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We had the opportunity to enjoy two more meditation sessions in the morning. In the first session we emphasized training in the yoga of non-dual profundity and clarity, or the union of appearance emptiness. In the last session we emphasized making sincere requests to accomplish the higher perfection of wisdom through the recitation of the mantras.

Through the power of familiarity and receiving Buddha’s blessings, we are able to gain deeper and deeper experience of these meditations. In this way we naturally develop an inner peace that comes from wisdom. It is this experience we can then take home with us and share with others.

Gen Devi said, although it was a short retreat, we have gone on quite a journey! We have developed some real confidence in this sublime practice that we can now take into our daily lives. She encouraged us, now all we need to do is press ‘repeat’ again and again. Every meditation we do takes us closer and closer to Guru Buddha Shakyamuni and Great Mother Prajnaparmita until we become an enlightened being ourself.

With the completion of this last meditation session, International Spring Festival 2018 comes to end. However, the inner light of wisdom we have gained here we take home with us and keep in our hearts. We can use this wisdom to solve our own and others problems and to make ourself and others happy; and, in this way, make our human life meaningful.

In just over two months we will have the opportunity gather once again for the International Summer Festival. During week one of the festival, Gen-la Jampa will give teachings on the stages of the path to enlightenment, or Kadam Lamrim. During week two of the festival, Gen-la Dekyong will grant Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments and give commentary to Heruka Body Mandala and Vajrayogini. Book now at kadampafestivals.org/summer.

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It’s wonderful to see that many people have the good fortune to remain for the retreat. Gen-la Thubten even said it was the best part of the festival! Why is this? It is our opportunity to really take the teachings to heart while being guided in profound meditations.

In each session we are engaging in the Yoga of Great Mother Prajnaparamita, becoming more and more familiar with the preliminary practices and the main practice of self-generation. As Gen Devi said in the first session, by repeating the practice again and again in retreat, there is great hope this practice will not end with the festival. We will be able to continue our Dharma practice when we return home, unifying this wisdom with our daily activities.

Outside we continue to bathe in the warm light of the sun and inside we continue to bathe in the sun of Buddha’s blessings. In the first two meditations, Gen Devi guided us in the meditations on Guru Yoga practice – believing our Spiritual Guide is an emanation of Buddha Shakyamuni. She said this meditation is so easy and so powerful – it transforms our mind in an instant! Through this we deeply enjoy these preliminary practices.

As the day progresses, with each passing meditation session, you can feel everyone’s minds becoming more settled and concentrated. Even while outside in the beautiful weather, a a quiet stillness is growing – a special experience of mental peace arises through mixing our minds with Dharma. We discover this inner light of wisdom truly is the best enjoyment.

The final two meditations of the day emphasized the Tantric practice of self-generation. First, Gen Devi guided us in the blissful meditation of profound Guru Yoga – dissolving Guru Buddha Shakyamuni into our heart. Through this we imagine our body transforms into yellow light and then dissolves into the emptiness of all phenomena. We meditated on this special experience for awhile before arising in the holy form of Great Mother Prajnaparamita in the Pure Land of Akanishta. While maintaining this experience of ourself as a completely pure being, Gen Devi gave us gentle reminders to think, although I have this appearance it is not other than the emptiness of all phenomena. So beautiful.

As the 29th of each month is Protector Day, in the later evening we engaged in a special Wishfulfilling Jewel puja. With Gen-la Dekyong presiding and hundreds of people gathered in the Temple, we made beautiful offerings and heartfelt requests to our Wisdom Dharma Protector, Dorje Shugden. Afterwards, every where you looked you saw smiling faces, peaceful minds and good hearts. What a meaningful day we have had!

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On the final day of teachings, we received such precious, liberating wisdom from Buddha’s heart. With great clarity and delight, Gen-la Thubten explained step-by-step how it is possible to transform ourself from an ordinary, suffering being into an enlightened being – the Great Mother Prajnaparamita.

In order to accomplish this, we need to realize that all the things we normally see do not exist. Gen-la encouraged us to study Venerable Geshe-la’s teachings on emptiness again and again, to contemplate them deeply until we gain this special understanding and experience.

To further encourage us, Gen-la read from Modern Buddhism: “In this experience, everything becomes very peaceful and comfortable, balanced and harmonious, joyful and wonderful. There is no heat, no cold, no lower, no higher, no here, no there, no self, no other, no samsara – everything is equal in the peace of emptiness.”

Then to help us understand how the appearance of the pure body of Prajnaparmita is not other than emptiness, Gen-la illuminated the deep meaning of the analogy of the blue sky from the book, New Heart of Wisdom. He explained that blue is not in the sky in the same way that a cloud is in the sky. Blue is simply the manifestation of an empty sky – that the sky and the blue of the sky are the same nature, but nominally distinct. Therefore, our job during the afternoon break is to relax and stare and the sky to improve our understanding of emptiness!

Finally, in the last teaching, Gen-la Thubten continued to explain how to integrate the four profundities revealed in the Heart Sutra into our practice of self-generation. Our one mind of concentration simultaneously meditates on two things – the appearance of ourself as Prajnaparamita in Akanishta Pure Land while realizing that this appearance is not other than the emptiness of all phenomena.

Gen-la encouraged us to treasure this special instruction of the yoga of non-dual profundity and clarity. It is at the very heart of Kadam Dharma and the special method by which thousands of Je Tsongkhapa’s disciples attained enlightenment very quickly. We have this most precious instruction only through the kindness of our Spiritual Guide and Founder, Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche. How fortunate we are!

The day finished with the first retreat session guided by Gen Devi. Over the next day and a half we have the great opportunity to really deepen our understanding and experience of this extraordinary practice.

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The morning began with the practice of the Yoga of Buddha Prajnaparamita. Gen Rinchung led a beautiful meditation, guiding us to a pure mind of faith in Buddha Shakyamuni, visualized with Great Mother Prajnaparamita at his heart. She encouraged us to sunbathe in Buddha’s blessings. From this one simple but profound meditation, we develop and enjoy a special experience of inner peace – such a happy and beneficial mind to take into the meditation break.

At the beginning of the morning teaching, Gen-la Thubten said that this festival would likely become known as “the sunshine festival” because there is plenty of light outside due to the sun shining and there is also plenty of light inside due to receiving Prajnaparamita’s wisdom blessings. So true!

He then gave an inspiring teaching on the importance of the preliminary practice of going for refuge and promising to accomplish a Buddha’s enlightenment. Gen-la encouraged us to not just parrot the words of the refuge prayer but to actually develop a heartfelt feeling of needing protection through contemplating the suffering consequences of our previous non-virtuous actions.

Gen-la also encouraged us to overcome the ‘island’ mind – the ignorant mind that thinks we are independent, like an island. He read from How to Transform Your Life, “Without others, we are nothing. Our sense that we are an island, an independent, self-sufficient individual, bears no relation to reality.”

This truth is so apparent as we look around the festival. Everywhere we look we see kindness – people volunteering and helping in so many ways, without which this festival would not be possible. Each one of us depends upon the help and support of our Sangha friends as we cannot practice Dharma without others.

The afternoon teaching was so engaging, punctuated by moments of laughter and valuable insights. Gen-la said we need to become professional requesters of our Spiritual Guide. He said asking that comes from sincerely wanting spiritual attainments enables us to receive the powerful blessings of Buddha. He explained that when the curtains are opened in a house, the warmth and light of the sun comes in transforming the house. In the same way, when we make faithful requests of our Spiritual Guide, the warmth and light of Buddha’s wisdom fills our heart, transforming our mind. This is essential for the success our meditations on the perfection of wisdom.

Tomorrow, we very much look forward to receiving teachings on the Heart Sutra.

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Rays of warm sunshine and birdsongs greeted us in the morning on the first full day of the festival.

Some people took the opportunity to sit outside in the gardens and along the pathways, reading Dharma books and engaging in quiet contemplation. Many others enjoyed breakfast with their Sangha friends, including discussing the previous night’s teaching.

Soon we will all gather in the Temple for two meditations as preparation for the empowerment in the late afternoon.

Each part of the Festival is designed to help us deepen our understanding and experience of Dharma and thus to improve our experience of inner peace. As Gen-la Thubten quoted Venerable Geshe-la last night, “Forget all the problems and difficulties you may previously have had and concentrate on developing a peaceful mind all the time. You should do this by listening to, contemplating and meditating on the teachings, and through our own determination.” We were encouraged to keep this advice in our heart.

During the guided meditations, Gen Rinchung helped us to gain deeper experience of what had learned in Gen-la’s first teaching. Following her gentle and clear guidance, we meditated on a determination to believe in karma – the cause of suffering is non-virtuous actions and cause of happiness is virtuous actions. With each passing moment, we were mixing our mind with Dharma and increasing the light of wisdom in our mind.

During the spacious afternoon break, many people enjoyed the forest trails and the scenic walk along Morecambe Bay. The sun was out and shining all day long.

As the golden light of the afternoon sun poured into the Temple, Gen-la Thubten introduced us to the Great Mother Prajnaparamita. He explained that, because all Buddhas are born from the perfection of wisdom, she is the mother of all Buddhas. Her function is to pacify our obstacles and bestow upon us the higher perfection of wisdom, which is union of great bliss and emptiness, through which we can attain enlightenment in this life.

Gen-la then skillfully guided us in a series of profound and blissful meditations whereby we received the special blessings of Prajnaparamita’s body, speech and mind. It was like bathing in the warm sunlight of Buddha’s wisdom – how wonderful.

There is nothing quite like receiving an empowerment in the first Kadampa Temple for World Peace, especially when it is filled with Kadampas from around the world. Through the power of this holy place, it is truly a magical and transformative experience.

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The day has finally arrived for the start of a profoundly meaningful and joyful gathering at Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre –  the International Spring Festival 2018. Over 1,600 people from 40 countries are now arriving at the birthplace of modern Kadampa Buddhism in this world, where Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso lived and taught for over 30 years.

As the cars and buses bring more and more people into this blessed environment, you can hear the sound of laughter and warm-hearted greetings among spiritual friends. Everywhere you look you see people holding Venerable Geshe-la’s newest book, The Mirror of Dharma, revealing how to find the real meaning of human life. How fortunate we are!

With smiling faces and growing anticipation, everyone makes their way inside the beautiful Kadampa Temple for World Peace to receive the first teaching from Gen-la Thubten.

Gen-la’s lighthearted and practical teaching was based on Venerable Geshe-la’s book, New Heart of Wisdom. He explained that wisdom is a virtuous intelligent mind that functions to dispel the inner darkness of ignorance. Through this we understood the great opportunity we have now to increase the light of our wisdom and free ourselves from problems and suffering.

Gen-la encouraged us by showing his own joy in this precious Dharma and declared the festival slogan to be, “Now is the time to abandon ignorance permanently!” This is possible for us because we have met the Wisdom Buddha who leads us into the practice of the perfection of wisdom in general and the higher perfection of wisdom in particular.

To help us with this special practice of wisdom, tomorrow we will meet Prajnaparamita and receive her powerful blessings. What a wonderful beginning to our spiritual holiday.

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