One of the key feature of early Kagyüpa Buddhism in Tibet was the practise of long meditation retreats in the complete solitude of the Himalayan mountains. The author of the Tibetan text, Kyobpa Jigten Sumgön (1143-1217), had himself spent 7 years in a cave in central Tibet. After he established the Dirkung Kagyü tradition in the late 12th century, he sent out several waves of yogis and monks to the mountains of Tsari, Lapchi, and Kailash and thus started a tradition of retreats there that would last for 800 years. The text describes in great detail the "dependent origination" of favourable and unfavourable conditions for a retreat in solitude, and how to create and avoid them. It provides a rare glimps into the world of yogic life in early Tibet.