Special Event: Courageous Compassion
with Venerable Robina Courtin
The development of compassion and bodhicitta is the point of the path to enlightenment, the end result: the removal of all separateness from others and the spontaneous capacity to benefit all sentient beings perfectly.
Why “courageous”? Because genuine compassion encompasses all living beings, including the harmers, the negative ones, not just the innocent victims.
But as His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, “Compassion is not enough: we need wisdom.” Without the development of renunciation of suffering and its causes (which comes from understanding of the law of karma and the workings of one’s own mind) and of the wisdom that sees reality as it is (which comes from understanding dependent arising and emptiness) one cannot fully develop such radical compassion.
The great bodhisattvas are fierce in their determination to never give up on sentient beings: they “think in terms of eons,” as His Holiness says.
With this level of enthusiasm, we can stay optimistic and confident in the face of the suffering of the world.
Recording
About the Teacher
Venerable Robina Courtin has worked full-time for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, since her ordination in the late 1970s. Over the years she has served as editorial director of Wisdom Publications, editor of Mandala Magazine, executive director of Liberation Prison Project, and as a touring teacher of Buddhism. Her life and work with prisoners have been featured in the documentary films Chasing Buddha and Key to Freedom. Venerable Robina is known for her straightforward and energetic teaching style, helping people discover the potential of their own minds with clear explanations about Tibetan Buddhism and how to apply it to their lives.
Visit her website at https://www.robinacourtin.com.
