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
At the heart of the New Kadampa Tradition are the Collected Works of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche. His wisdom and compassion appear in words that teach and guide us along the path, illuminating the Dharma of past Buddhist masters and making it practical and accessible for modern day practitioners.
Day 11 ~ Relying on Dharma Books
Through his books, Geshe-la can always be in front of us, our own personal Spiritual Guide. There are some posters around the Festival site that say, 'Need some advice? Visit the Tharpa bookshop', a good reminder that our real refuge is Dharma.
One of the nice things about attending Festivals in person is having time to browse the Tharpa book store, to buy new books or inspiring Tharpa products. All over the Festival site you find people spending time quietly reading Dharma books or taking the opportunity to discuss them with others.
As Gen-la taught us today using Advice from Atisha's Heart:
"Since you cannot tame the minds of others until you have tamed your own, begin by taming your own mind."
If you ask people at the Festival they often say they have a favorite book, or a book that has been especially significant along their spiritual journey that they turn to frequently. Dharma books are not like ordinary books because they have many levels of meaning and practice, which means you can read them again and again. Each time new things are revealed or we get a deeper encouragement to really practice the teachings.
There is so much to learn in the teachings
with gen-la dekyong
During this Festival we have seen how Gen-la Dekyong and Gen-la Jampa cherish Venerable Geshe-la's words and seek to transmit them to each new generation of practitioners. Today alone we heard passages from Joyful Path of Good Fortune, Mirror of Dharma, How to Transform Your Life and Great Treasury of Merit that helped us to deeply appreciate how real happiness comes from mental peace, which comes from concentrating on virtuous objects, all as a result of meeting a qualified Teacher.
Teaching with Gen-la Dekyong
meditation with KADAM BRIDGET HEYES
in the evening coming together for Wishfulfilling Jewel puja with tsog offerings
Festival Podcast
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In this extract we learn a simple, practical method for going against our self-cherishing mind – just make others happy!
Wanting to repay the kindness of Venerable Geshe-la
“All happiness comes from the blessings of your Spiritual Guide; therefore always repay his kindness."
As we immerse ourselves in the teachings and the experience of Kadampa Festival life our faith deepens, we are deeply moved by the kindness of Geshe-la, and we want to repay his kindness. What does this mean? It means we want to show the value of practicing the teachings through our example of becoming a happy person, and we too want to help living beings meet these teachings to improve their minds and their wisdom.
