On March 3, 2009, the His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche led 51 disciples leaving for Drikung Kagyu Institute in Dehra Dun, India for the first time to conduct their 7 day retreat practice. The disciples entered the retreat room on March 5 and left the retreat room with perfect completion on March 12. The 51 disciples of Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center, lead by Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, went back to Taiwan on March 13, 2009. Furthermore on March 15, 2009, the His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche conducted the Lama Chopa Guru Puja at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center.

On March 5, 2009, at around midday under the burning sun, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche went around and inspected each of the retreat rooms where the disciples were going to practice the retreat, and then left after confirming all of the preparation. Before retreat would start in the afternoon, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche gave enlightenment to the disciples. To conduct a retreat practice, actually there are still many advance preparations, mantra reciting, blessings giving and so on. Don’t consider yourself someone remarkable for being able to perform retreat; far from it. It is nothing but making you accustomed to what the retreat is, so do not be proud. For a real retreat practice, hawse have to arrange a mandala well, recite sutra, bless the Buddha Beads and so forth in advance, but now those above could not be done as you have not met the qualifications. Hence, do not think that perhaps you have learned or practiced well. Don’t be that arrogant. This time it is to let you know about a different style of living. Everyone has been used to his own life style for decades and has no idea what on earth is wrong. Through this retreat, you could realize what went wrong with yourself. If anything abnormal happens during the process of retreat, do not believe that’s true and consider you have instantaneous awareness. Just recite mantras truthfully. You can take a break when you are really tired and don’t have to push yourself too hard. It is not a must to reach a certain number of times in mantra recitation. Plan your daily life by yourself. Eating too much would stuff yourself, whereas eating too little would starve yourself and you would have insufficient physical strength, and neither of them is good. Do not recite mantras with your backside against something, as it is not good for your health. If you can not fall asleep at night, just sit up to recite mantras. Your thoughts are contemplation of Yidam twenty-four hours a day. Do not recite too loudly. Do not think the environment better for meditation and hence do meditation intentionally. In fact, one could also enter into meditation through mantra reciting. Everyday, after the last session is finished, followed by Vajrasattva recitation three times, or repents to the Yidam Avalokitesvara. You have to do it because there must be some runaway thoughts arisen. Practice the Dharma Protector Achi every night before you go to sleep, and pray her to help you keep a normal body and mind, and complete the retreat smoothly. When a session is finished, report to the Yidam the number of times you have recited in the session, and offer the merits and virtues of mantra recitation to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions, Dharma protectors and Guru. Only at the end of a day, dedicate the merits and virtues to the Pure Land and Boddhi, but not to specific people. As long as you feel distracted and can not concentrate yourself, re-contemplate the Yidam all over again, because your strength of contemplation is not sufficient. “Contemplation” is to see the true natures of Dharma with a pure and clean heart. “Thinking” is to hear and to see the appearance of Yidam through our consciousness (life experience). If one does “thinking” well, “contemplation” would then emerge. Now you are all in the part of “thinking” and can not do it well, so just contemplate according to the steps that have been enlightened. Whether if one could contemplate very clearly or not is a matter of meditation? When one contemplates well, he even could visualize the Bodhisattva’s hairs, fingers, jewels worn, and the folds of clothes. The Yidam visualized should not be higher than you, but lower than the altitude of your neck. Since in retreat, each and every thought is on the Yidam and your guru. If you feel distracted, you could pray the Dharma Protector Achi and your guru for blessing. If you are uncomfortable during the retreat, you can take medicine. Afterwards, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche gave blessings to disciples one by one and bestowed them a precious nectar pill. Then the retreat practice began in the afternoon of March 5.

On March 12, 2009, after 7 days of conducting disciples’ retreat practice, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche left the retreat room in the early morning. Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche also instructed the disciples to leave the retreat room and enlightened them. This retreat practice is not considered as a true retreat. It was simply to let you on a vacation. Everyday all of you thought that you have already practiced very well, recited many mantras, and been very respectful, repented and already been Buddhist. The Drikung Kagyu Lineage is a school that has the tradition of practices. There is no any practitioner can be liberated from the cycle of life and death without having the retreat practice. There were still many rituals that have not been taught to avoid your confusion. In this life, don’t simply think that you will not fall down into the three evil realms only by arousing your heart, making the vow, reciting the name of Buddha Amitabha and making offerings. If it is so simple then it would not be depicted in The Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha’s Fundamental Vows: Every thought aroused is karma as well as a sin. What this means is that one can have an evil thought even till the last second before he dies! Many people have practiced the Buddha Dharma incorrectly and taken the wrong path.

This retreat practice today includes teachings of both Exoteric and Esoteric. It is written in the texts that it is not impossible not to fall down into the three evil realms if one does not practice through contemplation, development, completion and then complete reciting of Mani Mantra for one hundred thousands times. Many people thought that they will be well if they have completed reciting the name of Buddha Amitabha for one million times. It is completely not true! Only those who could be reciting without any evil thought or deluded thought will not fall down into the three evil realms. Therefore all of you now at most will not fall down into the three evil realms. Yet it still depends on what you will do in the future. You will fall down by the change of just one thought! Do not think that you will not fall down into the three evil realms because you have already sought refuge, practiced the Buddha Dharma, practiced repentance and done many things for the dharma masters. Even the dharma masters can fall down into the three evil realms, not to mention all of you? Try hard to see yourself clearly. Do not be hoodwinked everyday by names, forms and false appearances, and do not think those who worship the Buddhas in the temple are the Buddha Dharma practitioners. His Holiness said that those who complete the retreat of reciting for one hundred times will not fall down into the three evil realms, and those who completes the retreat of reciting for four hundred thousand times will be liberated from the reincarnation. It is not that easy as you think. The mantras that you have recited during the retreat were not counted should there be any thought aroused when you were reciting! Therefore, the retreat practice this time is only a little trial to let you understand thoroughly what your problems are. All of you haven’t thought how much high possibility of falling down into the three evil realms? It is so easy by just one thought.

There must be reasons why to recite mantras, contemplate, and so forth. Why do we need a Guru? How could we achieve without a Guru? Many people think that they can practice by other power (the power of Buddha) or self- power (their own power). The powers of the Buddha are from the three bodies of the Buddha, i.e. the Truth Body, the Enjoyment Body, and the Emanation Body. Even if the Emanation Body of Buddha does come to rescue you, you need to attain pure and clean at least, needless to say that neither the Enjoyment Body of Buddha nor the Truth Body of the Buddha will come before you. Therefore, the purpose of this short seven-day retreat is to let you to see your own problems clearly. You will be absolutely wrong if you are still so obstinate in your what you believe, i.e. thinking you have been practicing, thinking you have been being a Buddhist, thinking you have been doing the recitation, and thinking you would not fall into the three evil realms. Even though Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche has attained such accomplishment, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche is still very cautious. A Rinpoche that has been recognized by His Holiness might incautiously go backwards. So, we could not achieve without the guidance of our Guru.

After the seven-day retreat, you have realized that you wouldn’t have made it through and would have gone crazy if you had not contemplated your Guru. This is different from an ordinary seven-day chanting retreat. Lots of people perform the seven-day chanting retreat with desires to wish that they could be purified and cleaned, have good view, or have sympathetic response. That’s they are seeking externally. Strictly speaking, it is not Buddha Dharma, but a non-Buddhist religion. Hence, this retreat is but an initiation for you to see where on earth his efforts have been implemented during the previous years. You, who are use to living such a comfortable spoiled life, would have cracked up and experienced uneasily if His Holiness and Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche had not recited daily. In fact, your retreat, compared with that of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, was the retreat of noble class. You had food and drink due to His Holiness’ and Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s uninterrupted efforts. That is why there were people serving you and they all worked very hard. Therefore you should have gratitude to all the sentient beings and to those who had served you. Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche furthermore enlightened that, upon the completion of the retreat, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche see everyone as the Yidam. There are many causes of the past so that you could receive such treatment, and, therefore, you should make offering all the times to receive this field of merit. The so-called cultivating the field of merit refers to whether you end up with a field of merit to cultivate or not. Our Drikung Kagyu Lineage has the tradition of practice, which absolutely is not compromised. There are no flatteries here and you are compelled to practice truly. The vow of Buddha is that the sentient beings be liberated from the reincarnation, which is not easy at all. Therefore, it will not do if you are not compelled. Having finished the retreat, you shouldn’t return with pride and make other disciples feel that you are different. It’s possible that you have been made much more faults. This retreat let you experience what the ‘practice’ is. Today’s opportunity was a refuge granted by His Holiness’s merits, which allowed you to feel safe and assured doing the retreat at this place. You would have been frightened if this had been done in Lapchi. Many of you were startled at the rustle of the leaves in the wind at night already. The ghosts wouldn’t come for you during such a retreat because you are not qualified.

Then, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche led disciples to pay a reverent visit to H.H. Chetsang Rinpoche. H.H. Chetsang Rinpoche enlightened that it is very rare for a guru and his disciples to practice together here. Drikung Kagyu Lineage emphasizes particularly on practices. Practicing is different from making prostration to Buddhas and reciting Buddhist sutras. Practice is a kind of experience, is the practice the action of the mind. Sariputra has said that the merit of practicing in an instant is much more than that by making offering of all jewels of Trichiliocosm or a universe of a billion worlds. It is said much about the practices in the Kyobpa Jigten Sumgön’s writings. The vow, wishing all sentient beings had happiness and the causes of happiness, that we recited is the meaning of the mercy and compassion heart. However, it is very difficult to attain the accomplishment. Kyobpa Jigten Sumgön said when you see a lovely baby, what you feel is the mercy and compassion heart. Between these two descriptions, one is the explanation about what the mercy and compassion heart is, while the other is a perception of the mercy and compassion heart when seeing a baby. So practice is perceptible and experiential. The realm of the very high accomplishment is quite close in the Mahamudra and Zen Section, but the differences are the methods of practices.

H.H. Chetsang Rinpoche also enlightened the introductive history and the essence of the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch in the treasures of Dunhuang caves and the Japanese Buddhist Canon, including the Bodhidharma and his guru. It is said in the Kyobpa Jigten Sumgön’s Five-fold Path of Mahamudra how to practice so to be away from illusory thoughts. The Chinese character of Zen is a combination of “manifestation” and “single”. So it expresses a single and simple thought without many complicated thoughts. Of course, it is very natural that we have so many illusory thoughts when we start to perform retreats. Perhaps some thought they had not accomplished anything due to many illusory thoughts during the retreat, and felt disappointed. But many texts remind us not to think of it that way. In our daily life, we are not even aware of these illusory thoughts. We do not even recognize our own thinking. Now you meditated a little and then you were able to understand the status of mind. This explains you are actually in some kind of meditating state of mind. It is not necessary to practice meditation for a long period of time. To meditate for half an hour, you can practice it by six sessions, with five-minute for each session. As your ability to remain in the state of meditation prolongs, you may extend the period of time to eight or ten minutes. It is you who should decide and control whether to continue or take a break. Your decisions should not be overpowered by your illusory thoughts. The techniques of meditation are to practice it several times by short period. And then your meditation will be getting better gradually. After enlightening the disciples, H. H. Chetsang Rinpoche in person bestowed Dharma medicines upon every disciple of the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center.

Afterwards, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche bid the farewells to H. H. Chetsang Rinpoche and left for Delhi by car with the disciples.

In the evening of March 12, 2009, the His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche had a banquet with the disciples at the Imperial Hotel in Delhi, India. Once again, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche let the disciples share their impression about the retreat, and then enlightened that Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche could not provide you happiness -being, satisfaction, or joy. You had wasted the experience of the retreat, if you thought you’d been on vacation. All disciples talked about their own problems, but no one thought of the Four Immeasurable Minds, which Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche has enlightened often. Prior to the retreat, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche had reminded that you practice it with the merciful and compassionate heart and do not just think of your own family or few people. Yet you all still have discriminating hearts. With a discriminating heart, it is impossible to cultivate mercy and compassion. Without mercy and compassion, Buddha Dharma would not exist. You certainly can feel doubtful, but should not doubt the Buddha Dharma or the Guru. You should doubt your capacity of not being able to transfer your affection into mercy and compassion heart.

All of individual disciple’s impression was worth considering because all may encounter the same problems of different degree. If you cannot settle your mind within a couple of days and mull over why you practiced the retreat, you’d wasted your time and money over it. Many others could not come to let you 51 people practice the retreat. Without the blessings of H. H. Chetsang Rinpoche and Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, you could not make through it. Without Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s continuous offerings and preparation prior to the retreat, you would not be able to have comfortable foods and accommodations in these seven days. This retreat is to let you know what you have practiced and what faults you have made. Base on the standards of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, this is not a retreat at all. Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s first retreat commanded by H. H. Chetsang Rinpoche was a month long. It was not so comfortable as this time retreat. Especially, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche has chosen the most pleasant season in India, March, for the disciples to practice retreat.

In learning the dharma, you have to listen to what your guru said; don’t select something from them at your own interest or your valuation. All of the teachings from the guru are helpful to you. Though many people are disseminating various teachings, in the Drikung Kagyu lineage we only abide by correcting ourselves steadily and surely as a start. This morning His Holiness Chetsang enlightened that reciting sutras, prostrating the Buddha, or worship in repentance rituals are not true practices, but instead you correct yourself when it comes to dharma practice. The teachings given by His Holiness are the same with Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, thus it reveals that Dharma is one. Why is Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche strict with his disciples especially? For more than twenty years, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche has been practicing the dharma under imaginable harsh situation and able to attain accomplishment. It is not eloquence. In tantric practices, one as a Han people has to overcome enormous difficulties in the way that he is not able to learn what he want to learn. Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche is such cultivated and guided by His Holiness Chetsang, so does Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche teach disciples by those strict methods. The method benefits Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, so it would also benefit the disciples definitely. If Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche had been lenient to the disciples, the number of disciples would be much more than present. However, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche teaches the disciples at his best and with devotion of his life. Today, the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center has been recognized as a highly reputed Buddhist Center of Drikung Kagyu. The Drikung Kaygu’s centers are strict and disciplined. Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, who received the painstaking cultivation from His Holiness Chetsang, would be ashamed to His Holiness if none of the disciples could be outstanding. Therefore, this time your retreat practice is merely a beginning. This time retreat is a just a beginning. There would be more retreats to be conducted in the future, based on this retreat as a reference.

Therefore you have to think about for what you are living?  Put aside if you will be able to liberate the others, but rather if you could be of a little benefit to the others and change yourself so as having positive influence onto people nearby. To become an archetypal to the others, then you must not have any selfishness and must devote yourself with no regard of your own interest.

On March 15, 2009, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche held the regular puja at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center. This was the first puja after Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche came back Taiwan from Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s perfect completion of the 10th retreat in Jangchubling. Being greeted by nuns with the greeting incense, the His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche was greeted to the venue, preceded by the procession of the dharma banners, dharma flags, incense burner, and the dharma instruments on the white carpet printed with the 8 auspicious symbols and covered with the flower petals on it, to conduct the auspicious “Lama Chopa Guru Puja” of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage.

Updated on March 25, 2009