Introduction

2025 Spring Festival

Introduction

2025-05-23

Special message from Ven Geshe-la:

  Welcome everybody to the NKT international Festival. NKT international Festivals are the special method to maintain the international Kadampa Buddhist Union from generation to generation….

The International Spring Festival 2009 - the first and only time Geshe-la gave the empowerment of Buddha Maitreya and the commentary to the practice.

In the dedication in the sadhana of Buddha Maitreya:

  Especially on my meditation on the 3 aspects of love may I always care for all living beings without exception, be free from all obstructions and attain the state of the Buddha of loving kindness

Through learning the 3 aspects of love, we will fulfil our own and others wishes, be free from obstacles, and attain the state of full enlightenment.

Affectionate love, cherishing love, wishing love.

Reading from JPGF, the section on developing affectionate love.

Love is the great protector.

What we call happiness is mixed with suffering = contaminated happiness. We are wishing for others to be perfectly happy, to experience the pure and everlasting happiness of full enlightenment. To experience uncontaminated happiness - a happiness without suffering.

When we develop wishing love for all living beings, we develop great compassion at the same time, wishing others to be free from every suffering of body and mind. They are like 2 sides of the same coin. Both depend on affectionate love.

In 2009, Geshe-la taught:

I’m encouraging you to practice affectionate love.

We can take the example of a kind mother who has a warm heart and a feeling of being close to her children. This is an example of affectionate love. Generally mothers have affection for their children. Sometimes it is mixed with attachment which causes them to experience some problems. What we need is to learn to develop and maintain a warm heart and a feeling of being close to all living beings without exception.

Fortunately we can do it, because we have perfect Instructions from our Spiritual Guide and the help and support from our Sangha friends.

  Buddha encouraged us to develop a warm and affectionate mind. Normally we wish for ourself to be happy all the time. But we do not know how to do this. This is true. If i ask you, do you wish for yourself to be happy all the time, you will reply, yes of course. But if i ask you do you know how to do this? And you will say no, I don’t. Why do we don’t know how to do this? We spent so many years learning so many things, why didn’t we learn how to do this?

It’s not until we meet a teacher of wisdom that we learn that the real source of happiness is inner peace. When we learn this it changes our life. Geshe-la said that spiritual means “giving happiness inside”. Everyone needs to know this. That’s why everyone needs Dharma.

  Throughout our life day and night, even in our dreams, we wish for ourself to be happy. But we don’t know how to do this. The method we are choosing to be happy is definitely wrong. Only human beings can understand this, but why aren’t we doing it? Our method for making ourself happy is wrong. We probably think, “if i had a lot of money, a good girlfriend or boyfriend, a good reputation and high position, I will be happy.” This is wrong.

We can see people who have all these things aren’t always happy.

We need money but it doesn’t give us happiness all the time. We need Dharma wisdom so that we can make ourselves and others happy. Without it we don’t know how to solve our own and others problems. If we want to be happy all the time, we need to develop a warm heart and a feeling of being close to all living beings without exception. Through learning and effort we can accomplish anything. If everybody sincerely practices affectionate love, all problems between one another will be solved and never arise again. This is guaranteed. I will give my signature to this.

Love is the real nuclear bomb that destroys the enemy. If everybody practised affectionate love, the enemy disappears.

In GTOM it says we should regard our SG as our mother who cares for and cherishes us, as our father who provides us with everything we need and protects us from danger, as the moon that cools the heat of our delusions, as the sun that dispels the darkness of ignorance in our mind, and as a kind benefactor who gives us the priceless gift of Dharma.

  Affectionate love is one of the most important Dharma practices. There is no real method to solve our daily problems other than Dharma. Of course many people do not agree or understand this. But we should understand how this is true.

In HTSOHP and other books, Geshe-la teaches how to distinguish between outer and inner problems.

There is no real method to even identify our problems correctly other than Dharma.

Our problems are inside, not outside. They are part of our mind that experiences mental pain and unpleasant feeling.

No matter how hard we search we will never find a problem outside ourself.

Problem with car, house, husband or wife - these are not our problems - they are external problems.

Our problems are problems of delusions. There is no method to solve these other than Dharma.

Outer problems are solved with external means. We solve our problems of delusions by stopping unpleasant feelings and transforming our minds into peaceful feelings through practising Dharma.

Through understanding this I think you will love Dharma.

Ultimately our practice of affectionate love will lead us to the state of enlightenment which will give us the ability to benefit all living beings all the time.

Understanding these benefits we should make the determination to develop a warm heart and a feeling of being close to all living beings without exception. We should do this job again and again. This is mental action which is more powerful than physical or verbal action. We should do this job for our own and others’ purpose. Out of meditation we should put our determination into practice. Try to practice affectionate love without attachment. Attachment causes problems. Attachment is a selfish intention that wants our wishes to be fulfilled and when they aren’t we get angry and disappointed. There is no greater virtue than love. We should learn to make this distinction.

There’s a big difference between the thought, ‘may you make me happy’ and ‘may you be happy’.

Need to acknowledge our own attachment problem. Distinguish this from love. Gradually remove attachment from our relationships and develop pure love. What a meaningful way to spend our life.

  How to generate affectionate love: it is impossible without learning and training. But with learning, training and effort it is not difficult. We should know that as humans we have the opportunity to attain enlightenment. Non-humans in general do not have the ability. This is because we have met Buddhadharma and have the opportunity to hear teachings on what is enlightenment, how to enter and how to make progress on the path to enlightenment. Enlightenment is beyond this world of samsara. So as humans we have the opportunity to attain real happiness. What is the path to enlightenment? It is not an external path, but an internal path. It is any realisation that is motivated by compassion for all living beings. Any motivation that is not motivated by compassion for all living beings is not a path to enlightenment. If we don’t have compassion for all living beings, we are not on the path to enlightenment. The gateway to enter the path to enlightenment is compassion for all living beings = universal compassion. We can only develop universal compassion by relying on all living beings as the objects of our compassion. This proves that it is through the great kindness of all living beings acting as the objects of our compassion that we have the opportunity to enter the path to and attain enlightenment. Without them, we cannot attain enlightenment. Without these objects of compassion even if we met living Buddha there would be no opportunity to attain enlightenment. Buddhas cannot bestow enlightenment upon us - they can only give us Instructions on how to attain enlightenment.

When we change our object of desire from worldly pleasure to the supreme inner peace of enlightenment, then we will see each and every living being as supremely important and precious.

  We think from the depths of our heart: Each and every living being is supremely precious and kind for me, because they give me the opportunity to attain the supreme inner peace of enlightenment, the ultimate goal of human life.

Affectionate love is also known as equanimity because we feel close to all living beings equally. If we attain this all the other realisations e.g. bodhichitta are easy.

Empowerment of Buddha Maitreya