General Spiritual Director
Bonus Bulletin – 9 July
Jul 9, 2025
Centers love to organize special events!
Special events weave deeper connections within the Kadampa Sangha and create closer communities. Here are some activities in Cologne, Fort Collins, Stuttgart, and Ottawa.
GEN ANANDA'S VISIT TO COLOGNE: OVERCOMING SELF-DOUBT
While our Resident Teacher Gen Lobma was leading a retreat at Tharpaland KMC, we were delighted that Gen Ananda, our National Spiritual Director for Germany, accepted our invitation to give a course on Overcoming Self-Doubt at KMC Cologne just before Spring Festival.
People from the city, but also from Düsseldorf, Essen, Bonn, Duisburg and other cities in North Rhine-Westphalia flocked to the Cologne center to take part in the talk and meditations. Gen Ananda explained, based on the books How to Understand the Mind and Meaningful to Behold, why exactly self-confidence is so important, what self-doubt has to do with pride, and how we can overcome deluded pride through sincere training in humility.
After a break with cake and tea, Gen Ananda taught us about exchanging self with others. By considering others as more important than ourselves, without putting ourselves down, as Gen Ananda emphasized again in the concluding discussion, we take away the basis of pride and thus self-doubt and can develop a stable self-confidence. We would like to thank Gen Ananda for the inspiring afternoon at KMC Cologne!
NEW BEGINNINGS AT HERUKA KMC:
WELCOME NEW TEACHER BODHISATTVA VOWS, RETREATS & COMMUNITY GROWTH
We welcomed new Resident Teacher Kerrin Perniciaro to Heruka KMC Fort Collins and gave thanks and well wishes to Kadam Trina Gunther, who was here for five years and did a wonderful job as Resident Teacher. She has now moved to Seattle to become Resident Teacher at Kadampa Meditation Center Washington. The community also expressed its gratitude to Nick Birdsall (FP teacher) and Adrienne Grudzien (Admin Director) for all their virtuous activities on behalf of Heruka KMC.
Since the Resident Teacher change, there have been many activities at Heruka KMC. We engaged in Nyungnay purification and fasting retreat, and held a Publicity Party after Offering to the Spiritual Guide prayers. Members of our center hit the streets of Fort Collins to tack up postcards and flyers for our upcoming classes and events to reach more Fort Collins residents.
Seventeen fortunate members of Heruka Kadampa Meditation Center Fort Collins took the Bodhisattva Vows, promising to generate the mind of bodhichitta, accomplish a Buddha's enlightenment, and engage in the six perfections (giving, moral discipline, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom) - the actual practices of a Bodhisattva.
We enjoyed a visit from Kadampa Meditation Center Colorado's Kelsang Sherma over Memorial Day weekend and during Spring Festival, when we held a Buddha Maitreya NKT Spring Festival Empowerment watch party.
Finally, we hosted a potluck to inspire new members to attend the 2025 NKT International Fall Festival in Arizona coming up in early October at the fifth Kadampa Temple for World Peace.
MEDITATE, CHERISH & CELEBRATE IN STUTTGART!
We held a community day last Saturday on a glorious summer’s day at a beautiful meadow near Lake Bärensee in Stuttgart. People from our various study programs came with their families to spend time together. A group meditation kicked off the day, followed by valuable advice from our Spiritual Guide and Founder, Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, imparted to us by our Resident Teacher, Jörg Meerholz. Afterwards, we held a short Center Cherishing session in which we cleaned and cared for our center.
At Lake Bärensee, we spread out picnic blankets, shared delicious food, and enjoyed relaxed and stimulating conversation whilst the children played.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and greatly appreciated the time spent together.
MEDITATION FOR WORLD PEACE ON PARLIAMENT HILL IN OTTAWA
We did NOT call off our Meditation for Peace on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday, in spite of the rain, unseasonable cold, and high winds! And we're so glad we didn't! The meditation was led very skillfully by our Resident Teacher Gen Kelsang Thekchen, who guided us through gathering into the peaceful clarity of our mind, and from there towards gaining an authentic inner experience of loving kindness and compassion for everyone in this world.
The meditation culminated in a shared heartfelt chanting of the OM MANI PEME HUM mantra which deepened our visualization experience of radiating peace throughout the world, and imagining sharing our inner experience with others. It was deeply moving.
We drew 6 amazing participants who were new to Kadampa Buddhism, and who became very interested in coming to our Center later, and we then went together to a small downtown Korean restaurant and shared our experiences with others in our group.
