Book dossier

Buddhist on Death Row

by David Sheff

"The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Boy explores the transformation of Jarvis Jay Masters who became one of America's most respected Buddhist practitioners during his two decades in solitary confinement in San Quentin"-- Jarvis Jay Masters was born into a house filled with crack, alcohol, physical abuse, and men who paid his mother for sex. Sent to foster care when he was five, 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, and has been on death row since 1990. Sheff describes Masters's gradual transformation from a man dedicated to hurting others to one drawn to the principles that Buddhism espouses: compassion, sacrifice, and living in the moment. Still in San Quentin, still on death row, he now shows us how to ease our everyday suffering, relish the light that surrounds us, and endure the tragedies that befall us all. -- adapted from jacket