The symbolic shortest amount of time needed to attain enlightenment through intensive anuttarayoga tantra practice. The count derives from the Kalachakra Tantra, which describes how 56 and a quarter deep awareness breaths enter the central channel during each of the 12 shifts of breath from one nostril to the other during the course of a day. The number of breaths that would pass into the central channel during the course of a 100-year lifetime, when divided into a consecutive period of time, would equal three years of 360-day years and three 15-day phases of the moon. The length of the 3-year retreat derives from this calculation.
Tibetan: ལོ་གསུམ་ཕྱོགས་གསུམ། lo-gsum phyogs-gsum
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