​སང་ཉིན་སྤྱི་ཟླ་བཅུ་གཅིག་ཚེས་པ་གཅིག་ནས་བཟུང། ཟླ་བ་གཅིག་རིང་སྤྱི་ཚོགས་དྲྭ་རྒྱ་ལས་རྒྱང་རིང་དུ་བཀྱེད་ནས་ནང་དུ་ལྷོད་དལ་ངང་འདུག་རྒྱུ་ཡིན་པས་ཚང་མས་དེ་ལུགས་མཁྱེན།

Tashi Delek everyone,

Starting on Monday, November 1st, I will begin a one-month solitary retreat. Since the pandemic, the Manjushri Dharma Center has been closed to the public, and some people may assume that I have been on retreat. Actually, since then, I have been more busy than before. Those who attend my weekly practices on Monday and Wednesday know this, along with my public teaching on Gampopa Sönam Rinchen’s Precious Garland of the Supreme Path every Saturday morning. In addition, I have been engaged in other teachings and prayers with other monks and Lamas, students from around the world, and others. There have also been many people experiencing suffering, sickness, and death who I must attend to. Technology has made us all closer, which is really amazing and this has had tremendous benefits for all of us, but this has also meant that my responsibilities have expanded much. I am always happy to do my duty, and I will not deny anyone’s needs and I will not stop. That being said, after much time engaged online, I will take a short break from technology to be on solitary retreat.

To understand the importance of going into retreat, please read my blog: ‘What is the Purpose of Retreat?’

Throughout the retreat, I will continue to hold Monday night prayers and the Saturday morning teaching of a ‘Precious Garland of the Supreme Path’. Wednesday night prayers will be cancelled this month. Additionally, I will not be answering my cell phone, whatsapp, facebook, social media etc. I humbly request that you please permit me one month; if you have an urgent message and need to contact me, please send an email to [email protected] and I will try to get back to you, at the latest after my retreat. Thank you for understanding. 

During my retreat, I will keep all of you, my students and all sentient beings under this vast sky in my prayers. And aspire that may you receive blessings so that your mind may turn to the Dharma. That you may receive blessings so that your Dharma practice may become the path. That you may receive blessings to purify delusions on the path, so that delusions may arise as wisdom.

Written by Khenpo Karten Rinpoche, published originally on Facebook, 10/31/2021.  Bold font is the editor’s addition, not present in the original.