Just calling one's practice "approach and accomplishment" and staying in retreat for years will produce nothing but hardship. Completing hundreds of millions of mantras will not even bring the warmth of the ordinary qualities that mark one's progress on the path! In other words, if the essential points of the path are not taken into account, perseverance will amount to nothing more than chasing a mirage.
Patrul Rinpoche, Deity Mantra and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra
1860, buddhism, mantra, tantra, tibetan-buddhism, vajrayana