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!
Alongside receiving teachings and deeping our understanding and practice of Dharma, Kadampa festivals allow us to have many auspicious meetings and some truly unique opportunities.
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.
It’s a beautiful sunny day and there is a happy anticipation in the air that this afternoon we will meet Mother Tara in the empowerment with Gen-la Dekyong. To prepare we engage in a series of meditations with Kadam Bridget Heyes to develop our compassionate motivation into a strong wish for enlightenment, so that we have the actual power to help others.
It is the free day at the Festival, the midpoint between week 1 and 2. Those staying the whole period use the free day to rest a little, to absorb the teachings from week 1 and to reset ready for week 2. It is also a chance to get practical things done: to do laundry, get some shopping in town or communicate with loved ones back home.
We are very fortunate at this Festival to be in such a blessed environment, surrounded by exquisitely detailed images of enlightenment that uplift our minds. Even from the back of the Temple, the shrine is radiant. Up close, you can spend a long time taking in the individual Buddhas on the hand-painted thangkas or the carefully crafted statues arranged on the shrine.
The Festival Retreat is a powerful and peaceful experience, providing an opportunity to concentrate in silence and in the company of thousands of people. Everyone is sincerely trying to generate these virtuous intentions and maintain them in their mind.
Today we received teachings on contentment from Gen-la Jampa: how to be satisfied with our inner and outer conditions with a good motivation, how to let go of the endless discontent that drives us to constantly seek and never find satisfaction in external things. Our endless scrolling, our endless acquiring.
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From a special public talk in Boston to a joyful Dharma Celebration at KMC New York Temple, practitioners and newcomers came together to receive precious teachings, connect with Sangha and bring Buddha’s wisdom into their lives.
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