Lamrim Retreat Advice

Lamrim Retreat Advice

Date Posted:
November 2009

A student wrote asking for advice on the retreat he was going to do.

My very dear one,
I think your idea for choosing to meditate on the lamrim lower scope is excellent. Here are my suggestions for the way to do it.

My attendant will arrange with two nuns at Kopan to help you with the retreat. One of the nuns has been the retreat leader at Kopan for maybe thirty years. The other nun can help with Lama Chöpa.

The first session in the morning (before breakfast) should be Lama Chöpa. When you reach the lam-rim section of the Lama Chöpa, you recite it in English, slowly and mindfully. One of the nuns can help with the puja. Before the puja, take the eight Mahayana precepts.

After breakfast, you start the meditation on the lam-rim, beginning with guru devotion. Here, the nun can help you with the subjects of the lamrim. The idea is that you go through the lam-rim step by step. This session you do in the context of six-session yoga, then just before you absorb the guru, who is on one’s crown, you practice the lam-rim meditation. When complete, you practice the absorption and finish the six-session guru yoga.

At the beginning of each session, always make prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas and practice a “scanning” meditation on the lamrim for building your motivation (here you can read slowly and contemplatively one of the lamrim prayers, such as the Foundation of All Good Qualities, the Three Principles of the Path, etc).

After lunch, the session can be in the context of Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. You begin as above, and practice the actual lamrim meditation with the guru on your head.

For the last session, also do Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. Then, end with the dedication prayers, including King of Prayers and Prayer of the Beginning, Middle, and End. You can do different dedication prayers each day.

Within the lamrim you can spend more time on the lower scope.

With much love and prayer...