Refuge and Lay Vows


Refuge and Lay Vows with Ven. Robina Courtin Saturday, November 21, 2020: Teaching on Refuge and Lay Vows         10:00am - 12:00pm: session 1         1:30pm - 3:30pm: session 2 Sunday, November 22, 2020: Refuge and Lay Vows Ceremony         10:00am - 12:00pm Driven by the wish to develop our marvelous potential for buddhahood, our first formal step is to take refuge in, rely upon, the Buddha, his teachings, and the community of fellow practitioners: the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. With this we commit to doing some practice every day, being kind to sentient beings, making offerings to the Three Jewels, etc. We strengthen this with the next step by taking some or all of the five vows of individual liberation. As Lama Zopa Rinpoche points out, “just being good is not enough.” Vows are so powerful that simply by keeping them, we are sowing virtuous karmic seeds in our mind and hugely purifying negative tendencies every second, twenty-four hours a day. Join us on Saturday for teachings by Ven. Robina Courtin on Refuge and the Five Lay Vows, as well as on how we create karma and how to purify it. On Sunday there will be the actual ceremony for those who wish to take Refuge and the Lay Vows. It’s also the opportunity for those who wish to renew their vows.