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Outlook: Keeping up with Australia's rebellious Buddhist nun

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Buddhist Nun Robina Courtin wears maroon robes and smiles for a photo in 2005

07/06/2021 GMT

Keeping up with Australia's rebellious Buddhist nun

BBC World Service - Outlook, Keeping up with Australia's rebellious Buddhist nun

Robina Courtin went from being a radical feminist to martial arts expert to Buddhist nun

In the 90s, Buddhist nun Robina Courtin unexpectedly got a letter from a prisoner who was interested in Buddhism. She'd end up writing to many inmates, even those on death row.

Robina Courtin grew up in Melbourne, Australia. As a teenager attending Catholic school she felt she was both holy and a rebel. Eventually she became a hippie, then a radical feminist, and then got into martial arts. One day, after a car accident meant she couldn't practice karate, she came across some Buddhist monks. Immediately she knew following Buddhism would be her path. Many years after she was ordained a Buddhist nun, she got an unexpected letter from a prisoner in the US. That led to her corresponding with other inmates and even befriending people on death row. 

Do you have a favourite food that other people think is gross? Sweden's Disgusting Food Museum puts so-called disgusting dishes on display - from pickled herring to maggot-infested cheese to dried stinkbugs. While the museum has been controversial, director Andreas Ahrens told Outlook that it's not meant to be a freak show, but in fact encourage people to be more open-minded about which foods they would consider eating.

In Culpeper, Virginia there's one of the largest film archives in the world. During the Cold War, billions of dollars in cash were stashed there in case conflict broke out. But these days it houses a nitrate film vault, which is owned by the US Library of Congress. It's looked after by a full-on film enthusiast called George Willeman. Outlook's Colm Flynn has been to meet him. (This story was first broadcast in 2018)

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Picture: Robina Courtin in 2005
Credit: Fairfax Media via Getty Images

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