Three Year Retreat Schedule

kandarohi
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2021 5:21 pm

Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by kandarohi »


Moderator note: This was a necropost that I broke into a new thread. Please familiarize yourself with the Posting Rules
Welcome to the forum!

Please can someone tell me what the schedule for the 3 year retreat is

eg month 1-6 4 preliminary guides

etc

is there lamrim mediation? Generation stage? Completion stage? Is there more completion stage towards the end?

Thank you
User avatar
heart
Posts: 6288
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 1:55 pm

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by heart »

kandarohi wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 5:24 pm
Moderator note: This was a necropost that I broke into a new thread. Please familiarize yourself with the Posting Rules
Welcome to the forum!

Please can someone tell me what the schedule for the 3 year retreat is

eg month 1-6 4 preliminary guides

etc

is there lamrim mediation? Generation stage? Completion stage? Is there more completion stage towards the end?

Thank you
It depends on where you do the retreat, what lama leads it.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
Natan
Posts: 3685
Joined: Fri May 23, 2014 5:48 pm

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Natan »

kandarohi wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 5:24 pm
Moderator note: This was a necropost that I broke into a new thread. Please familiarize yourself with the Posting Rules
Welcome to the forum!

Please can someone tell me what the schedule for the 3 year retreat is

eg month 1-6 4 preliminary guides

etc

is there lamrim mediation? Generation stage? Completion stage? Is there more completion stage towards the end?

Thank you
What does it matter? Ask your lama if you want to do 3YR. Then pay money.
User avatar
conebeckham
Posts: 5712
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:49 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by conebeckham »

Here is just one example. Different places have different schedules and programs, but this is pretty typical for Kamtsang. Check out the rest of the site, there is s Shangpa retreat schedule as well.
http://www.bokarmonastery.org/mod/karma ... FjdGljZQ==
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
kandarohi
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2021 5:21 pm

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by kandarohi »

conebeckham wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:01 pm Here is just one example. Different places have different schedules and programs, but this is pretty typical for Kamtsang. Check out the rest of the site, there is s Shangpa retreat schedule as well.
http://www.bokarmonastery.org/mod/karma ... FjdGljZQ==
Ah thank you so much for this! Conebeckham! :thanks:
kandarohi
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2021 5:21 pm

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by kandarohi »

heart wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:05 pm

It depends on where you do the retreat, what lama leads it.

/magnus
I will be doing it as a solitary retreat
User avatar
heart
Posts: 6288
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 1:55 pm

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by heart »

kandarohi wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:44 pm
heart wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:05 pm

It depends on where you do the retreat, what lama leads it.

/magnus
I will be doing it as a solitary retreat
Then you can''t do a traditional three year retreat. Anyway you need the support of a lama to do it if you are serious.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
User avatar
conebeckham
Posts: 5712
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:49 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by conebeckham »

heart wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 5:54 am
kandarohi wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:44 pm
heart wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:05 pm

It depends on where you do the retreat, what lama leads it.

/magnus
I will be doing it as a solitary retreat
Then you can''t do a traditional three year retreat. Anyway you need the support of a lama to do it if you are serious.

/magnus
^This.

One does not just do a solitary 3 year retreat.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Schrödinger’s Yidam
Posts: 7885
Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 6:13 am

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Schrödinger’s Yidam »

One does not just do a solitary 3 year retreat.
I’ve been told that Lama Norlha didn’t give permission for any of his people to do solitary retreats. Apparently he thought you needed other irritating people around to demonstrate to yourself the limitations of your practice. Without them you might think you’re making a lot more headway than you really are.

Having said that, obviously solitary retreats are done quite often in the Tibetan tradition. So Cone, are you just saying you can’t do your initial retreat alone? I’m confused.
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
User avatar
heart
Posts: 6288
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 1:55 pm

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by heart »

Schrödinger’s Yidam wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 12:28 am
One does not just do a solitary 3 year retreat.
I’ve been told that Lama Norlha didn’t give permission for any of his people to do solitary retreats. Apparently he thought you needed other irritating people around to demonstrate to yourself the limitations of your practice. Without them you might think you’re making a lot more headway than you really are.
It is a question of logistics, teachings, empowerments and pith instructions should be delivered at the right moment. Solitary retreat is for those that already have experience and no need for a teachings and so on. Also a solitary retreat can be any length so no need for the three year format. Read Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
User avatar
conebeckham
Posts: 5712
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:49 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by conebeckham »

heart wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 8:54 am
Schrödinger’s Yidam wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 12:28 am
One does not just do a solitary 3 year retreat.
I’ve been told that Lama Norlha didn’t give permission for any of his people to do solitary retreats. Apparently he thought you needed other irritating people around to demonstrate to yourself the limitations of your practice. Without them you might think you’re making a lot more headway than you really are.
It is a question of logistics, teachings, empowerments and pith instructions should be delivered at the right moment. Solitary retreat is for those that already have experience and no need for a teachings and so on. Also a solitary retreat can be any length so no need for the three year format. Read Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual.

/magnus
I agree with all of this, too. 3 year retreat is sorta like "college" in our lineage. It's a training ground and requires supervision at various points.

also, some of the practices require more than one person, really--I can't imagine someone doing some of the drupchos on their own. You just can't cover all the necessities.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Malcolm »

conebeckham wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:33 pm
heart wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 8:54 am
Schrödinger’s Yidam wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 12:28 am
I’ve been told that Lama Norlha didn’t give permission for any of his people to do solitary retreats. Apparently he thought you needed other irritating people around to demonstrate to yourself the limitations of your practice. Without them you might think you’re making a lot more headway than you really are.
It is a question of logistics, teachings, empowerments and pith instructions should be delivered at the right moment. Solitary retreat is for those that already have experience and no need for a teachings and so on. Also a solitary retreat can be any length so no need for the three year format. Read Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual.

/magnus
I agree with all of this, too. 3 year retreat is sorta like "college" in our lineage. It's a training ground and requires supervision at various points.

also, some of the practices require more than one person, really--I can't imagine someone doing some of the drupchos on their own. You just can't cover all the necessities.
It all depends on the kind of three year retreat.
User avatar
Virgo
Posts: 4844
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:47 am
Location: Uni-verse

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Virgo »

Unfortunately, some people have to sleep in a box.

Virgo
Schrödinger’s Yidam
Posts: 7885
Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 6:13 am

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Schrödinger’s Yidam »

I agree with all of this, too. 3 year retreat is sorta like "college" in our lineage. It's a training ground and requires supervision at various points.
I've often likened a 3 year retreat to undergraduate school.

But not everybody goes to college. So why do a 3 year retreat at all? I'm told Situ R. has said that you can get enlightened with NgonDro. It might be slow, but it's pretty straightforward. HHK often gives the quote about Indian practitioners that master one yidam while Tibetans unsuccessfully attempt 100. A 3 year retreat is important if one wants to become a Lama, but you can evolve spiritually with less practices.
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
User avatar
Kelwin
Posts: 314
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2011 1:52 pm

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Kelwin »

Schrödinger’s Yidam wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 4:26 am
I agree with all of this, too. 3 year retreat is sorta like "college" in our lineage. It's a training ground and requires supervision at various points.
I've often likened a 3 year retreat to undergraduate school.

But not everybody goes to college. So why do a 3 year retreat at all? I'm told Situ R. has said that you can get enlightened with NgonDro. It might be slow, but it's pretty straightforward. HHK often gives the quote about Indian practitioners that master one yidam while Tibetans unsuccessfully attempt 100. A 3 year retreat is important if one wants to become a Lama, but you can evolve spiritually with less practices.
Not only that, if you want to reach realization, the 3 year retreat is actually a terrible way to do it. Anytime you feel like you're getting to know a practice, you already have to learn the next one and complete all the related accumulations.

Most people I know who have done it, spent a lot of time afterwards on their own on a single practice. After the busy schedule, it felt like they finally got some rest and could really settle down. It's one of the reasons many people quit during the 3 year schedule.
'I will not take your feelings seriously, and neither will you' -Lama Lena
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Malcolm »

Kelwin wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 11:25 am Not only that, if you want to reach realization, the 3 year retreat is actually a terrible way to do it. Anytime you feel like you're getting to know a practice, you already have to learn the next one and complete all the related accumulations.
Unless, like myself, you focus on one sadhana.
Natan
Posts: 3685
Joined: Fri May 23, 2014 5:48 pm

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Natan »

Most of these Vajrayana paths require group practice for accomplishment, which is what you find at a 3 Year Retreat. You can practice alone if you have a transmission which does not require group practices. But then you also don't necessarily need three years or a particular schedule. The transmission will say what time commitment to expect as well as signs of progress and accomplishment so you will know if you are off track. Before going off on a long solitary retreat it will help a lot to know your transmissions inside and out.
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Malcolm »

Crazywisdom wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 1:32 pm Most of these Vajrayana paths require group practice for accomplishment, which is what you find at a 3 Year Retreat.
This is strictly a Kagyu and Nyingma thing, and a late development as well. Sakyapas and Gelukpas do these solo, after having received the complete transmission for everything needed to accomplish the retreat. Of course they have consulting teachers who guide them through the material.
Natan
Posts: 3685
Joined: Fri May 23, 2014 5:48 pm

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Natan »

Malcolm wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 1:59 pm
Crazywisdom wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 1:32 pm Most of these Vajrayana paths require group practice for accomplishment, which is what you find at a 3 Year Retreat.
This is strictly a Kagyu and Nyingma thing, and a late development as well. Sakyapas and Gelukpas do these solo, after having received the complete transmission for everything needed to accomplish the retreat. Of course they have consulting teachers who guide them through the material.
The Guhyagarbha is not a late development.
Natan
Posts: 3685
Joined: Fri May 23, 2014 5:48 pm

Re: Three Year Retreat Schedule

Post by Natan »

Crazywisdom wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 2:41 pm
Malcolm wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 1:59 pm
Crazywisdom wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 1:32 pm Most of these Vajrayana paths require group practice for accomplishment, which is what you find at a 3 Year Retreat.
This is strictly a Kagyu and Nyingma thing, and a late development as well. Sakyapas and Gelukpas do these solo, after having received the complete transmission for everything needed to accomplish the retreat. Of course they have consulting teachers who guide them through the material.
The Guhyagarbha is not a late development.
But I agree it's better to focus on one sadhana or transmission. It's hard enough to master one.
Post Reply

Return to “Kagyu”