Dear most precious one, you who are not a seeker of liberation for yourself but a seeker of enlightenment for all sentient beings.I am extremely happy with what you are doing because you are practicing the heart of the eighty four thousand teachings
My very dear Carolyn,I hope you are well. It is a great opportunity to be able to do retreat, please do it with bodhicitta. However, the best one is to do it with the thought of impermanence and death.
Rinpoche received an email from a group of practitioners who had completed a Vajrasattva retreat. They wrote offering Rinpoche all the merits from their retreat and dedicating the merits so that all his wishes are fulfilled. Rinpoche sent the following response.
Just being in a cave… What is retreat for? It is to realize the three principles, and to create merit and purify. This is what is required for realization.
The secret Mahayana Vajrayana teachings include the “offering burning” practice (Tibetan: jin.sek). Every item offered in burning pujas is good for some purpose. There are various substances that are offered to the deity during the fire puja.
A student working at a Dharma center wished to do retreat for about two weeks. He wrote: “With folded hands I respectfully ask that Rinpoche kindly advises me on the subject for this retreat. Kind Lama, please suggest to me what would be most beneficial for those who I work with and all of the kind mother sentient beings who have been so kind to me.”
An old student wrote that she would be doing Vajrayogini retreat. Rinpoche gave this advice.
A student wrote asking for advice on her practice and Rinpoche sent the following response, advising daily meditation on the lamrim (the graduated path to enlightenment.)
I think it is good if you can spend more time on practice earlier in the morning, like 4 to 5 am. First, do the blessing of your speech and mala and then do the motivation. Then chant one mala of OM MANI PADME HUM.
My dear one,
