A Spiritual Weekend in South America
Dec 12, 2024
Day 7 ~ taking the festival into daily life
a festival that never ends
With the last two sessions of retreat this morning, the 2021 International Fall Festival draws to a close. Now is the time to take all these wonderful teachings and meditations into our daily life. As Gen-la said, to go back to our centers and continue our study and practice, but most of all, continue sharing this precious Dharma with our local community by helping with the work of our center. Because we carry the Festival experience in our hearts and share it with others in our daily life, in truth this Festival will never end.
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Abandoning dualistic appearance
kinder even than buddha shakyamuni
heartfelt thanks
From the very depths of our hearts we thank Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche for this precious Festival and for everything you give the fortunate people of this world.
We offer deep thanks to Gen-la Dekyong for the profound empowerment and teachings. And to Gen Rabten and Gen Chodor for the inspiring meditations and retreat.
Thank you to everyone who worked hard to make this Festival possible, especially all the technical admins and translators throughout the world who worked tirelessly round the clock to bring the Festival smoothly and on time to people in all the different time zones.
And a huge thanks to the nearly 3,500 people who took part, whether gathered in the centers or at home, and to those who made such wonderful contributions to the Festival Diaries.
We look forward to all being able to gather in person at the 2022 International Spring Festival in Málaga. What an extraordinary event that will be! Stay up-to-date on the Spring Festival website.
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All phenomena are just emptiness appearing
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the international kadampa family online
Thank you for all your wonderful contributions. Submissions to this section are now closed. See you for the Spring 2022 Festival.
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New Je Tsongkhapa Statues at Tara IKRC
enjoying the festival around the world
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SHARED
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A LIGHT SELF-CONFIDENCE ARISING FROM WISDOM
These days I have found myself thinking, 'How much time do I actually spend with my Guru Deity at my heart?'
And then a sequence of insights formed in my mind: the path to heaven depends upon a happy mind at death time, that depends upon a happy mind throughout our life, that depends upon maintaining a mind moment by moment that is free from delusions, that . . . So many things to do!
Then, 'like a flash of lightning', I realised that I need to do only one thing - to gather everything into one. Just rely upon on the holy presence of Geshe-la appearing in the aspect of Arya Tara at my heart, instead of trying to rely on other skills I may or may not have.
With this, a self-confidence begins to rise. Our mind becomes lighter and the self we normally see begins to fade. We begin to leave all hopelessness behind – all the heavy luggage that our ignorance creates for us, and that we believe in and carry around.
Self-confidence, that arises from the blissful mind of my Guru Deity, inseparable from emptiness. No skills. No charges. Just a light self-confidence that arises from wisdom, from a self that is mere name.
And this self-confidence is empowered by the precious realisation of Guru Tara: her perfect accomplishment of exchanging self with others. And as Gen-la said during the teachings: the practice of prostration refers also to showing respect to all living beings.
So on this basis, who am I? I realise myself to be a mind-drop guided along the path to heaven. Lighter, because of being free from the burden of self-cherishing and self-grasping. Happier, because the destination is the Guru-Deity´s heart, the home of all mother sentient beings.
KADAM ANTONIO, PORTUGAL
