About ten days ago I came back from a week long retreat at the Samye Ling. Drupon Rinpoche was the boss and the schedule seemed somewhat exhausting. The teaching and meditation sessions were from half five till seven; eight till ten; half ten till twelve; two till four; half four till six; and seven till half eight.
I was surprised at the meditation sessions since every six or seven minutes or so they'd stop and do some chanting or praying. This reminded me of the Zen Mountain Monastery where the meditation sessions were constantly being interrupted. However, if you didn't do that much meditating, these sessions would be very suitable.
Last year I was down at the Samye Ling at the behest of Lama Rinchen, but I didn't do the course, telling her that I needed to meditate more than I needed to sit in on teachings. I did listen to some of the teachings (on A Letter to a Friend by Nagarjuna), but the rest of the time I just meditated.
I had two postcards with Dorje Sempa on the wee lectern in front of me and there was a clasp of sorts on the pillar right in front of me. That's about ten hours meditating a day and you can't do much more than that.
Why these things start before six in the morning is beyond me. Like at the Zen Mountain Monastery, I was knackered for the first couple of days. I get tired anyway while I'm down at the Samye Ling. The only good thing about these early starts is that you meditate before breakfast. The only pleasures I allow myself down there are the showers and listening to the news at ten on Radio Four. Well, I was asleep by then!
By Friday evening I felt quite exhilarated and very happy. I hadn't had much of a conversation with anyone for several days, but I wanted the retreat to go on and on at that point. I felt that the meditations were working so well and I thought I'd made such progress. Heat and bliss!!
Everything went downhill when I got back to civilisation of course. I'd like to do a long retreat now, but I don't see how that's going to happen.
I thought it might be auspicious when I met Lama Rinchen at Lockerbie train station. She was later than expected. I paid for a taxi and we talked on the way. It seems I'll be sharing a room for five weeks in India with her nephew Andrew who is twenty four years old. God help him.
