Creating Peace Within

In every Kadampa Centre around the world, retreats are an integral part of the spiritual program, providing an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with a particular practice, meditation, or drawing closer to a Deity. Concluding the year, Centres in Argentina, Mexico, and Portugal engaged in retreats, creating peace in their hearts and in this way contributing to peace in this world.

Last weekend at KMC Deuachen in Portugal, we engaged in a retreat focusing on Guru Yoga and Mandala Offering practice. Guru Yoga emphasizes reliance on the Spiritual Guide, recognizing him or her as a manifestation of all Buddhas. Through his example and teachings, he guides us on our spiritual path. Reflecting on the kindness of our Guru, we make mandala offerings with a generous mind, seeking his blessings to attain Dharma realizations that protect us and others from problems and suffering.

In this context, mandala means a pure universe, interpreted in Buddhism as the world perceived by a pure mind. The essence of this practice is to deeply purify our mind and, consequently, purify the world that appears to our mind. The mandalas are offered in conjunction with a traditional prayer through which we fill the universe with symbolic objects representing an imagined Pure Land.