For one week a year our sangha comes together for the annual Dzogchen retreat. It’s a small sliver of time dedicated to practice, but the investment of focused time and energy you’re making now pays dividends that extend far beyond the next month or even next year.
The first purpose of retreat? To cultivate your mind.
It’s a time to listen, to reflect, and to engage in deep practice away from all the busy distractions of daily life. This is more than a temporary reset or vacation, it is a commitment to immerse yourself in your true nature that might otherwise take months or years to develop in the day-to-day grind of our daily life and practice.
But there’s more than just deepening your practice on the table.
The second purpose is to deepen your karmic connections.
Retreat isn’t a solitary act. You’re part of something bigger. Your connection to your teacher and your sangha—isn’t an accident. These are ties that go back further than we can even comprehend. This isn’t just a spiritual catchphrase; it’s an invitation to recognize that each interaction, each conversation, helps build a foundation not just for this retreat but for something far longer-lasting.
And that’s the challenge, isn’t it? We live in a world that often pushes us to think short-term. We’re conditioned to seek out quick wins. But relationships, especially those built within a retreat setting, are the long game. When you speak to your teacher or fellow retreat participants, you’re adding threads to a web that might last not just 10 days, or 10 years, but possibly lifetimes.
So, when you’re on retreat—whether you’re in meditation or having a conversation between sessions—remember the second purpose: to create good karmic connections. It’s a time to honor these relationships, to tend to them, to keep them pure. You’re not just cultivating your mind; you’re cultivating a community that may work together, support one another, and benefit beings until, ultimately, we all reach enlightenment.
This retreat is more than just a temporary vacation. It’s an opportunity to engage in meaningful, long-term work—both within yourself and with others—an investment with far-reaching benefits.
