I would like to talk a little bit
about the importance of doing retreat.
I did retreat when I was thirteen years old.
I wanted to do retreat —
no one ordered me to do retreat.
This was almost kind of like my hobby.
When I was eight years old, when I was young,
I wanted to do retreat.
I wanted to go to the mountains,
go inside a cave and meditate there.
I wanted to spend more time doing retreat.
That was kind of my personal wish
or something special that I liked.
In general,
doing retreat is very very important.
In Tibet,
many great masters did retreat.
Some of them spent half of their lives doing retreat.
Half of their early lives they did retreat,
and then after that they benefited many people.
We say, “first, liberate yourself.”
If you liberate yourself through realization,
then you can help others.
Then others can also gain realization,
true wisdom, and true compassion.
And they can really help others to open their hearts and minds
to achieve the freedom of liberation.
For example, like Buddha:
Buddha spent six years in retreat.
Before that, Buddha went to many places,
learned many different dharmas —
but why did Buddha become a buddha?
Because he practiced, meditated,
and did retreat near the river Niranjana.
The river Niranjana is in India, near Bodhgaya.
Buddha did retreat there for six years,
and after that Buddha became a buddha.
There are many stories in Tibet.
Like Milarepa:
first he did twelve years of very serious retreat,
and after that most of his life was spent in retreat.
In general, retreat is very important.
My father did lot of retreats.
My grandfather has spent half of his life in retreat.
He is still alive, and he is now in Nepal.
My uncles and my teacher Saljay Rinpoche also.
So I am really inspired to do retreat.
And why is retreat important?
Because the causes for negative emotions and kleshas —
bad karma, bad actions, suffering — are three.
There are three causes for bad actions and negative emotions.
First, is what we call, “the object is nearby.”
For example,
if you have anger,
and the person whom you do not like is near you,
then you get angry often.
Whenever you see that person —
especially if you are enemies.
This is why.
The object of anger is someone you do not like,
and the object of desire
is someone or something you really like.
If that object is near you, it is also a problem.
This is why.
This is the first cause for negative and bad actions.
The second is what we call,
“not abandoning the root of negative emotions”
or “not abandoning the root of ego.”
If you have already cut the root of ego,
which is if you’ve already achieved a high level of realization,
then even if you are in a situation
in which there is an object of desire or anger,
there is no problem,
because you have already cut through the root of ego,
so there are no negative emotions,
no bad actions,
no problems, and no suffering.
But if you have not cut the root, they come.
Third is having wrong motivation.
Wrong motivation means,
“Oh, if I have an opportunity to beat that person,
I am going to do so!”
That kind of motivation.
For example, even if the object is nearby
and you are not cutting through the root of emotion,
if you do not have a mistaken motivation —
“Now I am not going to steal that thing.
I am not going to lie.
Even if I have an opportunity to lie, I am not going to lie,”
then there is no problem.
But if you have wrong motivation,
if these three are together,
they make problems, obstacles,
bad actions, bad karma,
and create crazy negative emotions.
But if you do not have one of these three,
then the causes are not strong,
or there are not enough causes.
Then there is no result!
So, in retreat, you do not have the first cause,
that the object is nearby.
You do not have the object nearby. You are solitary.
You close the door,
and you are by yourself.
Now, what do you have?
You have full time to practice!
You are not busy with mundane life.
That is why retreat is very good for your practice
in order to really develop.
But if you have good meditation within you,
then you do not have the last cause —
what I call, “wrong motivation,”
or “mistaken motivation.”
Even if objects are nearby,
even if you are not cutting through the root of ego,
kleshas, and emotions, it is still OK,
and you can transform everything into meditation.
I am not saying that if you do not do retreat,
you have no way to achieve a high level of realization.
I am not saying that.
Or if you are not doing retreat you are not really a Buddhist —
I am not saying that.
But doing retreat is really beneficial for our practice.
Why do we do retreat?
To benefit others.
Because if I have more experience,
if I have more realization,
I can share my wisdom, compassion,
and good experience with others.
It will benefit others more.
I might know some little things,
and I can say “blah blah blah” — nice things —
but if I do not have really deep experience and realization,
there is no real benefit.
That is why retreat is important.
I wanted to tell you a little about retreat’s importance
since this is Sherabling,
and I did most of my retreats here.
I spent most of my time in retreat here in Sherabling.
OK,
see you next time!