End-of-the-year celebrations in Mexico, UK and Canada
Dec 24, 2024
Modern Kadampa Buddhism
New Kadampa Tradition - International Kadampa Buddhist Union
Founder:
The Founder of Modern Kadampa Buddhism is Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, affectionately known as Venerable Geshe-la, a world-renowned meditation master and Teacher. He inspired thousands of people around the world to apply the pure teachings of Buddha to their modern lives to solve their personal problems and discover a deep and lasting inner peace and happiness. Today, the legacy of his life's work touches the lives of people of all nationalities and cultures.
"The day will come when you will do my job."
VENERABLE GESHE KELSANG GYATSO RINPOCHE
Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche devoted his entire life to making the pure teachings of Buddha available in a modern form to people throughout the world.
Now Venerable Geshe-la's followers holding him at their hearts continue his work with auspicious projects in every region of the world.
End-of-the-year celebrations take us to Kadampa centers in Mexico, the UK, and Canada. Communities gathered to share teachings, meditation, and festive joy. In Mexico, KMC Mexico and KMC Merida hosted special courses with their Resident Teachers. In Sheffield, attendees enjoyed a meditation on love, while Aberdeen focused on gratitude and contentment. Ottawa’s Christmas gathering brought warmth, connection, and festive cheer to all who attended.
Over the last few weeks of this year, participants in France, Switzerland and Ottawa have had the opportunity to explore meaningful objects such as karma and emptiness in various winter courses.
A few days before the end of the year the Asian Sangha gathered for the Asian Festival 2024, and and KMC Wales hosted the Welsh Dharma Celebration 2024.
At the beginning of December, Kadampa communities in the UK and the US hosted blessing empowerments of Je Tsongkhapa, Medicine Buddha, Buddha Shakyamuni, and Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara. With thoughtful preparation, these special ceremonies welcomed participants to receive blessings and deepen their spiritual connection with Buddha through meditation and meaningful teachings.
KMC Madrid recently hosted two inspiring events. Nearly 100 people attended a public talk on ‘How to Be Happy’, led by Resident Teacher, Gen Kelsang Tsongmo. Following this, participants enjoyed some stillness during a ‘Silence and Concentration’ retreat, that focussed on compassion in the tranquil setting of KMC Madrid La Sierra.
If we have to walk across rough and thorny ground, one way of protecting our feet is to cover the whole ground with leather, but this is not very practical. We can achieve the same result in a much simpler way - by covering our feet. Similarly, if we wish to protect ourself from suffering we can either try to change the whole world to make it conform to our wishes, or we can change our mind.