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20 September 2018
In 1959 Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche entered into a three-year retreat on the Tibetan Nepali border. He named his retreat house ‘Tharpaland’, which means ‘Land of Liberation’. Later Venerable Geshe-la established an international retreat center for modern people called ‘Tharpaland’. Now based in the beautiful setting of Schloss Sommerswalde just outside Berlin, Tharpaland International Retreat Centre is a major institution within NKT-IKBU that hosts a full programme of retreats open to everyone, including the three-month Snows Retreat in the winter.
A magical journey with Gen-la Dekyong
Last weekend Tharpaland hosted the 2018 German National Festival entitled ‘A journey to peace and happiness’ with Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong, the General Spiritual Director of NKT-IKBU.
Gen-la granted the empowerment of White Tara and gave blissful teachings on the New Eight Steps to Happiness. She explained that the real meaning of ‘Happiness’ in the title of Venerable Geshe-la’s book is the pure everlasting happiness of enlightenment, so we should use our human life to realize this potential and not be satisfied with the temporary pleasures of worldly enjoyments. ‘There is so much more we can accomplish in our daily life,’ she said.
Gen-la also encouraged us to look around at all the beneficial conditions we enjoy, from the center itself to the books and programs and the qualified teachers and always remember that all of this emanates from the compassionate heart of the holy Spiritual Guide and constantly think, ‘May I become just like you.’
As you can see from these amazing photos it was a truly magical event.
Kadam Dharma in Germany – milestones
1993 – Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche opened the first Kadampa Center in Germany – Serlingpa KBC in Wiesbaden
1995 – Venerable Geshe-la visited Berlin and other cities in Germany where he gave public talks. From then on new centers started to develop throughout Germany and there are now 12 major centers with qualified Resident Teachers
2005 – The International Fall Festival was held just outside Berlin, at which Venerable Geshe-la granted the Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments and commentaries of Heruka and Vajrayogini
2012 – Schloss Sommerswalde, which is about 20 km north of Berlin, was purchased and renovated by NKT-IKBU and is now Tharpaland International Retreat Centre
2016 – A new urban temple was opened at Chausseestraße 108, 10115 Berlin
2017 – The International Fall Festival was held at Tharpaland IRC, at which Gen-la Dekyong granted the empowerment of Avalokiteshvara and teachings on Universal Compassion
Kadampa Centres in Germany
Berlin: Kadampa Meditationzentrum Berlin
Dresden: Kadampa Meditationzentrum Dresden
Frankfurt: Kadampa Meditationzentrum Frankfurt
Hamburg: Kadampa Meditationzentrum Hamburg
München: Kadampa Meditationzentrum München
Stuttgart: Kadampa Meditationzentrum Stuttgart
Freiburg: Mamaki-Zentrum für Kadampa Buddhismus
Karlsruhe: Menlha-Zentrum für Kadampa Buddhismus
Leipzig: Tara-Zentrum für Kadampa Buddhismus
Oberhausen: Tushita-Zentrum für Kadampa Buddhismus
Wiesbaden: Serlingpa-Zentrum für Kadampa Buddhismus