J.J. Masters: Buddhist on Death Row (NPR)

Scott Simon, NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, 8/8/20; CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly

David Sheff charts Jarvis Jay Masters' Buddhist journey in prison in a new book

TRANSCRIPT

The Buddhist on Death Row (David Sheff)

NPR Host Scott Simon speaks with inmate Jarvis Jay Masters and David Sheff about his new book, The Buddhist on Death Row.

HOST SCOTT SIMON: Jarvis Jay Masters is a [falsely] convicted murderer and an admired Buddhist practitioner and teacher of Buddhism who sits on Death Row.

David Sheff has written a book that's not just about the crime of which Masters was convicted and strong doubts raised about the case but what amounts to the remaking of a man in a forbidding place, The Buddhist on Death Row: How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place.

David Sheff, the author of previous bestsellers that include Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, joins NPR from Inverness, California. Thanks so much for being with us again.

AUTHOR DAVID SHEFF: Uh, Scott, thank you so much for having me.

SIMON: And we're also connected with Buddhist Jarvis Jay Masters from Death Row in San Quentin State Prison. We should expect periodic automatic interruptions on the line. Mr. Masters, thank you for being with us.

Finding Freedom: How Death Row...My Heart

PRISONER JARVIS JAY MASTERS: No problem, no problem.

SIMON: Well, I understand you've just been sick with COVID, right?

MASTERS: Oh, yeah, yeah. I've had it. And it's a terrible, terrible three weeks for me, what and, yeah, I got sick, very sick. And it just was like in every other cell.

SIMON: Uh, David Sheff, of course we want to talk about your book and Mr. Masters' story, The Buddhist On Death Row. What did you see in the Jarvis Jay Masters story?

SHEFF: Well, I'd heard about Jarvis from friends who were in the Buddhist community. And the two things that I kept hearing over and over was that this man, who was framed, shouldn't be on Death Row.

• Jarvis Jay Masters wrote Finding Freedom: How Death Row Broke and Opened My Heart with his investigator Melody Ermachild Chavis (with foreword by American Buddhist nun and bestselling Tibetan Buddhist author Pema Chodron)

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When Things Fall Apart

And in spite of the fact that he was there and now it's been, you know, 30 years and 22 years in solitary confinement, he was one of the most extraordinary people that they'd met. His story was really about how a person changes and the remarkable transformation, because he was a person who could be as bitter, angry as anybody could be, and yet he was the opposite. He was this light in the lives of many, many people.

SIMON: Mr. Masters, we do want to talk about that spiritual journey, but I think you'll understand we don't want to lose, lose the fact that you are on death row, whether you agree with the conviction or sentence, or not, because you were convicted of assisting in the stabbing death of a prison guard named Dean Burchfield -- right? -- in 1985.

MASTERS: Yeah, absolutely. Later on that year, I was charged with two other guys, and we stood -- end up standing trial in 19 -- I think it was 1989, '90.

PRERECORDED VOICE: This call and your telephone number will be monitored and recorded.

MASTERS: And we were all three convicted, and I was the only one who was sentenced to death. And since then, this is where I've been.

SIMON: How did you find Buddhism?

That Bird Has My Wings (Jarvis Jay Masters)

MASTERS: I got in trouble. You know, I got in a lot more trouble than I ever been in. It started off with me waiting for a death sentence. Actually, I was in the courtroom, and the jury was trying to determine whether I should be -- they should put me to death or not. My investigator, Melody Ermachild [Chavis], who's done so much to help my spiritual growth, she gave me this little pamphlet, and the pamphlet was called "Life in Relationship to Death."

So I thought that was the best place I was right then -- you know, my life in relationship to death. And I start getting visits from this Buddhist community I got involved with, and I was so blessed because I did.

SIMON: David Sheff, what kind of difference did these people make in each other's lives?

SHEFF: Well, when I started to hear about Jarvis, I heard people talk about how he had impacted their lives. And, you know, first, as a journalist, I was skeptical. You know, first of all, everybody in prison basically says that they're innocent. And then the second one, people talked about him as if he was this -- I don't know -- this enlightened being in San Quentin, the Buddhist on Death Row.

And I began to do the research and talking to a lot of people, reading all the transcripts, reading boxes and boxes and boxes of material from the trials. And I became convinced that, you know, Jarvis is innocent. ...

SIMON: You know, a few minutes ago, I would've told you that I would never ask this question of someone on Death Row, but I feel -- are you happy?

MASTERS: (*Laughter*) Oh, wow, I never thought I'd get a question like that.

Mass incarceration means we're all going in.

PRERECORDED VOICE: You have 60 seconds remaining.

MASTERS: You know, yeah, I am happy. I'm happy for, you know, all the things that I can think of that makes my life, give my life some quality, give my life some joys, give my life, you know, some people to care for it.

You know, you have to compare yourself to someone to say that. So compared to my environment, you know, compared to what people on these various tiers have in their lives, I am extremely blessed, you know? And I really mean that. More

(*Ironically*) Now let's kill him. Death sentence, Baby!