Buddhist Teachings By Ven. Robina Courtin

If you look honestly at your mind, you will see anger, irritation, or craving. These negative mental states are called disturbing emotions because they do just that, disturb our well-being and get in the way of real practice. How does Buddha address this?  He laid out four simple steps to purify negative karma. The four stages are Regret, Refuge, Remediation and Resolve. Take care of your own karma first, then you can open your potential for a much larger sense of compassion.  23:39 | This is part of a series of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019. Full teaching here (Session 6)

Attending to the little things throughout the day, we can be aware of our subtle mental disturbances. That way we can deal with things as they come up. We identify what they are, and we talk ourselves through it. We get used to working with adversity.  So when the big things come, we will suffer, but we won’t lose our direction. This is part of a series of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019. Full teaching here (Session 5)

Be careful about what you expect from meditation. It’s not a magic pill that will suddenly make you happy. We learn meditation to familiarize ourselves with our own minds. To clear out the trash. It takes exertion and diligence to learn proper stability meditation technique.  This is part of a series of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019. Full teaching here (Session 4)

The Buddha asks us to take responsibility for our own situation. That’s tough when it comes to suffering. It’s easy to slip into a victim mentality, blaming everyone but ourselves. Rather, muster the courage to make our own decisions based on a solid understanding of reality, so you can increase your virtuous qualities. That’s what we learn in Junior School. This is part of a series of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019. Full teaching here (Session 4)

We feel a sense of entitlement about “deserving” happiness. But it’s more practical to look at our own craving and learn from it. Self-pity can impair our ability to access that information and use it to grow the true causes of happiness.  This is part of a series of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019. Full teaching here (Session 3)

When we cultivate habits of awareness, we discover the causes of our deepest hurt.  The regular, worldly awareness mostly ruminates about the past and frets about the future. Check your own mind. These are the habits of ego-clinging, seeing yourself as distinctly separate from all others. However, awareness of the present reveals this impoverished and lonely “I” as a mere conceptualization, part of an interdependent and dynamic process, mostly created by habit. This is part of a series of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019. Full teaching here.

Our deeply-ingrained mental habits help feed a profound sense of dissatisfaction. That’s what Buddha calls suffering, or samsara. This emotional hunger, or craving, we call attachment. When attachment doesn’t get what it wants, then we experience anger. If we break down the karmic steps in the situation, we can see how our mental precursors can be reversed. This is part of a series of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019.

Buddha observes a simple moral framework of non-harming. The way we relate to others really creates the kind of person we become. It shapes how we experience the future in very particular ways. If the mind is habituated or oriented toward morality, then disturbing emotions won’t arise. If it is habituated in non-virtue, then we suffer a great deal. Everything we experience is stored, ripens, and helps shape how we experience the present. Therefore, logically, I should sow the seeds of happiness, (benefit others), and avoid sowing the seeds of suffering, (harming others). This is part of a series of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019.

Everything we experience and everything we become, stems from our previous actions. It’s not just random. There is some structure and consistency to the law of cause and effect. Check with your own experience. That’s karma. This is part of a series of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019.  

Let’s take a closer look at this mind that we can see directly with our own consciousness. In Buddhism, we work to understand what’s happening inside us. So, we calm down and learn what our senses do, how they interact with emotions and thoughts. We can see things playing out in the mind. We have loads of thoughts. They seem hidden because we are too distracted by the dramatic events in the outside world. Unraveling this tangle of what’s happening in the mind is called the beginning of “wisdom.” It’s when we free ourselves of all those exaggerated opinions.   This is the second part of a serious of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019.

The key reason we suffer are these neurotic emotions, which are based on a world view that is out-of-touch with reality. These misconceptions, according to Buddhist psychology, happen due to habitual projections. How does that happen? Consider that each moment of consciousness is made up from the moment before. Through the Buddhist teachings, we can develop some doubt about our projections. We can notice and examine our thoughts and emotions through stability meditation. All the Buddhist concepts come to the same thing – the mind is central. It is the beginning of suffering, and the beginning of happiness. So we need to work skillfully with the mind.  This is part of a series of talks given at the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 5-7, 2019.

Exploring the nature of ‘self’ in India 2500 years ago led to techniques that access the more subtle levels of consciousness. These techniques were mapped out so we can develop our incredible potential. 12:48 | Extracted from teachings given at Jamyang Buddhist Group, March 2017.  Full teaching here.

We can develop a healthy sense of empowerment by considering karma in a personal way. Think about how everything in this moment actually depends on the moment before. All our experiences of the present are merely an accumulation of previous actions. Karma means action; and by that, we mean actions from body, speech and mind. Each individual literally creates their own experiences out of both habit and our intentions. 22:34 | Extracted from teachings given at Ocean of Compassion (Gyalwa Gyatso) Buddhist Center, Aug 19, 2017. Full teaching here.        

A presentation from the Buddha for progressively more advanced topics. We must first practice addressing the obvious disturbances in the mind and learn about their causes and effects. As we gain understanding, we can do more advanced practices that uproot subtle obstacles. 7:02 | Extracted from teachings given at Jamyang Buddhist Group March 2017. Full teaching here.

Trying to understand our own attachments can be brutal. We try to unpack the process of how attachments cause us suffering. We can learn the mind's subtle workings. For instance, attachment feeds off of low self-esteem like a vampire. This work isn’t about putting yourself down. It’s a matter of self-respect. Why should we trust in a junkie mind? 28:07 | Extracted from teachings given by Ven. Robina on the 2017 Lawudo Trek - Stillness Beyond Samsara, April 04, 2017.  Full teaching here

Buddha presents a very direct, counter-intuitive way of addressing our own suffering. He asks us to look at how we cling to the ego when under pressure, thinking “It’s not my fault.” That closed-off attitude is what propels us into a spiral of blame, dissatisfaction and aching attachment. The irony is that if you let go of ego and the attachments and cravings cease. They are not an intrinsic part of your being and can be removed. 4:25 | Extracted from teachings given at Jamyang Buddhist Group, March 2017.  Full teachings here.

Buddha presents a practical, valid, intellectually consistent world view of emotions, thoughts and how we view the outside world. The teachings encourage a skeptical, courageous process of testing our presumptions. We came into this world with tendencies, conceptual imprints, habits and assumptions. This informs the way things appear to us. It is as H.H. Dalai Lama says, you are your own creator.  

Visualizing and meditating on Buddha Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion, as well as reciting his mantra, OM MANI PEME HUM, helps us reveal our own marvelous potential for empathy and love and thus our capacity to be of benefit to others.   For more information about this practice, read Lama Yeshe’s "Becoming the Compassion Buddha", Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of Chenrezig", or Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings from the "Mani Retreat."

13:37 | Extracted from "When the Chocolate Runs Out" teachings given at Ocean of Compassion (Gyalwa Gyatso) Buddhist Center, August 18, 2017. Full teaching here When Attachment Does not Get What It Wants

5:14 | Extracted from teachings given by Ven. Robina on the 2017 Lawudo Trek - Stillness Beyond Samsara, April 04, 2017.  Full teaching here