OVERCOMING ATTACHMENT with Venerable Robina Courtin

20 JANUARY 2021
9am-12 noon Mountain Time / 6-9pm Romania time

Through her dynamic and often humorous teaching style, Ven. Robina Courtin will explain how the mind offers tools that enable us to overcome attachment and develop genuine love and compassion.

The teachings will be in English (with Romanian translation being offered) and will include Mahayana Buddhist teachings, as well as Q&A sessions. The event is open to anyone interested in better knowing their mind from a Buddhist perspective, in order to be able to use it for their own benefit, as well as others’.

?”So, what’s the problem with this attachment? The key point about it and all the other negative states of mind that stem from it – anger, which is the response when attachment doesn’t get what it wants; jealousy, low self-esteem, arrogance, etc., etc. – is that it’s delusional; its not an accurate assessment of reality; it distorts things. Therefore it causes suffering. It’s a perilous state of mind.
This is difficult to see, especially because attachment triggers such good feelings. In fact, it seems cruel to even call it “negative”, which in Buddhism is merely referring to a state of mind that isn’t realistic and therefore causes pain and, in turn, causes us to harm others.
We need to analyze this, and then we can begin to distinguish between the positive, altruistic states of mind and the delusion called attachment.
Initially it’s impossible to see how attachment causes suffering. But we can see it nakedly when it doesn’t get what it wants; when the bubble bursts; when the fighting starts, the jealousy, the pain, the loss. Attachment is at the root of them all.
In fact, if we didn’t have attachment, we couldn’t possibly have anger or depression or low self-esteem or jealousy: this is very sobering to contemplate.
Of course, we don’t need to give up our beloveds. When we’ve really worked deeply on our minds and can distinguish between attachment and altruism, even a little, then we can begin to get the best of both worlds, have our cake and eat it too!
So, we do our best. Never give up wanting someone to be happy, loving them in other words, even when they don’t do what my attachment wants. That’s the key to success and true happiness in life!”

?ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Ordained since the late 1970s, Ven. Robina has worked full time since then for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s FPMT. 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. More here: robinacourtin.com

?LOCATION: ONLINE ON ZOOM
The event will take place on the Zoom online platform – you can access it directly in your Chrome browser or you can download the app on your computer, phone or tablet.
❗️ Please register using the enrollment form: https://forms.gle/34suzppCCsch8mWDA. You will receive the link before the event, on the e-mail address provided in the registration form.

?SUGGESTED DONATION:
Suggested donation: 40 lei (8 Euros) for Non-Members or FREE FOR MEMBERS.
Let us know if you have financial difficulties and we will offer you a discount.
Please donate using the enrollment form: https://forms.gle/34suzppCCsch8mWDA

We welcome you all!