On the final day of the festival we watched the play of the life story of Buddha. Acted, directed and choreographed entirely by practicing Kadampa Buddhists, the play captures the dignity, wisdom and supreme kindness with which Buddha lived his life, inspiring us all to do the same.

As venerable Geshe-la says, the play is not ordinary. Usually we can only hear or read Buddha’s teachings, but with the play we can directly see how Buddha lived his life and let this teach us.

After the play, Gen-la Dekyong, the NKT General Spiritual Director, shared some final words of advice. She said what particularly touched her from watching the play this year was Buddha’s promise to Angulimala, ‘I promise you will accomplish realisations’. Gen-la said that is what we have received at this year’s Festival.

Then, it was time to leave the festival, carrying the wisdom we had learnt back into our daily lives to maintain our inner peace and bring happiness to our families. This year, more than ever before, people leaving the festival were heading in their hundreds to various post festival retreats to deepen their experience even further!