Robina Courtin

Robina Courtin (born Melbourne, Australia, 20 December 1944^[1]), is a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa tradition and lineage of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In 1996 she founded Liberation Prison Project, which she ran until 2009.^[2][3]

Biography

Courtin was raised Catholic, and in her youth she was interested in becoming a Carmelite nun.^[4] In her young adulthood, she initially trained as a classical singer while living in London during the late 1960s. She became a feminist activist and worked on behalf of prisoners' rights in the early 1970s. In 1972 she moved back to Melbourne. Courtin began studying martial arts in 1974, living in New York and, again, back in Melbourne. In 1976, she took a Buddhist course taught by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa in Queensland.

In November 1977, Courtin traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal to study at Kopan Monastery, where she was ordained as a Buddhist nun. She was Editorial Director of Wisdom Publications until 1987 and Editor of Mandala until 2000. She left Mandala to teach and to develop Liberation Prison Project.

Robina Courtin's work has been featured in two documentary films, Christine Lundberg's On the Road Home (1998) and Amiel Courtin–Wilson's Chasing Buddha (2000), and in Vicki Mackenzie's book Why Buddhism? (2003).^[5] Her nephew's film, Chasing Buddha, documents Courtin's life and her work with death row inmates in the Kentucky State Penitentiary.^[6] In 2000, the film was nominated for best direction in a documentary by the Australian Film Institute.^[6]

In 2001, Courtin created Chasing Buddha Pilgrimage,^[7] which lead pilgrimages to Buddhist holy sites in India, Nepal, and Tibet to raise money for the Liberation Prison Project.^[8]

Books edited

• McDonald, Kathleen (2006). Courtin, Robina. ed. How to Meditate: A Practical Guide. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0861713419. .
• Yeshe, Lama Thubten (2003). Courtin, Robina. ed. Becoming the Compassion Buddha: Tantric Mahamudra for Everyday Life. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0861713435. .
• Yeshe, Lama Thubten (1998). Courtin, Robina; Cameron, Alisa. eds. The Bliss of Inner Fire: Heart Practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 086171136X. .

Further reading

Books

• Dondrub, Thubten (2001). Spiritual Friends: Meditations by Monks and Nuns of the International Mahayana Institute. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0861713257. .
• MacKenzie, Vicki (2003). Why Buddhism?: Westerners in Search of Wisdom. Element Books. ISBN 0007142285. .

Periodicals

• Morris, Linda (28 April 2005). "A lifeline over the prison walls of the mind". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/A-lifeline-over-the-prison-walls-of-the-mind/2005/04/27/1114462103536.html. Retrieved 2007-22-26. .
• Walker, Vanessa (15 November 2000). "Robina and the hoods". The Australian. .

Audio/Video

• "Chasing Robina". Rachael Kohn, Geoff Wood. The Spirit of Things. Radio National. 2003-07-13. Transcript.
• "Venerable Robina Courtin". Stephen Crittenden, David Rutledge. The Religion Report. Radio National. 2005-05-04. Transcript.
• Robina Courtin (9 September 2007). Compass - Key to Freedom (Television production/DVD). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s2039488.htm. Retrieved 26 November 2007. "Compass follows Robina Courtin as she visits inmates at Long Bay and Junee prisons in NSW." .
• Vince Horn, Ryan Oelke. Episode 89: Venerable Robina Courtin: Bodhisattva CEO Buddhist Geeks. Buddhist Geeks. (21 September 2008). Podcast accessed on 26 March 2009..

References

1. ^ Gregory, Kathleen (October 2001). "Interview with Robina Courtin". Interviews. Ordinary Mind. http://www.ordinarymind.net/Interviews/interview_Oct2001.htm. Retrieved 26 November 2007. 
2. ^ http://www.robinacourtin.com/do.php?fct=link&op=showLinkPage&pageId=9
3. ^ "Ven. Robina". Liberation Prison Project. Archived from the original on 24 November 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071124142155/http://www.fpmt.org/teachers/resident/robinacourtin.asp. Retrieved 26 November 2007. 
4. ^ Saucy, Suzanne (May 2004). Buddhism Behind Bars. Common Ground. http://commongroundmag.com/2004/05/buddhismbehindbars0405.html. Retrieved 2007-22-26. 
5. ^ "Ven. Robina Courtin". Chasing Buddha Pilgrimage. http://chasingbuddha.org/ven_robina.htm. Retrieved 26 November 2007. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Alston, Macky (Spring 2004). "Filmmaking as spiritual practice and ministry". Cross Currents 54 (1): 76–83. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2096/is_1_54/ai_n6095116. Retrieved 26 November 2007. 
7. ^ http://www.chasingbuddha.org/index.htm
8. ^ "Venerable Robina Courtin". Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. http://www.liberationprisonproject.org/robina/index.php. Retrieved 21 July 2008. 

External links

• Venerable Robina Courtin

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Name	Courtin, Robina
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Date of birth	20 December 1944
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