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In this article Johanne talks about the qualities of a place that is conducive to retreat, to better observe one’s mind.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Feature 14″ _builder_version=”4.16″ min_height=”695px” custom_margin=”-1px|||||” custom_padding=”0px||49px|||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”2″ make_equal=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”|auto|-17px|auto||” custom_padding=”0px||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ module_class=”column1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding_tablet=”||50px|” custom_padding_phone=”” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|tablet” global_colors_info=”{}” padding_tablet=”||50px|” padding_last_edited=”on|tablet” custom_padding__hover=”|||” padding_phone=”||50px|”][et_pb_text quote_border_weight=”0px” quote_border_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” module_id=”up1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ text_font=”Montserrat||||||||” text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”1.8em” link_font=”Montserrat|700||||||#BF9E77|” link_text_color=”#BF9E77″ link_font_size=”18px” link_line_height=”1.8em” quote_font=”Cormorant Garamond|700|||||||” quote_text_color=”#13204d” quote_line_height=”1.3em” header_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font=”Quattrocento Sans|700|||||||” header_2_text_color=”#13204d” header_2_line_height=”1.6em” header_3_font=”|700|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_letter_spacing=”12px” header_5_font=”|300|||||||” header_5_text_color=”#bfbfbf” header_5_letter_spacing=”12px” header_6_font=”|700|||||||” header_6_letter_spacing=”12px” module_alignment=”left” min_height=”720.3px” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet” custom_padding=”15px||15px||true|” hover_enabled=”0″ quote_font_size_tablet=”” quote_font_size_phone=”” quote_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
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Where to practice the Dzogchen path? \u201cWhere we are\u201d, we spontaneously and enthusiastically reply. In other words, anywhere, whatever the conditions. Since Dzogchen invites us to perceive the nature of reality directly, at every moment, there’s no need to move or change environment …<\/p>\n
Yet for centuries, Tibetan masters have encouraged their students to go on regular retreats: for years, for months, for weeks… Why? Well, because on the Dzogchen path, despite all our enthusiasm, direct perception of the nature of reality is not always immediate. Even when we experience the nature of the mind directly, we often find it difficult to recognize it, caught up in our habits of conceptual thinking, our emotions and our tendency to see the world in a dualistic way. And it is even more difficult for us to stabilize the state of the Great Perfection…<\/p>\n
Because they’ve experienced it themselves, the Dzogchen masters know that in order to better observe the mind, we need to withdraw from everyday life, cut our habits, and avoid the interactions that perpetuate our tendencies. In a few words,\u00a0<\/span>to take a step away from the world<\/a>…<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/dzogchentoday.org\/wp-dzogtodaychen-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/A-peaceful-grove-of-fresh-blossoms-1.png” alt=”Dzogchentoday-A peaceful grove of fresh blossoms” title_text=”A peaceful grove of fresh blossoms.” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”73.7%” module_alignment=”center” min_height=”385px” custom_margin=”|-44px||||” custom_padding=”0px|0px|17px|||” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text quote_border_weight=”0px” quote_border_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” module_id=”up2″ _builder_version=”4.27.2″ text_font=”Montserrat||||||||” text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”1.8em” link_font=”Montserrat|700||||||#000000|” link_text_color=”#BF9E77″ link_font_size=”18px” link_line_height=”1.8em” quote_font=”Cormorant Garamond|700|||||||” quote_text_color=”#13204d” quote_line_height=”1.3em” header_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font=”Quattrocento Sans|700|||||||” header_2_text_color=”#13204d” header_2_line_height=”1.6em” header_3_font=”|700|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_letter_spacing=”12px” header_5_font=”|300|||||||” header_5_text_color=”#bfbfbf” header_5_letter_spacing=”12px” header_6_font=”|700|||||||” header_6_letter_spacing=”12px” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet” custom_padding=”0px|||||” quote_font_size_tablet=”” quote_font_size_phone=”” quote_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \n So where to go?<\/p>\n Longchenpa, a great Dzogchen and Tibetan Buddhist master of the 14th century Nyingmapa school, praises the qualities of a place favorable to the practice of the Dharma in his magnificent song \u201cThe Enchanting Wild Forest\u201d. With its fragrant trees and flowers, its breeze and mist reminiscent of incense, its streams and waterfalls like the roll of a drum, its pure ponds, its stars like a heavenly garden, and its beautiful cuckoo song, he describes what, for him, is the ideal place to observe the nature of the mind: the forest.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the woods, the afflictions naturally subside<\/p>\n For there is no one to say unpleasant things.<\/p>\n Having gone far from busy cities,<\/p>\n In the woods, peaceful meditation naturally grows.<\/p>\n In the woods, the mind is tamed as it conforms to the true Dharma,<\/p>\n And one can find the bliss of inner peace.<\/p>\n In short, the charms of the wildwoods are endless \u2014<\/p>\n Even if I had eons, I could not conclusively extol them.\u201d<\/p>\n \n If Longchenpa encourages us to retreat to the forest, a true natural haven of peace, we could say in a broader sense that a suitable place for retreat is:<\/p>\n A place surrounded by nature, because we need the vital force to break our habits. (link to the vital force podcast)<\/em><\/p>\n A quiet, distraction-free place where we can concentrate and observe our mind, day and night.<\/p>\n A dedicated place<\/a>, fully devoted to mind training, study and contemplation, where other practitioners have come before us, sharing the same motivation, that of walking the path for the benefit of all beings.<\/p>\n A sacred place, bearing the master’s blessing…\u00a0 Because a suitable place for a retreat is not just an external place. It is above all a space where we have the conditions to be able to meet the \u2018inner master\u2019, the primordial nature of the mind…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text quote_border_weight=”0px” quote_border_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” module_id=”up1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ text_font=”Montserrat||||||||” text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”1.8em” link_font=”Montserrat|700||||||#BF9E77|” link_text_color=”#BF9E77″ link_font_size=”18px” link_line_height=”1.8em” quote_font=”Cormorant Garamond|700|||||||” quote_text_color=”#13204d” quote_line_height=”1.3em” header_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font=”Quattrocento Sans|700|||||||” header_2_text_color=”#13204d” header_2_line_height=”1.6em” header_3_font=”|700|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_letter_spacing=”12px” header_5_font=”|300|||||||” header_5_text_color=”#bfbfbf” header_5_letter_spacing=”12px” header_6_font=”|700|||||||” header_6_letter_spacing=”12px” module_alignment=”left” min_height=”334.3px” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true|” quote_font_size_tablet=”” quote_font_size_phone=”” quote_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Because they’ve experienced it themselves, the masters know that to better observe their mind, we need to extract ourselves from everyday life, to cut our habits and to avoid the interactions that maintain our tendencies. In a few words, to take a step away from the world…”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text quote_border_weight=”0px” quote_border_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” module_id=”up2″ _builder_version=”4.27.2″ text_font=”Montserrat||||||||” text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”1.8em” link_font=”Montserrat|700||||||#000000|” link_text_color=”#BF9E77″ link_font_size=”18px” link_line_height=”1.8em” quote_font=”Cormorant Garamond|700|||||||” quote_text_color=”#13204d” quote_line_height=”1.3em” header_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font=”Quattrocento Sans|700|||||||” header_2_text_color=”#13204d” header_2_line_height=”1.6em” header_3_font=”|700|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_letter_spacing=”12px” header_5_font=”|300|||||||” header_5_text_color=”#bfbfbf” header_5_letter_spacing=”12px” header_6_font=”|700|||||||” header_6_letter_spacing=”12px” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet” custom_padding=”29px|||||” quote_font_size_tablet=”” quote_font_size_phone=”” quote_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The primordial nature of the mind is the miraculous wildwoods of liberation<\/span> that Longchenpa evokes at the beginning of his song, when he writes :<\/p>\n \u201cI prostrate to my guru and the Three Jewels!<\/p>\n Her form, a peaceful grove of fresh blossoms,<\/p>\n Pleasingly dappled with the soothing moonlight of compassion \u2014<\/p>\n The sole restful tonic for those long exhausted \u2014<\/p>\n I honor the miraculous wildwoods,<\/p>\n Which I see now as if for the first time. \u201c<\/p>\n The meeting with the inner master, that peaceful grove of fresh blossoms<\/em> that our masters invite us to experience by stepping away from the world, is what we will take with us when we leave the retreat.<\/p>\n Alternating between retreat and activity in the world, this is what we will take with us wherever we go.<\/p>\n Filled with gratitude, we will now be able to say with certainty: yes, Dzogchen can be practiced wherever we are!<\/p>\n For where we are, in the soothing moonbeams of compassion<\/em>, is liberation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#FFD62F” divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”3px” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_id=”down” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Montserrat||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.4em” link_font=”Montserrat|700|||||||” link_font_size=”16px” link_line_height=”1.4em” min_height=”146.7px” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Text: “<\/b>Song of the Enchanting Wildwoods”<\/strong><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.lotsawahouse.org\/fr\/tibetan-masters\/longchen-rabjam\/enchanting-wildwoods<\/a><\/p>\n\n