My very dear...
I am very happy to hear that you are doing shamatha retreat. It’s very important to create the causes; this is very, very important, otherwise you will get lung. You probably heard about a student who tried to do shi-nä by following His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. He stayed where the meditators are, but later it turned out he had so much lung that he tried to stop even the goat noises by pushing big rocks off the mountain. I was told this by my teacher, Gen Jampa Wangdu. Then the student went to Bombay to be healed, and later he did one year retreat.

As much as possible concentrate on the cause of shi-nä, calm abiding, otherwise you can become like that student. So, thank you very much.

Please do the retreat with bodhicitta and lam-rim, because shi-nä alone is not enough. Even Hindus can achieve shi-nä and we have already achieved shi-nä numberless times. We have been born in the form and formless realm numberless times, thus it is important to do shi-nä with lam-rim and with bodhicitta, so the direction of your retreat and your practice is towards enlightenment.

I have made prayers for both of you. Thank you very much.

With much love and prayers...