward becoming a student of Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön, as well as a celebrated author. Sheff paints an ironic portrait of a troubled yet compassionate man striving to help his fellow death row inmates and others around the world, while the criminal justice systems continues to show its indifference to Masters. Despite this, Masters believes that being sentenced to death not only saved his life but gave him life. VERDICT This readable account of an unlikely journey to Buddhism and finding freedom on death row should inspire readers on their own transformational journeys.—Amanda Folk, Ohio State Univ. Libs., Columbus

NOVEMBER 2020 - AudioFile

Jarvis Jay Masters was an angry and anxious inmate on death row in San Quentin when an investigator urged him to try meditation as a way to find calm. Masters becomes a Buddhist and a peacemaker in the prison, and in those finds a sort of liberation. Narrator Michael Boatman’s graceful, gentle tone and deliberate pacing are compelling as he masterfully guides us through Jarvis’s emotional journey. Through his Buddhist teachers and constant, striving practice, Jarvis comes to terms with the violence that he has experienced and perpetrated, and copes with multiple emotional tests as he loses court appeal after court appeal, a teacher dies, and his marriage fails. Jarvis may be serious about his purpose in life, but his sense of humor and humility lighten the load, and Boatman is right there to capture the right mood for every word. A.B. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2020-03-01
The “Three Jewels” of Buddhism help an African American man dubiously convicted of a jailhouse murder overcome decades of hellacious abuse inside San Quentin State Prison.

Jarvis Jay Masters entered San Quentin State Prison at age 19. One night, four years into a sentence for armed robbery, prison guard Howell Burchfield was stabbed to death on duty inside the penitentiary. Masters steadfastly denied any involvement in the deadly conspiracy but was nevertheless convicted and sentenced to death. In response to his decadeslong imprisonment on death row—much of it in solitary confinement—Masters turned to an intense study of meditation and Buddhist thought. Those practices not only preserved his life and sanity—they ultimately transformed him from a stunted individual engulfed in anger and self-loathing into a purposeful man of compassion dedicated to uplifting everyone he could. Further directing his anguish and pain to writing, Masters began publishing a voluminous body of illuminating stories and poems that revealed him to be more of a bodhisattva than the death row monster the State of California penal system painted him out to be. An ever widening circle of friends and teachers became convinced of Masters’ innocence, too, and dedicated their own lives to his exoneration. The author would come to know Masters through his writings as well. Applying the same mix of empathy and journalistic integrity demonstrated in Beautiful Boy(2009), Sheff conveys Masters’ transformative jailhouse exchanges with Buddhist masters, family members, and special friends with poignancy and profound emotional power. During one episode, Masters attempts to counsel a young man newly arrived on death row. "When you’re in hell and things can’t get any worse, you can try things you never tried before," he says. "Like trusting people. Looking at yourself. Admitting you’re scared.”

An indelible portrait of an incarcerated man finding new life and purpose behind bars.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173878403
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	08/04/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

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