Join us at this year's Australian Dharma Celebration where Gen Kelsang Rabten will grant the empowerment of Buddha Amitayus and give teachings on The New Eight Steps to Happiness. Amitayus means an immeasurable life span. When we open our hearts to Buddha Amitayus’ guidance, he will help us increase our wisdom, our merit and, most importantly, he will help us protect our most valuable possession — our precious human life.

This special ceremony will help us deepen our connection with Buddha Amitayus, giving us the confidence that we can make our human life truly meaningful by using it to progress on the path to enlightenment. 

Following the blessing ceremony, Gen Rabten will give teachings on the book 'The New Eight Steps to Happiness' by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, offering practical insights into Buddhism’s beloved text ‘Eight Verses of Training the Mind’ by Tibetan Bodhisattva Geshe Langri Tangpa. 

Enjoy this spiritual getaway and special opportunity to connect with the Australian Sangha.

Bookings for the Australian Dharma Celebration 2024 are now closed. Please email info.australianfestivals@kadampa.org.au for any booking enquiries.

Gen Kelsang Rabten

The teacher of this event is Gen Kelsang Rabten. Gen Rabten is the Resident Teacher of KMC Australia (Dandenong Ranges) and KMC Melbourne (CBD). Ordained in 1994, he has studied under the guidance of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche for 30 years. He has taught in many centres around the world including Australia, New Zealand, and South-East Asia.

Gen Rabten exemplifies the essence of the modern Kadampa way of life, brings a warm heart and joyful attitude to sharing Buddha’s teachings and the practice of meditation.

The Program.

Timetable for the Dharma Celebration 2024.

The Venue.

This event is held at Kadampa Meditation Centre Australia located in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria.

Address: 25 McCarthy Road, Monbulk

Festivals are a spiritual holiday like no other. They give us an opportunity to step away from the busyness of daily life and to make time for our inner spiritual development for a concentrated period of time. In this way we accelerate our meditation practice, deepening our understanding and experience in a relatively short period of time. Everyone is welcome.

Joining the Festival Online.

It is recommended to attend the Dharma Celebration 2024 in-person. If you are unable to do so, the Dharma Celebration is available to attend online.

What to book for
You will need to choose to attend either in-person or online at the time of booking. You will not be able to book for both.

Video on demand only
There will be no live broadcast of the Festival. For those who have booked to participate online, each teaching and meditation session will be available as a video on demand 48 hours after the live session.

Availability
The videos will be available online until 9am AEDT April 22nd. This excludes the empowerment, which will be available only for 24 hours from the time the link has been made live.

Please note: the empowerment would not normally be available as a video on demand, but because this is a Dharma Celebration and there is no live broadcast, as an exception it will be available online for 24 hours to ensure people in different time zones are able to view it.