Summer Festival 2025 has been very powerful and special. Now, as we near its completion, it is ending so strongly. Following the collective effort of attending the six sessions of the Tara retreat, on the final morning everyone is happy and grateful to gather again in the Temple to make a beautiful thanking offering to our precious Spiritual Guide and Founder, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.

Although our Festival is nearing completion, due to the 24 hour Tara practice we are literally meditating and dedicating throughout the day and the night.

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.

This calm period of retreat lends itself to quiet moments in the Temple, peaceful walks under the green canopy of the trees in the woodland areas, or enjoying the vast spacious views of Morecambe Bay at the beach. Although many people continue to work joyfully together to run the Festival, there is stillness in the midst of busyness. Such is the magic of retreat!

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.

The day begins with a meditation on faith in Arya Tara, guided by Kadam Bridget, together with Liberation from Sorrow chanted prayers. As a great assembly of practitioners we sing together in unison, the Kadampa Temple fills with faith and devotion, a powerful expression of our collective reliance on the Enlightened Mother Tara.