Silent Retreat Teachings 3: Second Sight (2001, Arizona)

We are painters,
Painting each scene,
Then stepping into it
As we paint ourselves there.

It was never any other way;
this itself is Their very care.
Reach out to the left
To the light of a Diamond Sun.

Know though
That powerful hands move our own;
One thing decides pen or stick to chew on,
One thing decides the far and here,
The long away or now,
Lonely death or the company of Angels,
And that is kindness.

How kind? What edge?
How far from tongue to stomach?
How far too far?
How different too different?
How long ahead too long?

Do you expect me to feel responsible for
people on worlds
that neither I nor others have ever seen;
for those
who won’t even be born for ten months or
ten years
or ten thousand years?

Yes, it’s what you are here to do;
and they are not unseen nor unborn.
Reach ahead to the one who sees you,
Reach out to yourself.

Second Sight

Teachings from the Nineteenth Month of 3 Year Retreat
Taught by Geshe Michael Roach

Background

Second Sight is a rare and intimate teaching delivered by Geshe Michael Roach during the nineteenth month of a traditional three-year silent retreat, held in September 2001. The timing coincided with the events of 9/11, which Geshe Michael did not hear about until later—setting a haunting backdrop for a teaching centered on how blind we are to the things that truly matter: impermanence, interconnection, and the suffering of others.

The Four Curtains

Geshe Michael opens with a metaphor that defines the entire text: we live inside a box, our vision blocked by four heavy curtains. These curtains obscure:

The past
The future
Other worlds
The presence of divine beings

We are, he says, blind to the only things that truly matter. And this blindness is not natural—it can be undone. What follows is a meditative and philosophical roadmap for piercing these veils.

From Wrong Perception to Direct Experience

The journey to “second sight” is laid out as five progressive steps:

Viparyaya – wrong perception: denying the possibility of higher insight
Vikalpa – imagination: vague intuition or curiosity that there might be more
Agama – teachings: faith in the words of a trustworthy spiritual guide
Anumana – inference: using logic and reasoning to arrive at conviction
Pratyaksha – direct perception: firsthand, nonconceptual experience of reality

These five are drawn from the ancient Indian tradition of pramana and offered as a living map for any practitioner who wants to break through ordinary seeing and touch what is truly real.

The Hourly Yoga of Compassion

To help students plant the karmic seeds for true sight, Geshe Michael introduces a profound and accessible practice called chulam gyi nelnjor (hour-to-hour yoga). Several times a day, one pauses to visualize reaching through the veil to touch another being in pain—offering comfort, help, and the promise: “I will come; I will help you.”

This act, done repeatedly with sincerity, becomes a powerful engine for transformation. The compassion it generates creates the very causes for one to pierce the curtain and see the world as it truly is.

The Urgency of Death

One of the most striking images in the teaching is that of a small, helpless rabbit halfway down the throat of a snake—its cries unheard in the empty desert. We are that rabbit, Geshe Michael says. We are already in the jaws of death, and every moment counts.

Rather than cause despair, this image is meant to awaken fierce love for all living beings and fierce resolve to escape ignorance for their sake. The sadness we feel when we hear this metaphor is not weakness—it is the beginning of wisdom.

Seeing the Infinite

The teaching closes with a vast and inspiring vision: that the universe is filled with life, that divine beings are near us always, and that we are not alone. To perceive this requires effort, purification, and compassion—but it is possible. And once seen, this second sight can never be lost.

Why It Matters

Second Sight is not just a philosophical essay or retreat diary—it is a call to action. It asks us to recognize how little we see, and how much depends on our decision to reach beyond appearances. The wisdom shared here is tender, urgent, and vast, pointing to the full awakening of the human heart and mind.

Reading Materials

Root Text & Transcript

Audio

This course was taught by Geshe Michael Roach in 2001 during his three-year retreat. This was a silent retreat and Geshe Michael only broke silence to give occasional teachings. If you’re curious, that’s why his voice sounds the way it does in the recordings.

Author
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Geshe Michael Roach

Geshe Michael Roach (born December 17, 1952) is the first American to have been awarded the degree of Geshe, or Master of Buddhism, after more than 20 years of study in Tibetan monasteries. He has used this training to become a prominent international teacher, businessman, philanthropist, author, educator, public speaker, textual scholar, and musician. Geshe Michael graduated with honors from Princeton University and has received the Presidential Scholar Medal from the President of the United States at the White House.

In 1981 he helped found Andin International Diamond Corporation and bring it to annual sales of over $100 million, donating his profits to international aid projects. His book about achieving business and personal success through generosity, The Diamond Cutter, has become a global bestseller in 20 languages. He is the founder of the Asian Classics Institute, Diamond Mountain University, the Asian Classics Input Project, Worldview, the Yoga Studies Institute, Star in the East, Global Family Refugee Aid, Three Jewels Community Outreach Centers, and the Diamond Cutter Institute.

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