General Spiritual Director
Work Day with Resident Teachers preparing for International Summer Festival
Jul 21, 2026
International Fall Festival 2025 diaries
At International Kadampa Retreat Center
Grand Canyon
Day 7 ~ The Final Day of The FEstival
It's the last day of the Festival, with two final sessions of retreat in the Kadampa Temple for World Peace with Gen Demo. As the Festival draws to a close we savor the opportunity to meditate in the incredibly uplifting, blessed space of the Temple surrounded by sincere practitioners. As Gen Demo says at the conclusion, now we have another Kadampa home we can return to again and again.
Deepening Our Connection
In the first meditation we make heartfelt requests to Dorje Shugden using verses from our Lamrim prayer Request to the Lord of all Lineages and in the second meditation we meditate on the Heart Commitments. It is a strong end to an extraordinary Festival. We are leaving with great wealth for the coming year, having deepened our reliance on our Guru Dharma Protector in special practical ways. Our confidence, dedication and spiritual power are strengthened and there is a clarity of spiritual direction to take home and put into practice.
Looking Forward to the Next Gathering
People are happy, there are fond farewells and lots of refrains of ‘see you at Spring Festival’. Having felt the life-changing power of this week in Arizona, the determination to attend as many International Festivals as possible comes naturally. We understand through our own experience why Geshe-la created this special design of three International Festivals each year. How it helps us to unify our tradition through shared spiritual practice and through working together in harmony. It's an experience it would be wonderful to share with as many people as possible so we wish for the Festivals to continue until samsara ceases.
Then the Festival site begins to dissolve, showing us that it's all impermanent, like a dream. The buses pull up and Kadampas begin their journeys onwards as they fan out across the world, each one part of a web of kindness for the people of the modern world.
Retreat with Gen Demo
