Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 9-minute talk, Ven Robina Courtin teaches the six perfections of the bodhisattva path, then shifts to practical generosity through Q&A on giving money to those asking for it. She begins with joyful effort and overcoming laziness, then walks the path’s culmination: concentration meditation and insight into emptiness as the wisdom wing, leading to non-conceptual realization and Buddhahood. The discussion then turns practical—how to navigate the ethical dilemmas of conditional or judgemental giving. Using vivid personal stories from India to a New York mugging, she illustrates how generosity becomes blocked by questioning worthiness, and how genuine giving flows from seeing another person’s need. The talk closes with dedication prayers for all sentient beings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 22 DAR 2003 06 22.mp3
UUID: 96f8e3d2-5fd2-41d4-9bbe-691fcdabff3c
Teacher: Ven Robina Courtin
Collection: y Death and Rebirth (Ven Robina Courtin)
Date: 2003-06-22
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 9.0 minutes
Words: ~1,877
I almost can’t bear it. You know? Because by the end of the day when you’re tired, you just cannot wait to die in that bed for a few hours, isn’t it? You just can’t wait to go there. So even to have the thought, may I one day not need sleep is already so courageous, because it’s certainly possible.
Many examples. So we just the the belief we can’t do it, you know. And we can all see the difference. Two kids will go to the football and see one famous person. I don’t know who the famous football is here.
This is and whoever he is. There’s a famous footballer. And two kids go, and one goes and they both go, wow, isn’t he amazing? Then one says, oh, I can’t do that. So I should go back and watch watch on the telly.
The other one says, I can become like that. Well, that’s enthusiasm. Seeing the example and knowing no matter how long it takes, I wanna do that. And that’s what makes you succeed. So we’ve gotta have this joyful effort, enthusiastic perseverance.
We’ve gotta conquer the opposite, which is the laziness, you know. That’s the point. That’s a tough one. And the next one is what the the last two the first four you do in relation to beings from life after life after life after life, bopping along, perfecting all of these, becoming this amazing being. And the last two, you do in your meditation.
This is where you perfect the wisdom wing, actually. You perfect the wisdom wing in the context of six perfections of the bodhisattva. So the fifth one is concentration, which we discussed this morning, concentration meditation. And the sixth one is insight meditation, specifically insight into emptiness. So and we discussed these two.
We’ve discussed these two. So the culmination of all of this, all of these, you know, all of this entire path is finally Buddhahood. The culmination of wisdom, when you finally get the non-conceptual direct realization of emptiness, you totally perfect it, removing all the obstacles, and you’ve perfected the the six perfections. You do them side by side. You know?
You finally become who you really are. So that’s the path to enlightenment from a to zed. Quarter to five. We have to go. Just to finish, any questions then?
We didn’t do the meditation tonight, but you got it in your in your books, and we did briefly yesterday. So you’ve got know how to do it. So tell me, any questions? I’m certainly gonna talk about the. Yeah.
Often. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. That you go, oh, I give them food, and I can give them money.
That’s right. Spend on spending on drugs. Of course. Yeah. They might.
That’s giving with conditions. It is. I mean, I’m saying giving. No. I mean, the thing is if you can see that a person’s gonna really do harm to someone else, then I think maybe it’s cool not to give.
But I mean, all of us have alcohol, do something, you know? I mean, it’s like so they’re gonna I mean, this guy we saw, this old drunk, you know? He’s outside the pub, come and wait. Ran in as soon we gave him the money, you know? I don’t care.
I mean, so it’s being moralistic. Well, I’m not gonna give him, you know, I’ll give him a banana. I mean, excuse me. And there’s somehow this calming connection made, and he was very happy when he saw that. You know?
It was great. Probably that fear connection. It is fear. And it’s fear. We get very and then especially if you’re in places like India, you know, where you’re just bombarded by beggars.
You can get very embarrassed and very nervous, we do in the West, but, you know, you decide in advance. And that’s what Tibetans do. They understand giving. And they they go to the bank, they get their change, they have a certain amount of rupees, and then when you run out, you run out. You just decide you’re gonna give a certain There’s nothing wrong with that.
And you give, even though they’re all rushing and shouting and yelling and begging at you, you don’t start sort of, oh, look, they’re really cheating. Oh, they don’t really mean it. Look, the very fact that a person has a poverty mentality and needs to be a beggar is enough reason to give them a rupee, you know? Big deal. We get too caught up in a philosophy and they shouldn’t and shouldn’t and why not and how.
There’s a person in front of you, they need a rupee, give it. You know? I remember one time, actually, when I lived in Delhi, in India, and every time I’m there, you stop at the red lights, all these beggars would naturally come, know? These little kind of guys all doing their job. And I remember this dude, and I got so fed up.
I said, listen, you give me something. And he gave me a rupee. Was so sweet, this beggar. He did. That was very funny.
Actually, that’s what I said to the guy in New York who held me up with a gun. I was so outraged. This man had a gun in my chest. I was so outraged. Was so actually, I couldn’t believe this dude.
How I kept abusing him. How who do you think you are? How dare you? How dare you ask for the money? I said, I’m just as poor as you.
I said, you give me your money. And there’s this gun right here. He said, give me your money, bitch, you know. I said, no, you give me your money. And the idiot couldn’t believe it.
He shrugged and walked away. I was so outraged, how dare he put a gun in my chest? Anyway, that was just another story. My sister kept saying, give him some hey, give him my sister Janet was into stealing, she had a glass of wine, we’d just been to this Irish bar, and Janet had a glass of wine. She kept saying, hey, man, Hey, brother.
Have some wine. I want your fucking wine. I want your money. Jan kept saying to me, get him some. I said, no.
You’re giving me money. This is a ridiculous conversation. He couldn’t believe it, you know. There’s these sort of English sounding accents, which already blows Americans’ minds. He couldn’t believe it, so he left, you know.
Just went away. So why don’t we do a few little wee prayers? As you there’s prayers in the back of your notes. We’ll do a few more. Okay?
May I have a copy? Just have a look now. Just a look. You share for now, and I’ll just before that one. Yeah.
Thanks, darling. There we go. On page forty one, there’s a few little prayers, end the dedication prayers, there’s a few, just for auspiciousness. Can we read them, please? Together, if you’d like.
Make them your thoughts, if they make sense. Through the merits have you all got them? Forty one. Yeah? Okay.
So through the merits it just says dedication prayers. Through the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha, and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. May the supreme jewel, bodhicitta, that has not arisen arise and grow, and may that which has arisen not diminish, but increase more and more. Just as the brave Mañjuśrī in Samantabhādra too now, Samantabhādra was famous for all his offerings. Realize things as they are, I too dedicate all these merits in the best way that I may follow their perfect example.
I dedicate all these roots of virtue with a dedication. Praises the best by the victorious ones thus gone of the free time so I might perform good works. I dedicate whatever virtues I have ever collected for the benefit of the teachings and of all sentient beings, and in particular, for the essential teachings of venerable Losang Drakpa, that’s Je Tsongkhapa, to shine forever. May we not arise heresy even for a second in the actions of the glorious guru, may we regard whatever actions are done as pure. With this devotion, may we receive the blessings of the Guru in our hearts.
And whatever way you appear, glorious Guru, with whatever retinue, lifespan and pure land, whatever noble and holy name you take, may I and others attain only these. In all my lives, through the victorious one, Lama Tsongkhapa, acting in person as the Mahāyāna guru, may I never turn aside for even an instant from the excellent path praised by the victorious ones. And this next one is just the prayer for the long life of his holiness, but again thinking the long life of all the holy beings on this earth, whoever they are, who are bringing goodness and clarity and wisdom for us suffering sentient beings. In the land encircled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and good, all powerful Chenrezig and Gyatso, please remain until Samsāra ends. And this is a little prayer, which actually I was gonna do refuge today, but I didn’t do it, did I?
Too late. Meet me next time. Anybody who wanted to take refuge? I just forgot to mention. We’re going to do it.
So it was in these notes. So never mind. This is a little prayer that Robina adapted from Saint Francis’ prayer on the back page. Yeah. It’s just nice to say.
You who uphold oh, no. Sorry. This is Narasopan’s long life prayer. You who uphold the subduing moral way, who serves as bountiful bearer of all, sustaining, preserving, and spreading Manjunath’s victorious doctrine, who masterfully accomplishes magnificent prayers honoring the Three Jewels, protected of myself and others your disciples. Please, please live long.
And this little prayer of Saint Francis. Lord Buddha, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, let me sow pardon. Where there is discord, let me sow unity.
Where there is doubt, let me sow faith. Where there is error, let me sow truth. Where there is despair, let me sow hope. Where there is sadness, let me sow joy. Where there is darkness, let me sow light.
O divine master, grant that I may not so much seek happiness for the ego, to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, as to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying, having practiced, that we are born to eternal life, from happiness to happiness up to full enlightenment. Okey doke. It’s gone like a dream? Oh, yes, your prayers.
Thanks, darling. So thank you. That’s all I can say very much, everybody. Everyone. But on behalf of the sangha and the people who have, we Thank you, everybody.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you, thank you. That’s all I can say.