General Spiritual Director
Post Spring Festival retreats in Spain
Jun 6, 2026
New Zealand Kadampa Festival 2026
On Vajrayogini Day, Sangha from New Zealand gathered on the Kapiti Coast for the NZ Kadampa Festival 2026. Gen Kelsang Sangden, granted the blessing empowerment of Vajrapani and gave practical teachings on transforming adversity through practicing Kadam Dharma.
A deeply inspiring and meaningful event for the New Zealand Kadampa community: on Vajrayogini Day, 10 January, Gen Kelsang Sangden the National Spiritual Director for Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Nicaragua granted the empowerment of Buddha Vajrapani, the Buddha of spiritual power, and gave a commentary to The Yoga of Buddha Vajrapani. There is nothing more heart-warming and beautiful than a gathering of pure spiritual disciples reuniting and celebrating the inner paths to peace, with hearts filled with gratitude and faith in their Spiritual Guide.
Gen Sangden then offered teachings on transforming adverse conditions, where she encouraged the need to show the example of what works - really works - putting Kadam Dharma into practice in our daily lives and becoming someone who loves Dharma, who practices Dharma, who solves their problems with Dharma and who exemplifies the Kadampa way of life in our modern world. She then presented with beautiful clarity and enthusiasm the teachings from the book How to Solve our Human Problems, where Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso explains the difference between inner and outer problems - our own problems being our unpleasant feelings and deluded states of mind. Gen Sangden then explained how to use difficulties as fuel that gives rise to virtuous states of mind, which are true causes of happiness, and then presented many Lamrim methods for transforming problems into this powerful fuel for inner peace and a life beyond fear.
The NZ Kadampa Festival 2026 was held at a lovely retreat venue on the very beautiful Kapiti Coast of New Zealand. The NZ Sangha very much enjoyed this event and wish to deeply thank Gen Sangden for her very blessed and delightful teachings and Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gysatso Rinpoche for providing all that we have, including this precious opportunity to gather in New Zealand.
