General Spiritual Director
Fall Festival 2024 ~ Day 1
Oct 25, 2024
Powerful blessings at the mountain retreat
International Kadampa Retreat Center Grand Canyon finished its 2024 Mountain Retreat with powerful blessings during a three-week Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka Close Retreat and Vajradaka Burning Offering.
Retreat participants were dedicated in their progress towards collecting 100,000 recitations of the mantra of Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka, all while keeping relaxed minds and drawing close to this special enlightened being. Gen-la Kelsang Jampa gave an inspiring introduction on the first night and led the first full day of retreat.
Our fifth week of Mountain Retreat at IKRC Grand Canyon culminated in another snowstorm. Nearly two feet of snow fell and we experienced two power outages, but it didn’t stop or interrupt any of our Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka counting sessions thanks to our devoted staff and kind working visitors. Many retreaters and budding photographers submitted stunning photos of the Kadampa Temple for World Peace blanketed in snow.
Finally, during Week 6 of Mountain Retreat, we began a Vajradaka Burning Offering - such a blessed practice for purifying mistakes, negativities and heavy negative karma. Gen-la Jampa guided us through eight powerful sessions of this unique jewel of a practice. Everyone felt extremely grateful to Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche for giving us these practices and blessing us so that we can fulfill the aim of completing a Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka Close Retreat. Through our efforts may Kadam Dharma flourish internationally.
