Everyday Buddhism!

Venerable Robina Courtin teaches about taking the Bodhisattva vows before viewing the YouTube of the Avalokiteshavara Empowerment with His Holiness the Dalai Lama: https://youtu.be/Ti-L1BdhLw4

Venerable Robina performs the Refuge Ceremony before viewing the video of the Preliminaries to the Avalokiteshvara Empowerment with His Holiness the Dalai Lama: https://youtu.be/iUWH3PIjZQ8

Venerable Robina Courtin teaches about taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha and taking the 5 lay vows before viewing the YouTube of the Avalokiteshavara Empowerment with His Holiness the Dalai Lama:  https://youtu.be/iUWH3PIjZQ8

On Christmas Eve 2021, Venerable Robina Courtin gave a free public talk: “Bringing the Dharma to Christmas Dinner”.  

In the tradition of Lama Yeshe’s Christmas Dharma Teachings, Venerable Robina speaks about how you can make your Christmas beneficial for all sentient beings! 

The holiday period can bring with it a special sort of festive stress, as many of us juggle social commitments, family dynamics and capitalist expectations to spend, spend, spend!   How to maintain presence of mind amidst these pressures? How to be kind and compassionate to those around us when their views and values differ from our own? And how to have a harmonious gathering with family and friends?  

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Decide - "I'll be at Christmas for them!" (12:00)  

Q: What happens if you decide "to be there for them" and then something happens and you lose that motivation? (16:17)  

Q: If you have sought to create peace with an abuser who isn't aware that they are abusive and they are actively making war - is it wise to impliment an estrangement and how do you know if it is ego or wisdom to do so? (24:02)  

Q: I find I’m feeling really repugnant towards merry makers when there’s so much devastation in the world (eg. my friend’s parents’ home town in Philippines has been devoted by typhoon in the past few days) and it’s dragging down my husband and kids.  What’s your advice please?   (30:52) 

Q: Since it is Christmas eve what would be a nice meditation or offering to do to benefit others? (33:54)  

Q: What to do about forgiveness of yourself when you have been the abuser? (41:39)  

Forgiveness can be misused (49:20)  

Q: How can I distance myself from how I feel when I perceive others to be criticising me so I can keep being positive (especially over the holidays) (50:58)  

Q: Venerable Robina, please let us know your favourite thing to do over Christmas and how do you spend the holidays (52:34)  

Q: When my daughter comes at Christmas, we can only go about a day without an argument. So instead of looking forward to it, I'm dreading it. How can I prepare? (54:51)  

Q: I'd like to learn more about the Buddha, can you suggest something I could read or things I could get to learn more? (58:24)  

The centre Venerable Robina refers to is - Thubten Norbu Ling: a Tibetan Buddhist center in Santa Fe, New Mexico - https://tnlsf.org 

Q: Will Venerable Robina be going to Kopan or running the Indian Tour or the Lawudo trek in the future? (1:01:03)  

More about the Lawudo Trek: https://lawudo-trek.org 

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May anyone who sees, hears, thinks of, remembers or has anything to do with even a moment of these teachings, create the causes for enlightenment within their mindstream.

Venerable Robina Courtin continues teaching about the Buddhist approach to developing compassion.  

WHY ENDLESS COMPASSION? 

Sometimes it feels like the world’s problems are demanding so much of our attention that our compassion reserves will run dry. How can we develop strong, resilient compassion that allows us to help others?  Venerable Robina says: “You don't harm others even slightly if you love, have compassion, generosity, forgiveness - it's not possible. It’s the delusions that cause us pain and cause us to harm others. So when we deeply understand that, it’s like we’ve got compassion for ourselves. That’s what qualifies us to have compassion for others - and that doesn’t just mean the victims, it means the people who do the harm. This is a really tough level of compassion but we can not have it until we know ourselves, until we know what causes us pain.”  

Course notes: https://bit.ly/EndlessCompassionNotes 

Sunny Jacob’s book: https://bit.ly/StolenTime_SunnyJacobs 

Namgyalma mantra to put on your car, to bless all the beings as you drive: https://shop.fpmt.org/Namgyalma-Mantra-Car-Sticker-PDF_p_3294.html 

His Holiness Dalai Lama Avalokiteshvara Initiation, May 2020: 

Day 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUWH3PIjZQ8

Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti-L1BdhLw4 

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Q: If the Miami building was to fall, is it the karma of the people or the karma of the building? (0:49)  

Q: Is all the negativity in our minds the result of karma? (3:39)  

Q: If reincarnation is the only way we exist, why is there more of everything now? (9:06)  

Q: What is the antidote to attachment? [to being approved of] (12:09)  

Q: Still grieving, what to do? (16:14)  

Q: Is reframing our karmic appearances practicing Emptiness, and does practicing Emptiness help us realise Emptiness.. So, is realising Emptiness a process? Can we cultivate Emptiness in the same way we cultivate compassion? (17:25)  

Q: I have lost everything I have loved in my life and I have lost my health. Can I find peace or a happy place in this horrible time in my life, if yes how? (22:06)  

Q: What is initiation? (26:59)  

On taking Refuge (33:44)  

Refuge commitments and vows (47:04)  

Q: if you kill a mosquito after taking a vow, is it worse than if you haven’t taken the vow? (57:37)  

Q: I had to kill the rats in our roof as they were running rampant, destroying stuff. Can we do Vajrasattva practice to repent and also renew my vow again? (1:02:34)  

Q: After today we just retake the vows every morning 1st thing open our eyes? (1:04:13)  

Q: So many insects get squished when we drive a car. If we know animals die when we drive a car should we not drive a car? (1:04:49)  

Q: I would like to take the empowerment. However I am wondering how to reconcile the past faith in God. I am wondering if I can still have the faith in saints and God as well as taking Buddha as my empowerment? (1:11:00)  

Q: Is there a line between killing due to dislike/disgust as opposed to killing for the wellbeing of other beings? For example, I recently had a flea infestation in my apartment. I’m allergic to flea bites and it was causing my foster cat a lot of distress. I chose not to flea bomb due to toxins that would affect the cat however I used diatomaceous earth which is non-toxic for myself and the cat however kills fleas by dehydration. In this situation what is the best course of action? (1:17:18)

Venerable Robina Courtin continues teaching about the Buddhist approach to developing compassion.  

WHY ENDLESS COMPASSION? 

Sometimes it feels like the world’s problems are demanding so much of our attention that our compassion reserves will run dry. How can we develop strong, resilient compassion that allows us to help others?  Venerable Robina says: “You don't harm others even slightly if you love, have compassion, generosity, forgiveness - it's not possible. It’s the delusions that cause us pain and cause us to harm others. So when we deeply understand that, it’s like we’ve got compassion for ourselves. That’s what qualifies us to have compassion for others - and that doesn’t just mean the victims, it means the people who do the harm. This is a really tough level of compassion but we can not have it until we know ourselves, until we know what causes us pain.”  

Course notes: https://bit.ly/EndlessCompassionNotes 

***  

What drives *our* actions that harm others? (7:07)  

It is the very *having* of anger is where the suffering is (10:45)  

When we can see this within ourselves... (15:00)  

Anger is a mental breakdown [klesha = affliction = mental illness] (24:24)  

The Four Noble Truths (28:15)  

Compassion for ourselves (30:06)  

Look at "deserving". What does "deserving" have to with anger and attachment? (34:48)  

What is attachment? (47:35)  

Q: Can I change my anger into compassion and *then* take action? (56:20)  

Q: Does "survivor guilt" come from compassion? (57:34)  

Q: If “junior school” is being ethical and not harming, and “university” is the compassion wing, is “high school?” working on our own minds?  (1:01:48)  

Q: What is the difference between the anger of the man who kicks his dog and Roger the meditators experience where Rinpoche said "the dirt has to come out" (1:04:15)  

Q: Apparent randomness of events and karma (1:06:17)  

Q: All of these things that are happening - good or bad - our job as practitioners is to bring it all into the path?  (1:12:21)  

Q: Does purification practice like Vajrasattva get rid of the seed of transmute it? (1:14:04)

Venerable Robina Courtin continues teaching about the Buddhist approach to developing compassion.  

WHY ENDLESS COMPASSION? 

Sometimes it feels like the world’s problems are demanding so much of our attention that our compassion reserves will run dry. How can we develop strong, resilient compassion that allows us to help others?  

Venerable Robina says: “You don't harm others even slightly if you love, have compassion, generosity, forgiveness - it's not possible. It’s the delusions that cause us pain and cause us to harm others. So when we deeply understand that, it’s like we’ve got compassion for ourselves. That’s what qualifies us to have compassion for others - and that doesn’t just mean the victims, it means the people who do the harm. This is a really tough level of compassion but we can not have it until we know ourselves, until we know what causes us pain.”  

Course notes: https://bit.ly/EndlessCompassionNotes

 *** 

Even if you're drowning, you might as well stay perky...(6:58)  

Q: How to recognise authentic compassion, compassion with wisdom? (7:36)  

Practices to develop compassion (14:55)  

Q: If removing the dirt from the water (as a metaphor for overcoming delusions) is possible - what is "the water"? (39:15)  

Q: How to apply equanimity to ourselves? Should we look at our afflictions with equanimity? (46:05)  

Q: How does talking about others destroy our equanimity? Is it because we can do it with anger. Is there ever a time that talking about others is okay and in line with our equanimity? (53:22)  

Q: It’s difficult to fathom how one person is able to hold all beings with genuine love. If we forget about a stranger’s headache in 1 minute - does a Bodhisattva keep thinking about it? Can we think about 7.5 billion peoples’ headaches all at once? It seems like too big a job for a single person - how is that level of concern experienced by a Bodhisattva? (1:00:00)  

Q: I don't understand the suffering of change. (1:03:03)  

Q: What is the mudra when offering the mandala? (1:09:43)  

Q: Is it so: that which my mind labels as pleasure is actually a delusion and a kind of poison (1:12:24)  

Q: Could you please talk more about the connection between the mind and the body? Is this something that we can only experience/ observe through meditation? (1:22:32)

In this series of teachings, Venerable Robina Courtin teaches about the Buddhist approach to developing compassion.  

WHY ENDLESS COMPASSION? 

Sometimes it feels like the world’s problems are demanding so much of our attention that our compassion reserves will run dry. How can we develop strong, resilient compassion that allows us to help others?  Venerable Robina says: “You don't harm others even slightly if you love, have compassion, generosity, forgiveness - it's not possible. It’s the delusions that cause us pain and cause us to harm others. So when we deeply understand that, it’s like we’ve got compassion for ourselves. That’s what qualifies us to have compassion for others - and that doesn’t just mean the victims, it means the people who do the harm. This is a really tough level of compassion but we can not have it until we know ourselves, until we know what causes us pain.”  

Course notes: https://bit.ly/EndlessCompassionNotes 

Links mentioned in video:  

Lama Yeshe - Mahamudra: https://bit.ly/MahamudraFPMTShop 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche - How to Face Death Without Fear: https://bit.ly/KLZR_DeathWithoutFear 

Bronnie Ware - Top 5 Regrets of the Dying: https://bit.ly/Top5RegretsOfTheDying 

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The nuts and bolts of Buddhist practice (8:24)  

Why do we get drained when working with others and are seeing their suffering? It's *not* from compassion (15:00)  

Understanding attachment (19:13)  

The key to success! (25:11)  

The bottom line is: (33:06)  

Compassion is not enough, we need wisdom (35:58)  

Q: What is the definition of "brain", "mind" and "consciousness"? (45:19)  

Q: What about attachment to thinking "I'm right. My view is right"? (52:16)  

Q: How do we practice in the present and still plan for the future? (57:48)  

Q: Sir David Attenborough has said that we have 18 years left now to turn around what we are doing to wreck this planet we live on ..and then there will be no turning back from the inevitable destruction of all life on this planet and human being will become extinct...I just want to hear ven. Robinas thoughts on this fact (1:00:48)  

Q: Where is the line between being compassionate and being a doormat? (1:06:19)  

Q: Maybe when they (some Yoguis) say that we are not the mind they mean that we are not our ego. So how to recognize the Self and the ego? (1:11:18)  

Q: What is Universal Mind in relation to our personal Mind.  How is it connected? (1:12:40)  

Q: I have been bullied in the past and at the same time told I am way too nice. So how to get around this?  so we give up attachment to being seen to be 'a good little greek girl'  but be good, help others and kind, say your truth and get on with it, by being brave/courageous and not being attached to being seen as say a 'good little greek girl' - identify my own attachment to being a 'good little greek girl' is this on the right track? (1:15:45)

Venerable Robina Courtin continues teaching on Lama Zopa Rinpoche's book, How to Face Death Without Fear (https://bit.ly/KLZR_DeathWithoutFear​).  

How to Face Death Without Fear is a collection of Rinpoche's teachings on how to think about death and reincarnation, how to help our loved ones at the time of death (including our pets) and how to prepare for our own death.  Venerable Robina edited the collection, and as she explains in the preface: "Because for most of us death is a difficult thing to come to terms with—our loved one’s or our own—working out which practices to do can be daunting. Therefore Rinpoche’s actual advice, the things to do—contained in parts 3, 4, and 5, the heart of the book—have been identified as eighty-seven distinct practices, numbered and structured chronologically to help us know what to do when.”  

Course notes: https://bit.ly/DeathWithoutFearNotes 

Links related to video: How to Face Death Without Fear book: https://bit.ly/KLZR_DeathWithoutFear​ 

Mantras for Animals playlist on Spotify: http://bit.ly/MantrasForAnimals​ 

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Venerable Robina Courtin continues teaching on Lama Zopa Rinpoche's book, How to Face Death Without Fear (https://bit.ly/KLZR_DeathWithoutFear​).  

How to Face Death Without Fear is a collection of Rinpoche's teachings on how to think about death and reincarnation, how to help our loved ones at the time of death (including our pets) and how to prepare for our own death.  Venerable Robina edited the collection, and as she explains in the preface: "Because for most of us death is a difficult thing to come to terms with—our loved one’s or our own—working out which practices to do can be daunting. Therefore Rinpoche’s actual advice, the things to do—contained in parts 3, 4, and 5, the heart of the book—have been identified as eighty-seven distinct practices, numbered and structured chronologically to help us know what to do when.”  

Course notes: https://bit.ly/DeathWithoutFearNotes 

Links related to video: How to Face Death Without Fear book: https://bit.ly/KLZR_DeathWithoutFear​ 

Mantras for Animals playlist on Spotify: http://bit.ly/MantrasForAnimals​ 

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