When asked what the meaning of life was, Venerable Robina responded by explaining, “There’s a saying in Buddhism that a bird needs two wings: wisdom and compassion. Compassion is the point, but, as the Dalai Lama says, compassion is not enough; we need wisdom. What’s wisdom? That’s the work we do on ourselves to lessen our own fear, attachment, anger, depression and the rest. We realize that these debilitating voices of ego are what drag us down, hold us back, create barriers between ourselves and others. With this inner work — becoming our own therapists, as one Tibetan monk puts it — we just naturally become more content, more confident, more clear. We now realize that we’re all in the same boat: we see the same pain in everyone and want to reach out to help — to develop the compassion wing. But not only do we want to help, the degree to which we have broken down those artificial barriers is the degree to which we can now actually help.
We are fortunate to welcome Venerable Robina for teachings where she will discuss the development of wisdom and compassions that we can be of benefit to all transmigratory beings. She will be delivering this teaching virtually (Oct 6), but she will be at the center in person the following week (Oct 12-13). Join us at the Center or watch from Zoom.
