On Christmas Eve 2021, Venerable Robina Courtin gave a free public talk: “Bringing the Dharma to Christmas Dinner”.
In the tradition of Lama Yeshe’s Christmas Dharma Teachings, Venerable Robina speaks about how you can make your Christmas beneficial for all sentient beings!
The holiday period can bring with it a special sort of festive stress, as many of us juggle social commitments, family dynamics and capitalist expectations to spend, spend, spend! How to maintain presence of mind amidst these pressures? How to be kind and compassionate to those around us when their views and values differ from our own? And how to have a harmonious gathering with family and friends?
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Decide - "I'll be at Christmas for them!" (12:00)
Q: What happens if you decide "to be there for them" and then something happens and you lose that motivation? (16:17)
Q: If you have sought to create peace with an abuser who isn't aware that they are abusive and they are actively making war - is it wise to impliment an estrangement and how do you know if it is ego or wisdom to do so? (24:02)
Q: I find I’m feeling really repugnant towards merry makers when there’s so much devastation in the world (eg. my friend’s parents’ home town in Philippines has been devoted by typhoon in the past few days) and it’s dragging down my husband and kids. What’s your advice please? (30:52)
Q: Since it is Christmas eve what would be a nice meditation or offering to do to benefit others? (33:54)
Q: What to do about forgiveness of yourself when you have been the abuser? (41:39)
Forgiveness can be misused (49:20)
Q: How can I distance myself from how I feel when I perceive others to be criticising me so I can keep being positive (especially over the holidays) (50:58)
Q: Venerable Robina, please let us know your favourite thing to do over Christmas and how do you spend the holidays (52:34)
Q: When my daughter comes at Christmas, we can only go about a day without an argument. So instead of looking forward to it, I'm dreading it. How can I prepare? (54:51)
Q: I'd like to learn more about the Buddha, can you suggest something I could read or things I could get to learn more? (58:24)
The centre Venerable Robina refers to is - Thubten Norbu Ling: a Tibetan Buddhist center in Santa Fe, New Mexico - https://tnlsf.org
Q: Will Venerable Robina be going to Kopan or running the Indian Tour or the Lawudo trek in the future? (1:01:03)
More about the Lawudo Trek: https://lawudo-trek.org
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May anyone who sees, hears, thinks of, remembers or has anything to do with even a moment of these teachings, create the causes for enlightenment within their mindstream.