Getting away from it all

“ ...These people who are doing retreat are sincere, trying hard not to waste time. My wish is to have more retreat houses, to be able to offer service to more people who want to dedicate their lives to actualizing the path to enlightenment, the most worthwhile thing...”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The cause and solution for our happiness and sorrow comes from our own minds. Knowing that, many people are seeking to work on their wayward minds, and escape from worldly distractions, by going into retreat for short or long periods.

In the West there are very few places that meet the criteria for successful solitary retreat. Shiné Land ( Land of Calm Abiding) – 500 acres in Big Sur on the California Coast – is such a place. Access to the property is by a rugged seven-mile road, a journey that takes over an hour, that can only be negotiated by a four-wheel drive vehicle.

There are currently six people in long retreat at Shiné Land, and many more are on a waiting list. These practitioners are seeking profound realizations that, in turn, should inspire us to seek refuge in the Buddhist path and to benefit others.

Here are some of their experiences.

 Tenzin Chogkyi ( Petra McWilliams)

I moved to Shiné Land in September 2003, after Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised me to continue retreat here at the conclusion of a three-year retreat in Arizona. Rinpoche gave me a detailed schedule of daily practices, including lam-rim meditation, preliminary practices, and shiné. My daily schedule follows the traditional four sessions: one before daybreak, and one in the morning, afternoon, and evening. In addition, I have two formal study periods each day, during which I review lam-rim texts and commentaries on my practices and the three sets of vows.

I’ve done many retreats at various centers, including three years in a canvas yurt in the middle of the desert, and Shiné Land is by far the most conducive environment for meditation I’ve ever experienced. It has all the conditions for retreat mentioned in the lam-rim texts: It is peaceful, extremely quiet, isolated, and free of distractions, interruptions, and extremes of weather. Our caretakers are incredibly respectful and supportive of our practice and very devoted to taking care of us.

Of course, working on one’s mind in solitude year after year is extremely challenging and at times quite lonely, but I truly believe in the potential to transform into a being with all the qualities necessary to bring benefit to countless living beings, and I can’t imagine a more ideal situation in which to attempt this transformation than living in retreat at Shiné Land.

Losang Yeshe (Strider Fast)

I’ve been in retreat at Shiné Land for about eight years. Increasingly it has dawned on me how an effective retreat is just a deepening of the aspects of renunciation and full confidence in the guru, bodhichitta, and emptiness and how they interconnect, and that provides the continuity. Lama Zopa Rinpoche reminds us not to get too lost in the tantric details and miss the point.

Most of the practices revolve around three or four main meditation sessions. I usually do one of these sessions first thing in the morning, then commitments for the day, 35 Buddhas prostrations, then another main session (or not) and maybe breakfast. I have some outdoor activities like fiddling in the garden, or a session of water bowls, or a walk. The rest of the main sessions are done in the afternoon. Increasingly, I have been doing several sessions of yoga exercises. A meal falls in there someplace, and then in the evening there are some torma offerings, and praises, and the rest of daily commitments. I usually read or study for an hour or so before bed. It is important to be responsive to and accommodate whatever is coming up with the mind and body, picking up on the signals and doing what is needed at the time, not just trying to plough through with a rigid routine that ignores what is arising…

This article can be read in its entirety in Mandala

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