People seem to think that retreats have to have results

Kyabjé Mindröl Ling Jétsünma Khandro Rinpoche said:

“People seem to think that retreats have to have results. Of course, we all hope for results — but at the same time when a retreat becomes goal orientated, result orientated, we allow self frustration or dejection to emerge after leaving the retreat. This is because all the while we are in retreat, we are like yidags — hungry ghosts. We are looking for experiences, looking for something to happen, looking for some extraordinary event or realisation to take place. This makes the retreat too deliberate, full of tension, and orientated very much with form and deliberate concepts. This means that the pleasure—just the genuine happiness of being quiet and alone with practice——and finally being able to bring some understanding to what we have only literally and intellectually interpreted——gets lost.

That kind of happiness is not often found. I wouldn’t say it’s not found at all, because some people of course practice very well — but it’s not so often found, which I find is very, very unfortunate.”