Established to give a formal structure to the work of Buddhist Nun Robina Courtin, The Bodhichitta Group seeks to relieve distress, suffering, disadvantage and despair experienced by various members of the community.
A Tibetan Buddhist nun for more than 30 years, Robina travels the world teaching Buddhist psychology and helping those in need. A former Catholic turned political activist, turned radical feminist, turned body guard for the Dalai Lama, Robina draws on experiences from her own crazy, chaotic life, and has touched countless lives with her extraordinary energy, fiery compassion and dynamic no-nonsense style.
“My main wish is to communicate with human hearts,” Robina says. “For people to realize, ‘I’ve got some human qualities, and I can change; that I’m not defined by my negativity.’”
Well known for her work the last 14 years with people in prisons in Australia and the US, including inmates on death row, Robina’s life and work is the subject of Amiel Courtin-Wilson’s 2001 award-winning film Chasing Buddha and Compass’s Key to Freedom in 2007.
Currently teaching and leading retreats at her lama’s centre in Dharamsala in the hills of northern India where the Dalai Lama is based, Robina founded The Bodhichitta Group, a Sydney-based nonprofit in 2010.
“I want to continue to help people without a voice in our society: virtually all of the 20,000+ people in prison who reached out to us since 1996 had nothing and no one. And what I have seen countless times is that people who are considered worthless simply are not: we all have potential.”
About
A Tibetan Buddhist nun for more than 30 years, Robina travels the world teaching Buddhist psychology and helping those in need. A former Catholic turned political activist, turned radical feminist, turned body guard for the Dalai Lama, Robina draws on experiences from her own crazy, chaotic life, and has touched countless lives with her extraordinary energy, fiery compassion and dynamic no-nonsense style.
“My main wish is to communicate with human hearts,” Robina says. “For people to realize, ‘I’ve got some human qualities, and I can change; that I’m not defined by my negativity.’”
Well known for her work the last 14 years with people in prisons in Australia and the US, including inmates on death row, Robina’s life and work is the subject of Amiel Courtin-Wilson’s 2001 award-winning film Chasing Buddha and Compass’s Key to Freedom in 2007.
Currently teaching and leading retreats at her lama’s centre in Dharamsala in the hills of northern India where the Dalai Lama is based, Robina founded The Bodhichitta Group, a Sydney-based nonprofit in 2010.
“I want to continue to help people without a voice in our society: virtually all of the 20,000+ people in prison who reached out to us since 1996 had nothing and no one. And what I have seen countless times is that people who are considered worthless simply are not: we all have potential.”