A Beautiful Day Begins
Waking Up to the Festival
It's very special to wake up to the first full day of the Festival in such a beautiful setting as Kadampa Meditation Center Spain. The air feels fresh after the cool of the night, the mountains surrounding the center are clear in the crisp morning air with morning clouds here and there. There is a feeling of great good fortune to be enjoying a spiritual holiday, with Dharma at the heart of everything.
Distinguishing Outer & Inner Problems
Morning Meditation
Contemplation & Meditation
The day begins with two meditations with Gen Zamling, the first on faith and the second on recognizing the root of our suffering as our self grasping ignorance. This leads us to the final meditation, a genuine heartfelt wish to receive Je Tsongkhapa's blessings in the empowerment to deepen our wisdom. Gen Zamling guides us step by step in each meditation giving plenty of time for us to contemplate and meditate.
Coming Together for Blessings
Entering the Temple
In the afternoon there is real delight to be entering into the Temple to receive the empowerment of Je Tsongkhapa from Gen-la Dekyong. Our Kadampa Temple for World Peace has a breathtakingly beautiful interior with exquisite artwork, a large shrine and thousands of seats. It is so spacious and uplifting and a very special environment within which to listen to Dharma teachings. Now those seats are filled with over 1300 people, and an equal amount joining online from around the world.
Je Tsongkhapa's Way of Benefitting
A Temple Filled with Inspiration
Receiving Je Tsongkhapa’s Empowerment
The empowerment itself has many stages and at each stage Gen-la Dekyong guides and teaches us, sharing her experience and acting as a perfect conduit for Venerable Geshe-la's teachings and special blessings to reach us. She helps us to understand the good qualities of Guru Tsongkhapa, a Spiritual Guide who is a manifestation of the wisdom of all the Buddhas and leads us along the paths of both Sutra and Tantra.
The Kindness of Our Spiritual Guides
Deepening Our Connection to Je Tsongkhapa
She reminds us of Venerable Geshe-la's words when he shared with us how when he contemplated the kindness of Je Tsongkhapa, thinking about how he is deeply benefiting and helping people practically, this caused Geshe-la to think, again and again, “How can I repay his kindness?” And to make the strong determination to repay Je Tsongkhapa's kindness by working to fulfill his wishes, through spreading holy Kadam Dharma as he presented it.
We understand that everything we enjoy now through Dharma comes from the kindness of Je Tsongkhapa and Venerable Geshe-la. The blessings of the empowerment ripen our Buddha nature and bless our body, speech and mind directly and powerfully. By the end we have a deeper connection to Guru Tsongkhapa, deeper faith, and a wish to put Guru Tsongkhapa's teachings into practice to benefit both ourselves and others.
The 10th Day of this month
Offering to The Spiritual Guide
As it is the 10th day, the empowerment falls on an auspicious day, when each month we make special prayers and offerings to Je Tsongkhapa. So only 45 minutes after the empowerment the Temple is once again filled as our International Kadampa Sangha engage in Offering to the Spiritual Guide, the Guru Yoga of Je Tsongkhapa. Beautiful offerings are made and there is a joyful atmosphere afterwards as people enjoy all the blessings of the day in the company of Sangha friends.
