Buddhist Teachings By Ven. Robina Courtin

Start the day with your mind pointed in a positive direction. No bells or whistles, just bliss.

Something To Think About Series #230 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

Something To Think About Series #229 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

All sentient beings are caught in the trap of suffering in the realms of existence. Bodhichitta is a mind that wishes to free beings from suffering and bring them to the state of enlightenment. A bodhisattva is a person who has that bodhichitta mind, is a practitioner of the enlightenment thought which is the aspiration to achieve complete enlightenment as a perfect Buddha for the benefit of oneself and all other sentient beings. Love and compassion are the forces that motivate all activities of Bodhisattvas. Love is a strong wish that aspires to attain happiness for all sentient beings and compassion is the state of mind that wishes each being to be freed from all sufferings or sorrows, great compassion is the root wisdom. These next three weeks we’re going to be talking about compassion. We’ve got the wisdom wing and the compassion wing. It’s a wonderful analogy, it works brilliantly, it covers all the Buddha’s teachings, and it’s also very personal. The point of the entire path is to become this Buddha. So

Something To Think About Series #228 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

Something To Think About Series #227 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

Something To Think About Series #226 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

Start the day with your mind pointed in positive direction.

Something To Think About Series #224 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

Venerable Robina gives a teaching on Attachment & Emptiness during the Lawudo Trek in Nepal. One way of presenting these levels of practice which are expressed in this packaging of Tsongkhapa’s called the Lamrim, this gradual path, this course, that you graduate from as a Buddha, is in terms of understanding attachment. This is massive for the Buddha, way bigger than we can think because it’s assuming even the way the world is, how we’re born, the kind of bodies we have, it’s got a much bigger framework than we can think of. So effectively the actual delusion that’s the source of all suffering is this thing called ego grasping that the realisation of emptiness cuts, and all the teachings lead to that. But effectively in daily life we can say attachment is the main problem. This bottomless pit of dissatisfaction, the neediness, that causes the anger and aversion then causes all the other things, which cause us to harm others, which causes suffering rebirths, and so on. When we understand attachment is the

Something To Think About Series #223 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

Something To Think About Series #222 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

Something To Think About Series #221 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

If we realised impermanence, realised the reality and integrated it into our mind, that impermanence is just the way things are, and we will die, your life is transformed, because you don’t waste your life when you realise it’s impermanent. Death is definite but the time of death is not certain. Venerable Robina discusses Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s book - ‘How To Face Death Without Fear’ and explains the steps of the death process. Questions about - the concept that there’s no time to waste and the Pali term Saṃvega, the stages of death, what stage does chanting mantras matters, should the three days after death be at home, what happens when you die suddenly with cardiac arrest, pulling the hair at the crown when someone dies, is there a test to perform after death to know if the consciousness has left the body, when someone is dying but is on a lot of pain medication, and voluntary assisted dying? Vajrayana Institute, Sydney, 25th May 2025. https://youtu.be/IsHYAlGmsxg

Something To Think About Series #220 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

Something To Think About Series #219 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

Most people don’t like to think about death. Death is a really crucial thing to understand, because according to the Buddha our mind will continue to another life and we’ve got a long term goal of Buddhahood, which indeed could take us countless lifetimes, so you’ve got to have a very serious long term plan. Death is an extremely important stage in this development. As Lama Zopa Rinpoche says - actually if you want to help anybody in this life, the time they need you most, is at the time of death. There are two approaches to preparing for death. One is to live your life well, so that when death comes you are ready for it and relaxed. The second one is what to do during the months, weeks, days, and hours before death; at the time the breath stops, and three days after that. Why is it so important to help a person die well? Because at the time of death, the karmic seed planted in the mind of that person, that will determine their next life, is triggered as the death process starts. The crucial piece, and withou

Something To Think About Series #218 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin

Something To Think About Series #217 Thought of the day from Venerable Robina Courtin