General Spiritual Director
Fall Festival 2024 ~ Day 8
Nov 2, 2024
NKT-IKBU International
Fall Festival 2024
Festival Diaries
A Rich Tradition
Today we take some time to appreciate what a rich tradition we have, the incredible lineage we hold, and the unsurpassed presentation we enjoy where all Buddha's teachings fit with our modern life. Out of boundless compassion and to maintain the lineage of teachings he received from his own Spiritual Guide, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, Venerable Geshe Kelsang has written 23 books and over 50 practice booklets which have been translated into over 19 languages. He has taught us how the books can become our Teacher so that we gain confidence, special knowledge and blessings. He has established hundreds of Kadampa centers and overseen the construction of 6 Kadampa Temples for World Peace, including the Brazil Temple we sit in today.
He has trained 100s of qualified Teachers to act as his representatives so that they can maintain this blessed lineage - teaching, explaining and helping people to practice these teachings throughout the world. In this way he has created an extraordinary legacy that can pass from generation to generation, giving everyone the opportunity to gain deep experience of the teachings and practices and to find lasting peace and inner liberation from suffering.
A Rich Tradition of Sutra and Tantra
Exploring the incredible lineage of tantric teachings that has been passed down in an unbroken lineage from Buddha Shakyamuni to the present day through the Buddhist master Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.
Day 7 ~ The Yoga of Buddha Heruka
It is so wonderful to begin each day with meditation. Gen Sangden summarizes the main points from the teachings at the beginning of the session with great clarity and then guides everyone to a deep experience of compassion. During the meditations we deepen our familiarity with the three bringings through the blessed practice of The Blissful Path.
Then we have the final two commentaries with Gen-la Dekyong, today emphasizing The Yoga of Buddha Heruka and how to practice the union of Sutra and Tantra with the blessed prayer Request to the Lord of all Lineages. She helps us to appreciate just how extraordinary it is to have the karma to recognize our Guru-Founder, Je Tsongkhapa, Buddha Shakyamuni and Heruka as four aspects of one being, Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka.
Sharing yet more jewel-like teachings directly from Venerable Geshe-la we understand how we can meditate on Heruka Body Mandala at deeper and deeper levels until we accomplish the union of great bliss and emptiness, realizing both conventional and ultimate truths with our very subtle mind and purifying even the subtlest mistaken appearances.
How to solve our problems~ with Gen-la Dekyong
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Dharma Worldwide
An especially moving part of the Festival has been joining in with the Liberating and Migtsema prayers sung so movingly in Portuguese, and also seeing the strength of Dharma in Brazil, one of the first countries to translate all 23 books written by Venerable Geshe-la.
May Kadam Dharma continue to flourish in Brazil and throughout the world, in every language and culture. May we take to heart the precious teachings we have received, learning to study and practice in a special way that gives us power and energy, and maintains the lineage and our connection to our Spiritual Guide.
