General Spiritual Director
German National Festival 2024
Dec 11, 2024
South west US Dharma Celebration
Last weekend, the Southwest US Dharma Celebration was live streamed from the IKRC Grand Canyon, with Kadampas from all over the Southwest of US tuning in!
This wonderful weekend began with an inspiring talk on faith by Gen Kelsang Lingpur, the Resident Teacher of KMC Arizona.
She quoted from Venerable Geshe-la:
“Our faith is our spiritual life and the root of our spiritual realizations, or Dharma realizations. If we develop faith in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, realizations of Sutra naturally come."
Saturday morning we increased our connection with Buddha Shakyamuni through visualizing him and generating heartfelt admiring faith for all of his extraordinary qualities.
Gen Chokyan guided a beautiful, step by step meditation enabling us to feel in the presence of this special holy being.
With our minds prepared, we then received the beautiful blessing empowerment of Buddha Shakyamuni from Gen Kelsang Rigpa.
He reminded us of Venerable Geshe-la's words in 2007 where he outlined the many kindnesses we have received from Buddha.
"Through Buddha Shakyamuni's kindness we have the opportunity to experience a meaningful life and to enter and make progress along the path to liberation and enlightenment."
The day ended with the temple Dakinis radiating beautiful sunset light throughout the temple and a powerful Wishfulfilling Jewel Puja with tsog offering to protect all the insights we gained.
”Without faith everything is mundane. We are blind to anything beyond the ordinary and imperfect world we normally inhabit, and we cannot even imagine that pure, faultless beings, worlds or states of mind exist. Faith is like pure eyes that enable us to see a pure and perfect world beyond the suffering world of samsara.”
Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche
“Our faith is our spiritual life and the root of our spiritual realizations, or Dharma realizations. Buddhist faith refers principally to faith in Buddha. If we have deep faith in Buddha, we will develop the strong wish to practice his teachings or Dharma. If we have this wish, we will certainly apply effort. With great effort in our Dharma practice, we will attain permanent liberation from suffering. This is a dependent relationship."
Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche
"Buddha Shakyamuni is the founder of Buddhism. We know through his kindness we have the opportunity to improve ourselves from very ordinary state to special ordinary state to pure being and to the most pure, enlightenment being. We have the opportunity to improve ourselves through the kindness of Buddha Shakyamuni because he shows the path. Through his teachings we can find the path to enlightenment."
Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche
