General Spiritual Director
Work Day with Resident Teachers preparing for International Summer Festival
Jul 21, 2026
JUL 25 - AUG 9, 2025
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International Summer Festival 2025 diaries
Entering the Pure Land of Lamrim
Day 10 ~ TRULY INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
This is truly an international Festival. We are a family of international Kadampa practitioners, working together across languages and cultures to create this joyful gathering. Many countries take responsibility for entire areas of the event. The Swiss run the World Peace Café, the Spanish serve lunch, and the Scottish organize the food delivery teams. Other departments are multinational such as First Aid, Streaming, Translation and others, all working in harmony.
This spirit of unity is reflected even in the food. There is a daily serving of Paella, a street food stall offering Ramen and delicious French crepes in coffee to go - a tasty smorgasbord from our cross-cultural family!
two extraordinary sessions of teachings
with gen-la dekyong
The day begins with a meditation on faith in Arya Tara, guided by Kadam Bridget, together with Liberation from Sorrow chanted prayers. As a great assembly of practitioners we sing together in unison, the Kadampa Temple filling with faith and devotion, a powerful expression of our collective reliance on the Enlightened Mother Tara.
Then come two extraordinary sessions of teachings from our General Spiritual Director, Gen-la Dekyong. With great energy, she shares profound teachings from Geshe-la, guiding, inspiring, occasionally challenging us, sometimes making us laugh, all while giving us powerful Dharma medicine to heal the inner sickness of our delusions.
Between sessions the sun is again shining and it is the Festival at its best, but we know that the weather quickly changes and change is on the horizon. Gen-la shares a teaching from Venerable Geshe-la where he skilfully used this as a metaphor, reminding us how swiftly our mind also changes, and encouraging us to use every daily appearance to teach us the truth of Dharma.
Teaching with Gen-la Dekyong
morning meditation with KADAM BRIDGET HEYES
Geshe-la's teachings available in many language
The Festival teachings are simultaneously translated into many languages, and in the bookshop Venerable Geshe-la’s books and prayer booklets are available in many languages. This is a testament to the dedication of translators around the world in making Venerable Geshe-la's teachings available to people in their own language so that it can directly communicate to them and touch their hearts.
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In this clip Gen-la Dekyong explains the uncommon meaning of this verse from Atisha’s Advice to help us find the inner peace of patience every day
The Festival grounds are a rainbow
of cultures
Around the Festival grounds, a rainbow of languages and designs can be seen on T-shirts and tote bags, featuring beautiful images of Kadampa Temples and inspiring phrases. It is fantastic to witness the strength and diversity of the international Sangha and to see how we are simultaneously unified by our shared vision of creating peace in the world through Kadam Dharma.
