New Kadampa Tradition
Duldzin Centre is the Liverpool and Merseyside branch of the New Kadampa Tradition of Buddhism (NKT).
The New Kadampa Tradition is a Mahayana Buddhist Tradition founded by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Geshe Kelsang gave the tradition this name to inspire his students to follow the Kadampa practitioners of ancient times who were renowned for the sincerity and purity of their practice.
About 1600 years after Buddha passed away lived a great Indian Buddhist Master named Atisha. Venerable Atisha who is sometimes known as the second Buddha created a very special arrangement of Buddha's Teachings called 'The stages of the path to enlightenment' or 'Lamrim' in Tibetan and his followers were known as Kadampas. 'Ka' refers to all of Buddha's Teachings, 'Dam' refers to Atisha's special arrangement of them and 'pa' to a person who practices them. As already mentioned the Kadampas were renowned for sincerely putting Buddha's Teachings into practice in their lives. The Kadampas put special emphasis on transforming adverse conditions into the path to enlightenment. After Atisha the Kadampa Tradition was handed down through various Buddhist Masters such as
Je Tsongkhapa and Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche to Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
Since arriving in the West in 1977 Venerable Geshe Kelsang has worked tirelessly to flourish the Kadampa Tradition in the West. To this end he founded the New Kadampa Tradition to make these precious teachings available to people of modern times. There are now over a thousand New Kadampa Tradition Centres and branches in countries all over the world, together with hundreds of Kadampa teachers, monks and nuns.
Geshe Kelsang has also written 20 highly acclaimed books on Kadampa Buddhism, from Buddha's basic teachings up to the highest Tantric Teachings. All of his books are commentaries to the works of previous Kadampa Masters. Studying and engaging in meditation retreat on these teachings is at the heart of the New Kadampa Tradition.
Every year the New Kadampa Tradition organizes Buddhist Festivals around the world which provide a great opportunity for people from all over to meet up and enjoy Buddha's Teachings and meditations.
Geshe Kelsang has also established the New Kadampa Tradition Temples project with the wish to create a Buddhist Temple in every major city in the world.
The main aim of the New Kadampa tradition is to help people find the peace of liberation and enlightenment, through practising the lineage of Buddha's Teachings handed down through the great Kadampa Masters of old such as Venerable Atisha and Je Tsongkhapa, to our present day precious Spiritual Guide Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
