
The Buddhist on Death Row
How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $14.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Michael Boatman
-
By:
-
David Sheff
About this listen
The number one New York Times best-selling 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’ 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 six, causing him to progress quickly to juvenile detention, car theft, armed robbery, and ultimately San Quentin. While in prison, he was set up for the murder of a prison guard, a crime that landed him on death row, where he’s been since 1986.
At the time of his murder trial, he was also in solitary confinement and spent 22 years in a five-foot-by-11-foot cell. This is where The Buddhist on Death Row takes off. With uncanny clarity, David Sheff describes Masters’ path to enlightenment - from being sullen and violent to discovering how easy and how hard it is to just sit and breathe, how those minutes spawn heightened perception and deepened compassion, the right way to remember one’s pain, and much more. Sheff does a brilliant job of portraying Masters’ gradual but profound transformation from a man who was once dedicated to hurting others to instead stopping brawls in the prison yard, talking prisoners out of suicide, and counseling high school kids by mail.
Along the way, Masters becomes drawn to the principles that Buddhism espouses - compassion, sacrifice, and living in the moment - and he gains the attention of prominent Buddhist practitioners, including Pema Chodron, the most popular Buddhist cleric after the Dalai Lama. 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.
©2020 David Sheff (P)2020 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Finding Freedom
- How Death Row Broke and Opened My Heart
- By: Jarvis Jay Masters
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are many forms of liberation - some that exist at the mercy of circumstance and others that can never be taken away. In this collection of stories, essays, poems, and letters from death-row inmate Jarvis Jay Masters, he explores the meaning of true freedom on his road to inner peace through Buddhist practice. He reveals the life of a young man surrounded by violence, his entanglement in the criminal justice system, and - following an encounter with Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche - an unfolding commitment to nonviolence and peacemaking.
-
-
Am I alone
- By Family on 07-26-20
-
That Bird Has My Wings
- The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row
- By: Jarvis Jay Masters
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1990, while serving a sentence in San Quentin for armed robbery, Jarvis Jay Masters was implicated as an accessory in the murder of a prison guard. A 23-year-old Black man, Jarvis was sentenced to death in the gas chamber. While in the maximum security section of Death Row, using the only instrument available to him—a ball-point pen filler—Masters's astounding memoir is a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit and the talent of a fine writer.
-
-
Amazing books !
- By HD on 12-12-22
-
Beautiful Boy
- A Father's Journey through His Son's Meth Addiction
- By: David Sheff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Sheff's story is a first: a teenager's addiction from the parent's point of view, a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope.
Before meth, Sheff's son, Nic, was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets. With haunting candor, Sheff traces the first warning signs, the attempts at rehabilitation, and, at last, the way past addiction. He shows us that, whatever an addict's fate, the rest of the family must care for one another, too, lest they become addicted to addiction.
-
-
Been There
- By Happy Reader on 11-26-12
By: David Sheff
-
Nala's World
- One Man, His Rescue Cat, and a Bike Ride around the Globe
- By: Dean Nicholson, Garry Jenkins
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discover the heartwarming true story of a life-changing friendship between a man and his rescue cat, Nala, as they adventure together on a bike journey around the world - from the Instagram phenomenon @1bike1world. When 30-year-old Dean Nicholson set off from Scotland to cycle around the world, his aim was to learn as much as he could about our troubled planet. But he hadn't bargained on the lessons he'd learn from his unlikely companion.
-
-
The Story the World Needed!
- By Kristin V. Johnson on 12-14-20
By: Dean Nicholson, and others
-
Little and Often
- A Memoir
- By: Trent Preszler
- Narrated by: Matt Bomer
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trent Preszler thought he was living the life he always wanted, with a job at a winery and a seaside Long Island home, when he was called back to the life he left behind. After years of estrangement, his cancer-stricken father had invited him to South Dakota for Thanksgiving. It would be the last time he saw his father alive. Preszler’s only inheritance was a beat-up wooden toolbox that had belonged to his father, who was a cattle rancher, rodeo champion, and Vietnam War Bronze Star Medal recipient. This family heirloom befuddled Preszler.
-
-
So good
- By Trevor Stanco on 04-28-21
By: Trent Preszler
-
Mom Genes
- Inside the New Science of Our Ancient Maternal Instinct
- By: Abigail Tucker
- Narrated by: Samantha Desz
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knows how babies are made, but scientists are only just beginning to understand the making of a mother. Mom Genes reveals the hard science behind our tenderest maternal impulses, tackling questions such as why mothers are destined to mimic their own moms (or not), how maternal aggression makes females the world’s most formidable creatures, and how a crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic can make or break a mom.
-
-
I wish I had this before my child
- By Erin and Michael on 03-03-22
By: Abigail Tucker
-
Finding Freedom
- How Death Row Broke and Opened My Heart
- By: Jarvis Jay Masters
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are many forms of liberation - some that exist at the mercy of circumstance and others that can never be taken away. In this collection of stories, essays, poems, and letters from death-row inmate Jarvis Jay Masters, he explores the meaning of true freedom on his road to inner peace through Buddhist practice. He reveals the life of a young man surrounded by violence, his entanglement in the criminal justice system, and - following an encounter with Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche - an unfolding commitment to nonviolence and peacemaking.
-
-
Am I alone
- By Family on 07-26-20
-
That Bird Has My Wings
- The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row
- By: Jarvis Jay Masters
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1990, while serving a sentence in San Quentin for armed robbery, Jarvis Jay Masters was implicated as an accessory in the murder of a prison guard. A 23-year-old Black man, Jarvis was sentenced to death in the gas chamber. While in the maximum security section of Death Row, using the only instrument available to him—a ball-point pen filler—Masters's astounding memoir is a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit and the talent of a fine writer.
-
-
Amazing books !
- By HD on 12-12-22
-
Beautiful Boy
- A Father's Journey through His Son's Meth Addiction
- By: David Sheff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Sheff's story is a first: a teenager's addiction from the parent's point of view, a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope.
Before meth, Sheff's son, Nic, was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets. With haunting candor, Sheff traces the first warning signs, the attempts at rehabilitation, and, at last, the way past addiction. He shows us that, whatever an addict's fate, the rest of the family must care for one another, too, lest they become addicted to addiction.
-
-
Been There
- By Happy Reader on 11-26-12
By: David Sheff
-
Nala's World
- One Man, His Rescue Cat, and a Bike Ride around the Globe
- By: Dean Nicholson, Garry Jenkins
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discover the heartwarming true story of a life-changing friendship between a man and his rescue cat, Nala, as they adventure together on a bike journey around the world - from the Instagram phenomenon @1bike1world. When 30-year-old Dean Nicholson set off from Scotland to cycle around the world, his aim was to learn as much as he could about our troubled planet. But he hadn't bargained on the lessons he'd learn from his unlikely companion.
-
-
The Story the World Needed!
- By Kristin V. Johnson on 12-14-20
By: Dean Nicholson, and others
-
Little and Often
- A Memoir
- By: Trent Preszler
- Narrated by: Matt Bomer
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trent Preszler thought he was living the life he always wanted, with a job at a winery and a seaside Long Island home, when he was called back to the life he left behind. After years of estrangement, his cancer-stricken father had invited him to South Dakota for Thanksgiving. It would be the last time he saw his father alive. Preszler’s only inheritance was a beat-up wooden toolbox that had belonged to his father, who was a cattle rancher, rodeo champion, and Vietnam War Bronze Star Medal recipient. This family heirloom befuddled Preszler.
-
-
So good
- By Trevor Stanco on 04-28-21
By: Trent Preszler
-
Mom Genes
- Inside the New Science of Our Ancient Maternal Instinct
- By: Abigail Tucker
- Narrated by: Samantha Desz
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knows how babies are made, but scientists are only just beginning to understand the making of a mother. Mom Genes reveals the hard science behind our tenderest maternal impulses, tackling questions such as why mothers are destined to mimic their own moms (or not), how maternal aggression makes females the world’s most formidable creatures, and how a crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic can make or break a mom.
-
-
I wish I had this before my child
- By Erin and Michael on 03-03-22
By: Abigail Tucker
-
American Daughter
- A Memoir
- By: Stephanie Thornton Plymale, Elissa Wald
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sharp and surprising true story of a woman who finally sets out to understand her past, and the mother she had one day hoped to forget. Full of unexpected twists and unbelievable revelations, American Daughter is an immersive memoir that will have you on the edge of your seat to the very last minute.
-
-
Amazing memoir
- By talltower4 on 09-02-21
By: Stephanie Thornton Plymale, and others
-
Seven Years in Tibet
- By: Heinrich Harrer, Richard Graves
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A landmark in travel writing, this is the incredible true story of Heinrich Harrer’s escape across the Himalayas to Tibet, set against the backdrop of the Second World War. Heinrich Harrer, already one of the greatest mountaineers of his time, was climbing in the Himalayas when war broke out in Europe. He was imprisoned by the British in India but succeeded in escaping and fled to Tibet.
-
-
An Adventure Classic
- By Jean on 01-29-16
By: Heinrich Harrer, and others
-
Everything in Its Place
- First Loves and Last Tales
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Gratitude and On the Move, a final volume of essays that showcase Sacks's broad range of interests - from his passion for ferns, swimming, and horsetails, to his final case histories exploring schizophrenia, dementia, and Alzheimer's.
-
-
Missing Sacks
- By Brandy on 12-02-19
By: Oliver Sacks
-
Just Mercy
- A Story of Justice and Redemption
- By: Bryan Stevenson
- Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
-
-
Made me question justice, peers and myself.
- By Kristy VL on 04-17-15
By: Bryan Stevenson
-
The Sun Does Shine
- By: Anthony Ray Hinton, Lara Love Hardin, Bryan Stevenson - foreword
- Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson - foreword, Kevin R. Free
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only 29 years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free. But with an incompetent defense attorney and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in despairing silence.
-
-
DOWN WITH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT!!!
- By MUDDBONE on 04-29-18
By: Anthony Ray Hinton, and others
-
Turn Right at Machu Picchu
- Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
- By: Mark Adams
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writer for the New York Times and GQ, Mark Adams is also the acclaimed author of Mr. America. In this fascinating travelogue, Adams follows in the controversial footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, who’s been both lionized and vilified for his discovery of the famed Lost City in 1911—but which reputation is justified?
-
-
Spellbounding, exceptional vocals
- By KLewis on 09-19-15
By: Mark Adams
-
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
- By: John Koenig
- Narrated by: John Koenig
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don’t have the words to express - until now. By turns poignant, relatable, and mind-bending, the definitions include whimsical etymologies drawn from languages around the world, interspersed with otherworldly collages and lyrical essays that explore forgotten corners of the human condition - from astrophe, the longing to explore beyond the planet Earth, to zenosyne, the sense that time keeps getting faster.
-
-
Saver in Small Listens
- By Georzetta on 12-18-21
By: John Koenig
-
Enlightened Vagabond
- The Life and Teachings of Patrul Rinpoche
- By: Matthieu Ricard - editor and translator, Constance Wilkinson - editor
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colorful stories about and profound teachings of Patrul Rinpoche, one of the most impactful teachers and thinkers in the Tibetan tradition from the 19th century.
-
-
Understanding the linage
- By H. Isbell on 09-08-17
By: Matthieu Ricard - editor and translator, and others
-
Untamed
- By: Glennon Doyle
- Narrated by: Glennon Doyle
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is a voice of longing inside each woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We hope all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives and wonder: Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful, hiding our discontent—even from ourselves.
-
-
Shockingly shallow and self-centered
- By G. Scimeca on 03-11-20
By: Glennon Doyle
-
The Gift
- 14 Lessons to Save Your Life
- By: Dr. Edith Eva Eger
- Narrated by: Tovah Feldshuh
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World renowned psychologist and internationally bestselling author Edith Eger’s powerful New York Times bestselling book The Choice told the story of her survival in the concentration camps, her escape, healing, and journey to freedom. Eger’s second book, The Gift, expands on her message of healing and provides a hands-on guide that gently encourages listeners to change the thoughts and behaviors that may be keeping them imprisoned in the past.
-
-
A Path Forward
- By Guy on 09-24-20
-
The Women with Silver Wings
- The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II
- By: Katherine Sharp Landdeck
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Cornelia Fort was already in the air. At 22, Fort had escaped Nashville’s debutante scene for a fresh start as a flight instructor in Hawaii. She and her student were in the middle of a lesson when the bombs began to fall, and they barely made it back to ground. Still, when the US Army Air Forces put out a call for women pilots to aid the war effort, Fort was one of the first to respond. She became one of just over 1,100 women from across the nation to make it through the Army’s rigorous selection process and earn her silver wings.
-
-
To Remember
- By erica skipton on 05-11-20
-
Tattoos on the Heart
- The Power of Boundless Compassion
- By: Gregory Boyle
- Narrated by: Gregory Boyle
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty years ago, Gregory Boyle founded Homeboy Industries, a gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in Los Angeles, the gang capital of the world. In Tattoos on the Heart, his debut book, he distills his experience working with gang members into a breathtaking series of parables inspired by faith.
-
-
Wow...
- By john williamson on 07-08-21
By: Gregory Boyle
What listeners say about The Buddhist on Death Row
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TheNovelloGroup
- 09-28-20
Beautiful
Wonderful journey we all experience. A must read for all humans interested in freedom in all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Krista K Bleich
- 03-05-21
This story is something everyone should hear.
Amazing. Has changed my thinking of my own life and how I see myself in it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AmaMom
- 09-01-23
Raw, hopeful, and heartbreaking
I hope that this book is read by more and more people, not just to advocate for the freedoms and justice of Jarvis Jay Masters, but also to model the patience, humility, and kindness we all need more of. Grateful for the authors commitment and appreciation of this special man and his journey. The audio performer was exceptional and this book was easy to get lost in.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- denise bright
- 12-30-23
The Budhist teachings
I loved the transformation of the protagonist, but I wanted him to be released from prison in the end .
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert H
- 02-26-21
Chronic Illness Patient, This Gave Me So Much Hope
title says it all... do grateful I came across this 🙏 highly recommend to anyone going through or living in hell
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pia Desir
- 01-26-22
Blown away
This book was recommended to me by a client, and I’m so happy I listened! This is a truly inspiring story. I couldn’t recommend this book enough!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Laly Bug
- 11-07-24
In awe
Jarvis’s story is another example of modern day injustices, but it’s such a beautiful way of showing perseverance and growth despite his physical limitations.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pamela Robinson
- 09-06-20
Best book I've listened to in years!
The story made me laugh and cry, feel joy and sorrow. what a beautiful experience!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- A. A.
- 06-05-22
Why is this innocent man still incarcerated?
Excellent book! SO many lessons here. The PIC is just one of America's many shames.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brooke Beazley
- 12-01-22
Captivating
This book was thoroughly researched and the story was told with beautiful detail and great heart. I will listen a second time. It was that good.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!