- This event has passed.
Senior Lama Teaching Series: How to Plan Your Personal Retreat
October 12, 2020 All day
In “How to Plan Your Personal Retreat,” Drupla Sonam Tsering, who has completed three three-year retreats, gives practical advice on questions including How do we choose where to go for retreat? What are suggestions on retreat for someone with commitments like family or children? What are the advantages and disadvantages of solitary retreat? When should we do retreat at home? Drupla begins with “In Praise of Manjushri,” known as Gang gi lodröma in Tibetan, and with the idea of our human potential. The word “human” in Tibetan means “great potential.” How do we realize our potential? By gathering merit through stable discipline, virtuous practices, and aspirations. When these three come together, merit accumulation takes place. This is very precious, bringing temporary happiness in the short term, liberation in the long term. Retreat is a special opportunity to actualize the accumulation of merit.
“In order to attain the state of awakening, we have to practice the Dharma in a genuine way,” Drupla Sonam says. He offers advice on what makes an ideal or appropriate retreat place, the advantages of group and of solitary retreat practice, including the number of sessions per day (in a traditional retreat, it’s four sessions a day). “It’s all about finding a balance that works for you,” he observes. The main aim of Phakchok Rinpoche is that his students benefit from teachings, and some signs of benefit are that renunciation deepens, bodhicitta increases, conceptual thinking diminishes, and emptiness becomes clearer. “The word ‘Dharma’ means ‘transformation.’ So we should be looking for this kind of transformation to take place in ourselves,” Drupla concludes.
Make an Offering for the Event:
If you would like to make an offering to support the costs of hosting these teachings and to provide offerings to the Drupla and the interpreters, you may do so by clicking the link below:
Click here to make an offering directly to the event
Support Samye Institute:
Samye Institute relies on regular offerings from our Dharma family to produce these teachings and make them available to the wider community. If you have not yet become a monthly sponsor, we encourage you to do so. Your participation will allow us to expand our offerings and bring you better quality content. And if you are already a monthly supporter, we thank you for your continued contribution. Sarva Mangalam!
Click here to become a Monthly Supporter
Related Events
Vajrayana Membership
Join now and receive:
Monthly teachings from Phakchok Rinpoche and monastic instructors
Detailed instruction in Vajrayana practices
Practice companions for core Chokling Tersar practices
New content added monthly
Scholarships available
Related Events
About Samye Institute
Samye is a place where students from all corners of the globe explore how to work with their minds in order to lead meaningful lives. Drawing from authentic Buddhist wisdom traditions, our online platform offers live teachings, structured courses, interactive forums, and community for the digital Dharma sangha. Samye Institute aims to be to the digital world what Nalanda was to India and what Samye was to Tibet.
