How to Loosen the Grip of Ego-Grasping with Venerable Robina Courtin

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Repeats every week every Wednesday 4 times.

7:00 pm Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Lama Tsongkhapa praises Lord Buddha’s teachings on dependent arising – the “king of logics” to prove emptiness, as Lama Yeshe puts it. With this perfect view, Je Rinpoche says, we can never “fall into the abyss of the great mistake” of nihilism, one of the commonest misconceptions about emptiness.

Over four Wednesday evenings in August, we will investigate how in his gradual path literature he skillfully leads us to the eradication of ego-grasping, the primordial assumption of a fear-driven, bereft, separate self, which simply doesn’t exist.

We start by applying the law of karma – an example of the first level of dependent arising: cause and effect - which gradually counteracts our pervasive feelings of hopelessness and self-pity, causing us to realize that we are the source of our own happiness and suffering.

Next, we get the the root of the problem by becoming our own therapists: delving deep into our mind and identifying our delusions – attachment, aversion, jealousy and the rest – and recognizing that they are fabrications rooted in ego-grasping.

Photo courtesy Maitripa College, Marc Sakomoto

Now, combining our practice with bodhichitta, we are equipped to understand the subtler levels of dependent arising and to use this logic to uproot ego-grasping itself and realize emptiness.

Venerable Robina's teachings will be offered online Wednesday evenings, 7-9 pm, August 4, 11, 18 and 25.

Download course notes here.

This course is available via both Zoom and YouTube. Register here to participate on Zoom.

More about Venerable Robina.

Hear a recent BBC interview with Venerable Robina.

Sponsor dedications

Diane M: May these teachings ripen as a long life for Venerable Robina and for the benefit of all beings.

John C: May we all be able to reconnect with our Dharma friends and teachers in person very soon.

Deann W: For Venerable Robina; "MY TEACHER AND FRIEND FOREVER!"

Anonymous: We dedicate all merit to all transmigratory beings. May they all be released from samsara.

Anonymous: May these teachings help us along the path to enlightenment and bodhicitta.

Anonymous: For the long life of Venerable Robina. May these teachings benefit all of us for lifetimes until enlightenment. My wishes for freedom from samsara for my loved ones and all sentient beings.

Linda S.: May the merit accumulated by these teachings, as well as the merit generated by all Dharma activity and kind-hearted thoughts and actions, immediately eliminate violence, destructive weather, fires, diseases, famine, mental and physical suffering, so that all beings everywhere experience peaceful minds and good health, and quickly attain the state of full enlightenment.

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