Retreat of Tcheu Sengey Tsewa - July 2005
With His Holiness the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa In Drukpa Plouray, Brittany, July 2005
by Sandrine Blanc/Jigme Dekyid Pelmo
The topic of this retreat was Tcheu Sengey Tsewa. Before entering into the teachings of this profound practice, His Holiness reminded us of the importance of the preliminary practices. As Lama Ngawang said:'traditionally Masters transmitted the initiation and profound teachings of this practice only to students who had completed the preliminary practice - we are therefore very fortunate'. The message was then clear, that one should practice the preliminaries along with the other practices, as a base, a foundation. His Holiness initially spoke about the common ngondro, known as the ordinary preliminaries: 1) Precious human birth; 2) Impermanence; 3) Law of cause and effect; 4) The shortcomings of samsara.
His Holiness emphasised that one should study and contemplate these, as a preparation before practices such as Prajnaparamita and Tcheu Sengey Tsewa; in order to remain grounded we need to understand life, what it stands for, to be rooted, or we can't have successful practice... understanding life will help the practice of Refuge, Bodhicitta, Vajrayana etc.etc.
Speaking about the first contemplation, Precious human birth, His Holiness said: 'for example the first thought helps us to have appreciation of, how precious our body is, and how precious our mind is - this appreciation will lead us to the practice or at least to be a good person. It's a good start, a good ground to build on. We learn to see that we are:'fortunate to walk, to listen to teachings, to talk, to see, to hear - this method is very needed; without it, there is suffering. We need it for our development, which brings satisfaction and which stops our constant greediness that tires us... So we become more grounded and more happy. This unique feeling of happiness, of peace, will facilitate us to practice more and be more contented. We need contentment to practice successfully. And finally 'we need inner renunciation. Contentment is renunciation. We have no choice, we have to renounce innerly - it's necessary in order to bring us contentment. We develop this through training with the first thought - precious human birth'
On the second contemplation: Impermanence - 'we also need the notion of impermanence, and then this appreciation will always be there even if we lose things....Making yourself happy with what you have and making yourself happy with what you don't have. .life is like a lamp in the wind: We should appreciate our human birth and also understand that it is impermanent'
On the third contemplation: The law of cause and effect: '...karma creates the whole world so we have to be cautious - we can see that all is created by our karma so we have to be cautious and practice correctly'. 
On the fourth contemplation: The cycle of existence: 'The cause of cyclic existence is not knowing that there is no .... When there is no knowledge of this there is ignorance. Samsara goes around due to ignorance and all the afflictive emotions. Once samsara starts it doesn't stop. This is because, although we purify through the effects of karma, we also always create new deeds. And so samsara turns round and round like a wheel. Individually we can clear samsara. Enlightened beings have cleared karma and therefore don't suffer anymore unless they choose to'. These are only a few of His Holiness's quotes (according to my notes), that I share with you amongst the flowing limitless river of universal truth pouring over us from His Holiness during the whole retreat. At the end, the last words of His Holiness were that He wished His students to do at least four full ngondros in this life, and recommended us to attend the retreats of preliminaries with Lama Ngawang, emphasising again the awareness of impermanence. The whole experience, gave me a deeper sense of commitment and urgency in the practice as well as the joy of having access to such meaningful, beautiful, skilful practices and ways to use our precious time.