On 6^thNovember at Library of Tibetan Works and Archives  the closing session of the first Nalanda Retreat was held in the presence of Ven.Geshe Lhakdor, Director, LTWA. Eighty Four students registered for the first retreat which was organized by Flowering Dharma from 2^nd– 6^thNovember, 2019. Tushita Meditation Center, Dharamkot, was the venue of the retreat. After an overwhelming response for the Bir Residential Retreat at Deer Park. The idea for the first Nalanda Retreat was conceived to accommodate the interested students who could not be selected for the retreat in Bir since the online registration was filled to its maximum capacity in just a matter of 4 hours.

The first batch of 40 participants of Nalanda retreat on 2^ndand 3^rdNovember attended the Talk by Ven. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo on the Chapter Eight of the text “ A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by Shantideva” on Meditation. Later on 3^rdevening  the second of 44 students from the retreat in Bir joined for group. As a part of the retreat 84 students attended the three day talk by HH the Dalai Lama from 4^thto 6^thNovember, 2019 at the main temple in Dharamshala on the topic “Heart Sutra” followed by the talk at the main temple the students also attended introductory session by Ven. Geshe Ma Kelsang Wangmo on 4^thNovember and the review sessions by Ven. Geshe Lhakdor in the evening for all the three days. On the second of the talk Mr. Chimme Rigzin la introduced the group to the His Holiness on his way to the main temple.

As a part of the retreat the students were also highly encouraged to participate in group discussions to further clear the doubts. Since Heart Sutra is a very important teaching of Buddha which deals with the concept of “Emptiness” and “Dependence- Origination”, the new participants had the opportunity to familiarize oneself with the Essence of Buddhist Philosophy.

The team of Flowering Dharma expressed their gratitude to the Tushita Meditation center for all the support in the presence of Ven. Geshe Lhakdor La on 5^thNov after the review session. Tashi Namgyal, Director, Flowering Dharma presented a small gift to the Tushita as a token of love on behalf of all the participants.

The official closing of the retreat was organized at the LTWA, before the closing ceremony the students had the opportunity to tour the facilities and different sections of LTWA , a short video on LTWA was also screened before the Question and Answer session. The students and other participants cleared their doubts with very insightful questions. Flowering Dharma then on behalf of the students thanked Geshe Lhakdor la for his guidance and support during the entire process of organizing the retreat. Geshe la was presented by a khatak and a small gift by Tashi Namgyal. The students were then offered with a Khatak and a certificate of appreciation. Thereafter few students shared their feedback and also dedicated a song to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Geshe Lhakdor la.