When you look at Buddha’s life story, at first, Buddha went to many different places and received a variety of teachings from different teachers in India during that time. At first, Buddha was a prince and his father was a very powerful king. The king was afraid that Buddha would not become his successor, so the king tried to treat Buddha very well, keep him in the palace, and provide Buddha with whatever he needed. But, Buddha was aware of everything and then he began to ask questions about life; “What is the meaning of life?” Buddha saw someone that was sick and someone who was aging — all those things — and Buddha renounced the palace and looked for many different teachers. He did some short retreats. He received teachings and then he did some short retreats. In the end, once Buddha had received all the teachings, he went to sit next to the river Neranjara. Buddha did retreat for six years continuously. After that, Buddha got this big realization. Then, Buddha went to sit under the Bodhi tree and achieved full enlightenment. So, retreat is very important.
Since that time, all the masters who have achieved high level of realization have all done retreat. In the Kagyu tradition, from Telo (Tilopa), Naro (Naropa) — those are the Indian masters — they all did retreat. Tilopa did retreat for twelve years, and Naropa did retreat for many years. Then Marpa and Milarepa also did retreat in one place for twelve years. By doing retreat, they achieved full realization. Especially in the Kagyu lineage, retreat is really important.
If you do retreat, then you can really develop your meditation experience very fast. Like Milarepa’s main disciple, Gampopa. Gampopa came to see Milarepa. Gampopa was very learned. He had studied all the scriptures, Buddhist philosophy, and he also knew Tibetan medicine. He was what we call a, “tönpa.” Tönpa means “professor.” Gampopa himself was a professor, so he was very learned. He did some retreat for a few months and he got good meditation experience.
Later on he came to Milarepa and he received deeper levels of meditation teachings. Milarepa spent his whole life in retreat, and next to Milarepa there was another cave in which Gampopa was, and Milarepa asked Gampopa to do retreat there. Gampopa had a lot of different levels of experience. Gampopa stayed like this with Milarepa for three years, and within these three years, roughly 85% of the time Gampopa spent in retreat.
In the end, Milarepa said, “OK. Now I have taught you everything — all the important teachings from my teacher — so our lineage has passed down to you. Now, go back to your hometown and do retreat. Near your hometown, there is a mountain called, ‘Gampo mountain,’ you should go there and do retreat.” Gampopa became a little bit sad. He really wanted to be with Milarepa, but Milarepa had asked him to go back. It was OK. Gampopa accepted and then Milarepa escorted Gampopa. Then, there was a bridge — a stone bridge — and a small river, and Milarepa sat next to the bridge on a rock. Then he spoke his final words to Gampopa. Milarepa said, “You came here and received all these teachings, and now you should go. I gave you all the teachings, everything, except one — the most important one I have not given you yet. This teaching is too precious, so I will not give it to you. Other than that, you have received everything, so now you can go.” Gampopa became a little bit sad. But anyway, Gampopa said goodbye, crossed the bridge, and went far away. Then, from far away Milarepa was waiving his hand, “Hello! Come back! Come back!” Gampopa became happy and returned back. Milarepa said, “OK. You are a very good student, so I will teach you the final one.” Gampopa became very happy. He said, “What should I do? Should I offer a mandala?” This is the traditional way to request teachings. Milarepa said, “There is no need. Instead, look here.” and Milarepa showed his butt to Gampopa. Milarepa’s butt had become like a monkey’s butt, because Milarepa had done retreat so long in the mountains without a proper cushion. He did not have a nice cushion, so he was sitting on the rocks, and Milarepa’s butt became like a monkey’s. It looked like a monkey’s butt. Then, Milarepa said, “Why do you think my butt became like a monkey’s butt? Because, I sit and practice and practice, and do retreat. Therefore, my butt has become like a monkey’s butt. Once you receive teachings, the most important teaching is practice — to do retreat, and practice and practice. Now, I have already taught you the last important teaching, so now you can go back.” Then Gampopa said goodbye and went back to his hometown.
Back home he met his colleagues — there was a lot of professors there from his past. They all said, “Come here! Come here! You should teach this. You should study that.” So, he stayed with them in the monastery and he forgot about doing retreat and meditating. After some time, his meditation started to go down. Then one day, he remembered Milarepa’s words. So, he left everything. He went to that particular mountain that Milarepa had asked him to, and did retreat for about six years at first. In the end, Gampopa achieved high level of realization — he achieved enlightenment.
Therefore, doing retreat continuously is very important. This is very important especially among the Kagyupas. In Buddhism in general it is important, but especially among the Kagyupas the role of retreat is very important.