This post has been updated as of November 19th. Read below!
Well, as some of you who read A Monk Amok at least semi-regularly know, my plans after the end of the academic year next April have been up in the air. I simply don't have the funds to continue studying, but I do have most of the funds to do retreat. I've wanted to do an extended retreat for the past several years, and now I have the chance. At first, I started looking at other options in the U.S., but none of them look viable right now. In addition, my own mortality and the frailty of the human body have been on my mind a great deal, in large measure due to the course on the Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryaavatara) I've been taking here in Nepal.
I had the chance to speak with the Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche at the new Drikung Kagyu monastery in Nayapati, Nepal, at the end of the opening celebration yesterday. We sat on the steps of the main hall and discussed doing retreat. I plan to do at least two years, though if I can raise the rest of the funds, I will extend the retreat to three years. Actually, a traditional three-year retreat is three years, three months, three weeks and three days. The exact location is still to be determined, though for financial and logistical reasons, I will do the retreat in India. Actually, I know where I want to do the retreat, but I need to speak with another rinpoche to get permission to do it there. I will of course post updates as things progress.
Update: November 19th
I've got some information on what I can expect to spend in India on retreat--about US $120 per month. If I can find just 3 sponsors who can offer $25 per month for the next 40 months, I'll be able to do a full 3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. Currently, a long series of transmissions and empowerments called the Kagyu Ngakdzod is being given at Drikung Kagyu Rinchen Ling, the new Drikung monastery here in the Kathmandu valley. The tulku / retreat master I need to speak with is aware of my wish to do retreat at his monastery, but has asked me to wait until after the Kagyu Ngakdzod is complete before we meet to discuss the retreat in any detail.
For those of you not familiar with the Tibetan tradition, the three year retreat is a tradition practiced in all of the lineages. In some cases, it is like a survey course, where a fairly standard set of practices are engaged in over the course of the retreat. In other cases, the retreat is more individually tailored. Larger group retreats (I've heard of a place in France that just had 80 people finish a three year retreat) tend to be more standardized, whereas smaller group retreats and individual retreats leave more room for individualization.
Three year retreat is not "lama college" as a great many people seem to think. Just because someone has done three years of retreat it does not automatically make them a lama (teacher). Just because they haven't done this traditional retreat doesn't mean they're not a lama either. Basically, you're a lama when your own lama says you are. However, from what I've seen, three year retreat seems to be the standard minimum to be recognized as a teacher, unless you graduate from a traditional monastic college (shedra). Then you can be a kind of professor-lama. In the Kagyu, Sakya and Nyingma lineages, this generally takes 9 years.
In my opinion, the real purpose of the three year retreat is to tame your mind and to develop bodhicitta (the wish that all beings will attain enlightenment--actually it's more complicated than that so I'll do a blog post about that later). In other words, I'm not gunning for a title. Your prayers for the success of this retreat are greatly appreciated.
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