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
People discuss their favourite piece of advice from Atisha's Advice as explained at the New Kadampa Tradition International Summer Festival 2025.
Day 14 ~ RETREAT & TARA CHANTING STARTS
The day began with several sessions of retreat on Advice from Atisha's Heart with Gen Rabten. We continued to enjoy the opportunity to take the meaning of the advice deeper into our hearts. It is incredible how happy developing and strengthening pure intentions makes us.
Over a thousand people around the world
have joined us online
“Homage to Tara, the Swift One, the Heroine,
Whose eyes are like a flash of lightning,
Who arose from the opening of a lotus,
Born from the tears of the Protector of the Three Worlds.”
Then at 7pm we begin our 24 hour Tara chanting, presided over by Gen-la Dekyong and engaged in with a great assembly of practitioners. There is a beautiful array of offerings carefully arranged around the Tara shrine and there are over a thousand people in the Temple. Each session is also joined via livestream by people around the world: in the first session 1250 join online, from 45 different countries across every continent. One person even joined live from 33,000 feet, high above the ocean, on her long haul flight back from the Festival.
There is a great feeling of unity and joy as we turn to Arya Tara, requesting her again and again to dispel every kind of obstacle and fear, inner and outer, for us and for each and every living being in the world, so everyone can experience lasting inner and outer peace.
“Homage to you whose two eyes, like the sun or the full moon, Radiate a pure, clear light.”
The verses are very beautiful and as we engage in seven recitations of the Homages every four hours it is easy to feel in Tara's presence continually. At the end of the second session just after midnight people peacefully leaving the Temple are greeted by the sight of a beautiful full moon shining brightly in the sky. People drift off to sleep with the Tara chanting still lingering in their mind bringing a feeling of blessing and protection.
Outside we enjoy relaxing with friends
