Friday is an auspicious day. After a final meditation session practicing The Yoga of Buddha Heruka, there is a huge gathering in the Temple as it is opened to everyone to join in a truly global Prayers for World Peace. Many local people attend in addition to the international Festival participants, and it is simultaneously live-streamed around the world. How wonderful that thousands and thousands of people are praying together for peace in our world.

Today we take some time to appreciate what a rich tradition we have, the incredible lineage we hold, and the unsurpassed presentation we enjoy where all Buddha’s teachings fit with our modern life.

After a wonderful, heartfelt and clear meditation with Gen Sangden we begin two days of teachings to receive the essential commentaries to the practices of Highest Yoga Tantra from Gen-la Dekyong.

Today we meet Vajrayogini, with the final Highest Yoga Tantra empowerment. Three hours pass quickly as we are first introduced to Vajrayogini, taking time to appreciate the unique benefits of relying upon her and then we receive the blessings of the four empowerments in her sindhura mandala.

On Monday we spend the day entering into Heruka’s mandala, physically entering the beautiful temple, itself a representation of Heruka’s palace, for the two sublime sessions of the Heruka empowerment. Then through the concentration of the empowering Spiritual Guide, the blessings of Venerable Geshe-la and our own pure imagination and intentions we are created as a newly arisen Heruka Body Mandala.

Today we prepare a pure mind ready to receive the priceless jewel of the Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments into our minds. First a morning of guided meditations with Gen Mudita using the the Prayer to the Lord of all Lineages as our preliminary practice and meditating deeply on the verses that help us develop the correct Lamrim motivations of Renunciation and Bodhichitta.

It’s the first full day of Festival, a day to prepare our minds for receiving the Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments by contemplating the three principal aspects of the path of lamrim. As Gen-la Dekyong teaches us, lamrim is the essential foundation for our practice of Highest Yoga Tantra to take us quickly to enlightenment.