Venerable Robina Courtin

We are so pleased to have Venerable Robina Courtin returning this upcoming January. When she came in 2007 the room was packed. If you have never heard her speak she has a thick Aussie accent, but is clear and concise about what she says. She is full of life and spunk. I highly suggest coming to hear her, even if you know nothing of Buddhism. This series of teachings will be called the Secret of Happiness.Ven. Robina Courtin has been a Tibetan Buddhist nun for more than 25 years. Based in San Francisco, California since 1997, she has run the Liberation Prison Project for Buddhist practitioners, working with people in prisons throughout the US. The project helps them with their practice and studies by correspondence and by sending books, tapes, and other materials. She visits prisons in California, Massachusetts, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia, giving teachings to groups and meeting them one-to-one. Several of these men are on death row or have life sentences, and some have been involved in gangs, both on the streets and in prison.
Ven. Robina was born in Melbourne, Australia and brought up as a Catholic. She studied classical singing until her early twenties then, went to London in 1967, where she lived for four years. She became actively involved in the radical left, working mainly with a London-based support group for black and Chicano prisoners. In the early 70s she became a feminist and returned to Melbourne in 1972 to work with other radical feminists. In her quest for a spiritual path, Ven. Robina began studying martial arts in 1974, and moved to New York, where she studied karate. She continued her studies in Melbourne until 1976, when she attended a Tibetan Buddhist course in Queensland given by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
In November 1977, Ven. Robina went to Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, where she was ordained. Since then, she has lived as a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition, traveling, teaching, and bringing the Dharma to people both in and out of prison.

Do not miss the opportunity to hear this amazing women.

Kendra