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Advice for retreat by great masters compiled by Dharmakirti Tib. Chung Bhir (Chung gmbhir) Advice from Naropa You should not share food with someone who has broken their vows, or wear clothing of non-virtuous beings such as soldiers, murderers, or violent beings. If we become sick in retreat we should relax and not push ourselves. We should not recite mantra when we are unable to generate devotion or when eating or drinking. After eating or drinking or going to the toilet we must rinse our mouth before reciting the mantra. One can make purified water with the purification rite called Nam Chon. You can simply recite the mantra over the water 7 times in the morning. There is a very long mantra and a shorter one. Otherwise you can receive a small amount of purified water from the retreat master and add a few drops to your washing water each day. When reciting mantra we must recite softly and clearly. If we recite too loudly and strongly spirits outside our retreat room will hear and copy it and your siddhis will decrease. One should recite like the sound of a bee humming. Too quietly is also not good because you will miss some sounds. With other prayers such as the Seven Limb Prayer and so forth it is actually good to recite them loudly. One should not recite peaceful and wrathful mantras at the same time and one should not recite wrathful mantras near a loud river or when the wind is blowing strongly because it is harmful to the local spirits and Nagas. It is even said that they can explode from the power of the mantra. Until we have attained the full power of the mantra it is not recommended to perform healing with the breath and so forth for others. In the Kriya and Acharya Tantras during retreat one should not eat onion, garlic, eggs, meat, or alcohol and one should not take a consort. To attain the full power of the mantra it is best not to speak at all during the retreat. One should recite the exact amount of mantra recommended in the text. It is said that one month of silent retreat is equivalent to one year of retreat where one is talking. Advice from Padampa Sangye for Kriya Tantra The Five Disappearances (siddhis disappear) 1. When one has visualized only part of the deity and then gets distracted. 2. When one recites the mantra and stops before completed a full mala. 3. When one is visualizing the light radiating out from the mantra and seed syllables and one becomes distracted, then signs will not arise. 4. When ritual substances and objects are seen by others. [Khempo clarified that this is referring to people other than vajra brothers and sisters in your retreat.]

5. When we give clothes for others to wear when they are still warm from our body. Also if we have to wash our clothes we should take them off and let them cool down one day before washing them. In retreat we should abandon laughing and dancing and other frivolous activities. We should not blow on fire. We should not try to perform healing or other miracles before we have full mantra power. We should not associate with people who have broken vows. We should not let other people touch our mala. [The mala used for yidam retreats should be kept hidden from others.] You should not go near butchers, hunters, divorced people [Khempo clarified that this is specifically referring to men or woman who destroy their marriage vows and family with heavy anger and harmful, divisive speech and so forth.] and the like, or eat from them or wear their clothing. One should not touch lepers, or eat food that has already been offered to the Triple Gem. The specific times to recite mantras of the 4 activities are: 1. Peaceful mantras in the morning 2. Increasing mantras after sunrise when the sun is heating up. 3. Magnetizing mantras in the afternoon after 1 pm. 4. Wrathful mantras from 4 to 6 pm. 5. Very wrathful rituals at night. In the Drikung Kagyu retreats always start in the late afternoon around 4pm and finish in the morning, which is opposite to many other traditions that start in early morning and finish at night. The reason is that is creates an auspicious connection similar to that of starting retreat when the moon is waning (decreasing) and finishing when it is waxing. It is an interdependent connection for successful completion of the retreat as well as increase of experience and realization. One should definitely start retreat before the 29th day of the Tibetan calendar. Guru Rinpoche’s Advice Tibetan yogis broke the three boundaries of retreat so this is why their do not get great siddhis like the Indian yogis. The three boundaries are the body boundary of not leaving retreat or seeing anyone, the speech boundary of keeping silence, and the mind boundary of not being carried away by strong emotion. If you break the boundary of body you must make confession and do purification. If you break the speech boundary you should recite one mala of Om Ah Hung. I you break the mind boundary you should meditate on Emptiness. If we break our commitments (samayas) we will not get spiritual attainments (siddhis). The samaya of the body is visualizing the deity clearly in detail. If we break this samaya we should try again and again to generate the deity. We should start very slowly visualizing the deity section by section. Then experience will come. The samaya of speech is to recite the mantra clearly without missing any syllables or slurring them. The samaya of mind is to concentrate one pointedly on the deity and mantra without distraction.

Furthermore one should never lose tigle (skt. Bindu eng. sexual drops or fluids), one should never spit. If one does happen to lose tigle then one should practice Chulen and make some pills out of herbs, alcohol and brain, or one can drink chang which increases the tigle. If we break the speech samaya we should recite the syllable Ah repeatedly for one mala. If we have continuous thoughts arising and cannot concentrate, breaking the mind samaya then we should stop the mantra and meditate on shamata (meditative concentration). One should never move one’s bed during the yidam retreat or shake out one’s mattress. One should not share plates or utensils, or fight with others. One should always offer tormas at the same time each day and one should never take first the food or drink or smell the flowers or perfume that is to be offered to the diety. One should not change rooms, but if one must do so one must stay in retreat 50% longer. For example if the retreat is 1 month one should stay 90 days. If we must shake out our mattress we must rest in Shamata for a long time. If we share plates with others we must do 10000 more mantra recitations. IF we don’t offer the torma on time we must make confession and offer many extra tormas. If we eat or smell food or perfume before offering it we should buy new offerings. We should not let dogs, divorced people, butchers or lepers into our room. If a dog enters our room we should light a fire and do the purification rite called Dug Chu (Poison Offering). If we have taken food from non-virtuous beings we must rinse our mouth with purified water. We should not cut our beard or hair or nails. If you must do so one should recite the 100 syllable mantra. People should not sit on your bed. If someone does so you must purify with the Dug Cho purification rite. If someone touches your mala you should wash it in Drukar water (a white incense that smells like pine). You should not touch weapons or dismantle them. The 10 mistakes of Mantra Recitation 5

mistakes of sound

1. Too loud : this will disturb spirits. 2. Too soft : the mantra will not be pronounced clearly. 3. Too fast: the mantra will not be clear. 4. Too slow: one will never finish. 5. Blowing on fire: one loses mantra power 5 Obstacles of stopping the mantra in the middle 6. Coughing 7. Speaking while reciting 8. Sneezing 9. Falling asleep 10. Farting

If one must go to the toilet during the session, one should go and not hold it in, but one must stop after a full mala and rinse one’s mouth out with purified water before and after. One should not mix the yidam mantra with other mantras. If you do so you must confess it and start again. Mantras recited outside the fixed session are not to be counted in the full mantra count. Neither should one count mantras done for blessing or to purify bad dreams. However it is still beneficial to do the yidam mantras outside the fixed sessions to help with concentrating the mind and increasing merit and to purify bad dreams. One should always keep the same number of sessions per day. If we follow these rules and then still do not get siddhis then there are many methods to get siddhis such as reciting the mantra backwards and so forth. One should perform the mala blessing and the dorje and bell blessing as in the text. Padampa Sangye wrote down advice from an Indian Yogi about food restrictions. Especially for mantra recitiation one should never eat the tongue of any animal. This will fully destroy one’s mantra power. Eating salt destroys 7 days of mantra rectitaion. Salt is also not good for certain illnesses such as thickened blood. The antedote for this is to say Ka Kha Ga Gha Na 21 times. Garlic destroys 8 days, onion 7, spring onion 3 and wild onion 3. The antedote for these is to recite Tsa Tsha Dza Dzha Na 21 times. For radish recite Ta Tha Da Dha Na 21 times. Nettles destroy 15 days and one should recite Pa Pha Ba Bha Ma 21 times as the antedote. Furthermore one should rinse one’s mouth with purified water. For salt one should throw it in the east, garlic in the west and nettles in the north then purify with the water. For the rest one should mash them up and throw them out. Then visualize the protection mandala. These foods disturb our concentration and especially disturb our winds channels and drops. Garlic and Onion increase body heat and cause uncontrolled melting of tigle, then it is lost without control in one’s urine. [Khempo Tashi described that after many years of not eating garlic he ate a lot at one time and his body began to shake and he lost tigle in his urine.] Nettles cause tigle to dry up and is especially bad for white tigle, decreasing bliss. Onions disturb the channels and cause the body to feel very heavy. 9 Causes for lack of results 1. Not enough devotion 2. Low wisdom 3. Little effort 4. Not reciting the texts 5. Too few offerings to the yidam deity 6. Too few offerings to the vajra Master

7. Many conceptual thoughts 8. Unsatisfied with retreat conditions (food and so forth) 9. Desire

9

Mistakes to give up when reciting mantra

1.

Heating oneself by a fire in cold weather

2. Sunbathing 3. Too much sleep 4. Frivolous talking 5. Telling stories 6. Joking 7. Leaning back against the wall 8. Lying down 9. Covering oneself fully under one’s blanket

9 Rules to keep to please the Yidam Deity 1. Do not take food from non-virtuous beings such as hunters and so forth. 2. Do not wear clothing from non-virtuous beings. 3. Keep one’s room clean. 4. Do not be too free and undisciplined. 5. Do not offer poor tormas. 6. Make diligent effort. 7. Do not pay too much attention to cleanliness. 8. Do not stop in the middle of recitation of the mantra.

9. Do not visualize the light radiating from the mantra for too short a time. 9 Rules to please the Protector Deity 1. Do not fight with your consort. 2. Do not fight with your vajra brothers and sisters. 3. Do not argue. 4. Do not offer poor tormas. 5. Do not give the protectors too much work to do. 6. Do not forget the offering torma. 7. Do not make black magic against your enemies. 8. Do not take things from your enemies. 9. Confess your negativities. One should not invite women into your room, or non-virtuous beings. People with empty pots should not come into your room or people with dark marks on their face or with swollen faces. These people should not even look into your window. Dogs or negative beings should not go on you roof. 9 Mistakes causing the lost of Merit (in general) 1. Not respecting the vajra Master. 2. Missing or making mistakes in the mantra 3. Not making offerings to the protectors. 4. Not offering to the 3 Jewels. 5. Not caring for one’s vajra brothers and sisters. 6. Not offering to the local spirits 7. Not believing in the power of pujas 8. Asking others to interpret ones dreams or signs with Mo divintation. 9. Getting too involved in worldly life.

9 Ways of Losing Siddhis 1. Telling others about one’s retreat.

2. Telling others about one’s signs. 3. Telling others about the name of one’s yidam. 4. Giving empowerments to other before one is qualified to do so. 5. Giving blessings to others before one is qualified. 6. Trying to control the weather. 7. Teaching one’s heart mantra to others. 8. Sharing secret teachings. 9. ? 9 Ways one will lose power 1. Not visualizing the deity clearly. 2. Not enough love and compassion. 3. Losing absolute Bodhicitta. 4. Not enough recitation of the 7 Limb Prayer. 5. Not enough mantra recitation. 6. Too much recitation of wrathful mantras. 7. Not enough concentration on the thoughts in one’s mind. 8. Giving unnecessary jobs to the protectors. 9. Trying to kill negative beings with mantra. 9 Ways of losing Blessings 1. Not prostrating enough to the vajra master. 2. Not helping the vajra master enough. 3. Always complaining. 4. Complaining about one’s deity. 5. Complaining about one’s protector. 6. Not praising the protectors. 7. Complaining about one’s vajra brothers and sisters.

8.

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9. ? One should not give one’s clothes to others. One should not bathe, wash plates, lose bindu, feed dogs, give leftovers to dogs, shake out one’s mattress, or let others step on one’s shadow. One should prostrate only to your root lama, one should not wear other’s clothes, or eat too nice food as it increases one’s attachment. One should not eat too poor food, or cut one’s nails or hair. One should not try to cast out spirits or bless others. One should not wash one’s hair, teach from one’s window, and not leave retreat early. One should not recite wrathful mantras too loudly or spirits will become afraid. One should not recite lying down, but keep a straight spine which will keep the channels straight allowing the winds to flow properly. One should try to keep the 7 point posture. One should not spit on the road or throw snot there. One should not sleep in the daytime. There are many faults and obstacles related to sleeping in the day. One should not start other projects in retreat or spend time watching tv or reading and so forth. If you have good or bad dreams or signs you should not pay a lot of attention to them. All ritual substances and objects should not be seen by others. Nectar and tormas should not be given to others. In retreat we should not come out even if we are going to die. We must recognise whatever arises as an obstacle of mind. If you follow what arises it will get worse. If you don’t react to whatever arises (visions, spirits, sickness etc.) then there is no way for it to harm you. For example if a spirit is attacking you if you do not react it has no way to connect to you and cannot bother you. Obstacles from mistakes in retreat may not show up immediately. They can arise later. There are always obstacles in anything we do. The most important thing is to not react and continue practicing then one has the chance to become a really great yogi. Obstacles are like the sound of practicing dharma. If a bell is rung there is a sound. Similarly the sign of one practicing are obstacles. They are a good sign. You must remain concentrated like a hero or heroine. One should not eat or sleep in various places without keeping the place, or wear other’s clothes. One should always purify clothes and food with purified water reciting Om Ah Hung. One should not wear thick clothes like animal skins, or urinate and defecate in a place where people walk. One should not display crazy yogi activity before the proper time. The main point is to keep a silent retreat. Talking is a waste of time and energy. If you hold your speech samaya then the body can go anywhere without obstacles. At the very least one should keep silence in the daily sessions. One needs continuous stable effort. One should net decrease the mantra count one begins with. For example if you start with 1000 mantras per session, one should not decrease this. It is ok to increase the number, however. In order to get siddhis one must do both the Generation and Completion stages. The essence of all mantras is Om Ah Hung, one should recite this. One should always continue mantras and prayers in the post meditation to collect merit drop by drop. [In the yidam retreat of Chakrasamvara, one can visualize oneself as a single Chakrasamvara without the yum in the post mediation time when walking around, cooking, sleeping and so forth.] The best type of mala is considered to be the Raksha bead mala for wrathful practice. Bodhi seed malas can be used for any type of activity. Before using the mala for the first time one should wash the mala and rub it with the 5 substances of the cow and sprinkle it with saffron water and bless it with mantra.

When one is in silence, one can use sign language to communicate with others. If you must leave the retreat for some reason during the yidam retreat you must rinse your mouth before leaving and before reentering the retreat with purified water. During mantra recitation the instructions for food restrictions are similar as before. One should not teach to beings lacking capacity such as ones with little devotion or no connection to the dharma. One should keep silence to get siddhis. One should keep the three concentrations of body, speech, and mind to see the true nature of one’s mind. The concentration of the body is to keep a clear visualization of the deity. The concentration of the speech is to recite the mantra clearly together with the mantra visualization. The concentration of the mind is to keep clear concentration of the inseparability of you and the deity. Marpa’s Advice After retreat if we have to teach others, or give empowerments or healing we should do one week of Heruka Chakrasamvara retreat together with the Om Ye Dharma He Tentu… mantra. Then one will not lose one’s mantra power. If we teach without understanding the true nature of the mind then we will lose mantra power and must do retreat again and again to recharge. One should not use the Chakrasamvara mantra or one’s personal yidam mantra for public pujas such as fire pujas and so forth. This you must keep only for yourself. You can do Chenrezig or Yangzab Hayagriva and so forth. You should do 10 extra mantras for each 100 mantras one does in order to make up for mistakes and when one is breathing in and the mantra is not heard. [Therefore one puts 111 beads on the mala to count for this.] At the end of the session you should offer the mantra to the deity with the Tumbul prayer:

“In this session I have recited a total of (_____) mantras of the yidam. I offer the merit I have accumulated to yidam (___________). May this offering benefit all sentient beings and purify the two obscurations and habitual tendencies since beginningless time. May I thus instantly obtain the supreme state of Vajradhara, including the four kinds of accomplishments. Through the immense power and blessed word of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, may this aspiration be fulfilled!” We should not think that by offering this merit to the deity we ourselves lose merit. Rather it is like a small child giving their money to their parents for safekeeping so they don’t lose it. If we keep our merit we are likely to lose it through developing anger or other negative emotions. Furthermore the yidam, like our parents, will be happy that we have saved our merit and will want to reward us with more merit of granting siddhis and so forth. When chanting mantra is we speak to someone we must go back 4 beads. If we cough go back 5 beads. If we yawn go back 3 beads. If we sneeze go back 10 beads. If we spit go back 1 bead. Between sessions we can recite the yidam mantra to increase our power and stability, but it should not be counted in the mantra accumulations. We should not recite other deity’s mantras during the yidam retreat. We must be exact in our mantra count and not do less. More is ok, especially for peaceful and increasing activities. For Magnetizing (Powerful) and Wrathful activities we should not do more than the suggested number of mantra.

Dreams and signs in retreat are taught to be seen as illusions, however on a relative level it is still of benefit to check dreams and signs. If we are disturbed in dreams we should do a Tsog feast offering and generate Bodhicitta the next day. If we have positive dreams we should consult someone who understands dream signs because we ourselves cannot always decipher if a dream is good or bad. Positive dreams can tell of attainments of siddhis so we should follow their instructions. The qualities gained from reciting the mantras of the four activities are: 1. Peaceful – long life and increased merit 2. Increasing – wealth and health 3. Powerful – power and ability to control beings and spirits 4. Wrathful – ability to subdue enemies For mantras used to kill others if you recite more than is suggested in the text you can die yourself. Generally we should not do these last 2 types of activities. It will disturb our practice and shorten our life. Jigten Sumgon said these two are there to show that these are possible, however we should not actually use them. If you want to use them you must have the power to be able to bring being back to life. Mahakala puja and other protector pujas are very important. Protectors are like bodyguards. If you do not offer regularly to them they will not come to help you and you will get many obstacles and also spirits can come and take your siddhis before you can receive them. Dharmakirti wrote down all this advice from various masters for the benefit of practitioners based on his own experience of what was helpful for him.