![\"milarepa\"](\"http:\/\/dharmatalk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/milarepa-e1412781398267.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHe seems so emotional, so human, yet so loving and devoted, and he was able to communicate his ideas using very simple analogies and metaphors, with language very evocative of nature and beauty.<\/p>\n
I will start by giving a brief overview of his story. Then I will give some examples of his poetry to try to explain why he has captured my heart, as well as millions of others.
\nHis Story<\/p>\n
There are many stories of his life, including no doubt many fictional embellishments, at least in some versions. Here follows a summary of the main points.
\nTo put him in his historical perspective, he lived at the same time as the Battle of Hastings. Born around 1052 and died around 1135
\nHe was born to a prosperous family in Western Tibet. When his father died, his uncle and aunt took all the family\u2019s money.
\nHis Mother requested that he leave home and study magic, which he did. He then took his revenge on his thieving relatives and their family by summoning a giant hail storm to demolish their house. This killed 35 people who were at a pre wedding party there.
\nThe villagers became angry and came after him, but his Mother warned him, and he sent a second hailstorm. This time to destroy their crops.
\nLater on he repented of his violent acts and terrified of going to hell, he sought a lama so he could redeem himself. He found Marpa the Translator, who became his beloved guru.
\nMarpa was a Tibetan translator, who went to India several times to get teachings from Naropa. Naropa\u2019s guru was Tilopa, who was said to have met Vajradhara face to face.
\nRealising Milarepa\u2019s bad karma, Marpa was very tough on him, and made him build a tower, and then demolish it. And then made him do this two more times.
\nHe then built a final nine story tower which is still standing.
\nHowever Marpa still refused to give him the teaching, so Milarepa went to Marpa\u2019s wife who forged a letter of introduction to a different meditation teacher Ngogdun Chudar.
\nMilaepa learned from this other teacher for a while but was having problems making progress, so confessed the forgery to his meditation teacher who said he would never make any spiritual growth without the blessing of Marpa the translator. So he returned back to Marpa, and finally got the teachings.
\nWhen he completed his formal studies, he returned home to see his family. However then he arrived in his village he saw his house was in ruins. He looked around and found some bones, which he realised belonged to his Mother. He could not find his sister anywhere. The holy dharma books were eaten by mice. All of this naturally made him very sad.
\nHe then practiced diligently for 12 years till he reached the state of vajradhara (complete enlightenment). And he became known as Milarepa which means the cotton clad one. Although he lived at high altitudes often in sub zero temperatures he word a simple cotton garment, as he was able to generate heat using heat yoga.
\nAt the age of 45 he started to live at the White Rock Horse Tooth Cave and became a wandering teacher. He drank a lot of nettle tea which turned his skin green.
\nHis long lost sister Peta found him at a secluded cave. She was shocked by his very thin, naked, green body and pleaded with him to eat, which he did.
\nShe gave him cloth and thread to make clothes and begged him to join a monastery where he could wear proper clothes and get food. However he refused, as he thought it would restrict his spiritual development.
\nHe had many disciples males and female. Rechungpa appears a lot in the songs, but it was Gampopa who went on to continue the Kagyu lineage which still exists as one of the major Tibetan Buddhist lineages today.<\/p>\n
That is the basic story. It is a great story, with a bit of magic. But it is not all about some fantastical unbelievable magical realm like the White Lotus sutra. It is definitely a very human story, with a little dose of magic to spice it up.
\nWhy is it that his songs have so touched people?
\nI think it is because they work on so many different levels simultaneously. So you could consciously enjoy them on one level, and subconsciously on another.
\nI have already alluded to it being a heroic tale of how a miserable sinner triumphed over his karma with a bit of magic and became enlightened.
\nOn another level it is also a story of being in nature. His songs evoke many beautiful images of animals and birds moving around in the Tibetan mountains.
\nIt is also a very human story. Milarepa had very human emotions about the loss of his parents, and his friendships with his disciples and his devotion to his guru.
\nHe also has a purity about him, where he is always striving to be kind, and to help people.
\nI also love his rugged individualism. He prefers to live alone in the mountains, where he can follow his path, rather than become a monk when he would have had less freedom.
\nHe also is said to be fully enlightened, and his songs certainly contain deep and profound dharmic concepts.
\nHe focuses a lot on impermanence, and how death is soon upon us, so how important it is to practice the dharma in this present rebirth.
\nBut rather than just waffle on about him, I think it is important to read out sections from some of his songs to give you a flavour of them.
\nThe anthology of his songs most commonly available in the West is called \u201cThe Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa\u201d. Although there are nowhere near as many as that, there are still quite a few. There are 61 in the two volumes.
\nMy favourite song is called \u201cShepherd\u2019s search for mind\u201d.
\nI first came across this at my first long retreat which was the LBC summer retreat in Seaford, West Sussex in 1981.
\nUnsurprisingly it tells the story of a shepherd searching for his mind. With a little help of course from the Jetsun Milarepa.
\nBut the bit I like the best is the first bit of the song, which talks about what happens before Milarepa meets the shepherd.
\nHe meets a married couple who had no children. They ask him where his home and relatives are. He replies \u201cI am a poor beggar who has disavowed his relatives and native land and has also been forsaken by them\u201d.
\nThen the couple cried \u201cIn that case we would like to adopt you into our family! We have a good strip of land which we can give you; you can then marry an attractive woman, and soon you will have relatives\u201d
\nAlready, just in the setting of the scene, these few short paragraphs raise a lot of issues, and evoke a lot of conflicting emotions.
\nTwo whole world views are already colliding.
\nThe married couple see the route to happiness as the conventional one of pairing off, starting a family and making money. Where have I seen that before? That\u2019s right. In just about every Hollywood rom com and chick flick.
\nIt is also noticible how generous the couple are towards him. His reputation has preceded him. They already consider him a great yogi, but even so to give someone you have just met a good strip of land is pretty much unheard of in our present day culture of making money and hoarding it for our own use and enjoyment, while grudgingly giving 5p to charity every once in a while.
\nEven more interesting is Milarepa\u2019s first reply, that he has disavowed his relatives and native land. It is not as if he did not get on with his relatives. He loved his Mother, and his sister was deeply concerned about him and tried to help him. But the fact was his pull towards the bliss of meditation and solitude was far greater than any mundane pull towards family.
\nSo the scene is set for this clash of values with Milarepa winning round after round with his brilliant examples which show the flaws in the couple\u2019s logic.
\nHe starts by saying \u201cI have no need of these things and will tell you why\u201d
\nHome and land at first seem pleasant;
\nBut they are like a rasp filing away
\none\u2019s body, word and mind!
\nHow toilsome ploughing and digging can become!
\nAnd when the seeds you planted never sprout,
\nYou have worked for nought!
\nIn the end it becomes a land of misery\u2014
\nDesolate and unprotected\u2014
\nA place for hungry spirits, and of haunting ghosts!
\nWhen I think of the warehouse
\nFor storing sinful deeds,
\nIt gnaws at my heart,
\nIn such a prison of transiency I will not stay,
\nI have no wish to join your family!\u201d
\nHis answer is so powerful, as it is just as relevant today as it was a thousand years ago.
\nMaterial wealth is indeed at first sight attractive. Also it can be very alluring to have a career and work your way up the corporate ladder. But after devoting several decades of one\u2019s life to this, one realises that one has to give up too much to achieve this goal. \u201cHow toilsome ploughing and digging can become\u201d sums up the stress and resistance experienced every day by the robotic people on the central line commuting into a soulless, unhappy existence, only relieved by the weekend and occasional holiday.
\nHe also mentions the \u201cprison of transiency\u201d which is a rightly a recurring theme of his. In this case, it is applied to work. So we work all our lives, and end up on some pension which is so low, as to be barely over the level of benefits. So what is the point of it all?
\nHowever the married couple do not give up that easily.
\nThe married couple said, “Please do not talk like that! We will find you a fine girl from a prominent family, who is fit to be your bride and who will suit your taste. Please consider this.”
\nMilarepa sang:
\nAt first, the lady is like a heavenly angel;
\nThe more you look at her, the more you want to gaze.
\nMiddle-aged, she becomes a demon with a corpse\u2019s eyes;
\nYou say one word to her and she shouts back two.
\nShe pulls your hair and hits your knee.
\nYou strike her with your staff, but back she throws a ladle
\nAt life\u2019s end she becomes an old cow with no teeth
\nHer angry eyes burn with a devilish fire
\nPenetrating deep into your heart!
\nI keep away from women to avoid fights and quarrels.
\nFor the young bride you mentioned, I have no appetite.<\/p>\n
Out of all my verses of his poetry, I find this the most powerful.
\nThe first two lines sum up my experience of initial attraction and falling in love with every girlfriend I have had.
\nHe does seem to exaggerate the negatives of being in a relationship. However it is certainly true that looking like a heavenly angel, is a very short lived period of the relationship.
\nAnd depending on the woman, there can be a few fights, especially if you want to be alone and meditate a lot, rather than spend your time giving her attention and going out working to provide for her.
\nThe couple realise that they are not going to get very far with this line of argument, so now try something else<\/p>\n
The husband then said, “Dear Lama, it is true that when one grows old and close to death he has not the same capacity for enjoying life or for being pleasant as when he was young.”<\/p>\n
Milarepa sang on:<\/p>\n
In youth, a son is like the Prince of Heaven;
\nIn middle age, he becomes a ruthless creditor to whom you give all, but he still wants more.
\nDriven from the house are his own parents.
\nInvited in is his beloved, charming lady
\nHis father calls, but he will not answer;
\nHis mother cries out, but he will not listen.
\nThen the neighbors take advantage, spreading lies and rumors.
\nThus I learned that one’s child oft becomes one’s enemy.
\nBearing this in mind, for sons and nephews I have no appetite.<\/p>\n
This stanza raises a whole debate which is outside the scope of this talk.
\nYes. For sure the relationship with a child can break down like this. However, for many older people I know, including my mother and sister, the main source of joy in their lives is their relationship with their children.
\nI used to think the same way as Milarepa, and always resisted massively any talk of having kids. But now approaching my mid fifties, I actually think Milarepa is wrong on this one. And if I had my time over, I would probably have had a child.
\nFortunately I have several very beautiful nephews and nieces who I have a great connection with.<\/p>\n
Thwarted by these arguments, the couple then try evoking the idea of a daughter, although if they had half a brain between them, they would clearly be able to foresee his response.
\nA daughter
\nBoth husband and wife agreed with him, replying, “What you have said is indeed true. Perhaps it would be better to have a daughter. What do you think?”
\nIn answer Milarepa sang:<\/p>\n
In youth, a daughter is like a smiling, heavenly angel;
\nShe is more attractive and precious than are jewels
\nIn middle age, she is good for nothing.
\nBefore her father, she openly carries things away
\nShe pilfers secretly behind her mother\u2019s back
\nIf her parents do not praise her and satisfy her wants,
\nThey will suffer from her bitterness and temper.
\nIn the end, she becomes red-faced and wields a sword.
\nAt her best she may serve and devote herself to others
\nAt her worst, she will bring mishaps and disaster.
\nWoman is always a trouble-maker.
\nBearing this in mind, one should avoid irretrievable misfortunes
\nFor women, the primary source of suffering, I have no appetite.
\nThis is more of the same.
\nI remember talking to some feminists in Sydney about Milarepa, and they just dismissed him out of hand as a mysogenist. I thought that was a little unfair, especially as he had many female disciples. And had a very good connection with Marpa\u2019s wife.
\nHowever I can see that lines from the stanza above taken out of context would not go down too well with women. But then given as it was written a thousand years ago, he was massively ahead of his time, and you can\u2019t really expect him to be a politically correct as we are forced to be today.
\nIt is not so much that women are any worse than men, it is just that the addiction, attachment and dependence on them we have as men, gives them incredible power to cause us suffering.
\nThe couple have still not given up. They now talk about relatives in general:
\n“The husband and wife then said, ‘One may not need sons and daughters, but without relatives
\nlife would be too miserable and helpless. Is that not so?”
\n“Milarepa again sang:
\nAt first, when a man greets his relatives,
\nHe is happy and joyful; with enthusiasm
\nHe serves, entertains, and talks to them.
\nLater, they share his meat and wine.
\nHe offers something to them once, they may reciprocate.
\nIn the end, they cause anger, craving, and bitterness;
\nThey are a fountain of regret and unhappiness.
\nWith this in mind, I renounce pleasant and sociable friends;
\nFor kinsmen and neighbors, I have neither appetite.”<\/p>\n
This renunciation of pleasant and sociable friends, and kinsmen would seem extreme to many. This would basically leave solitude and\/or monasticism as options.
\nBut it is basically a continuation of his earlier diatribes against wives, sons, etc.
\nExtreme as it may sound, this renunciation by Milarepa did lead to the creation of his beautiful songs, and the example of his life which has inspired so many millions of people throughout the centuries.
\nAfter having gone through the list of relatives, friends and companions that Milarepa does not seem interested in, they then pull out what they see as their trump card, which is money.
\nIt just reminded me briefly of Jesus\u2019s temptation by the devil in the wilderness where it is said in Matthew 4:8
\nAgain, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 \u201cAll this I will give you,\u201d he said, \u201cif you will bow down and worship me.\u201d
\nAnd of course we have the Buddha\u2019s temptation by Mara and his three daughters.
\nIt seems that all humans practicing a spiritual path have to face at some time an internal struggle between their values and worldly temptations. Many of us fall by the wayside, but the true spiritual heroes seem to have won this struggle.
\n“The couple then said, ‘Indeed, you may not need kinsmen. However, since we have a great
\ndeal of property, would you like to have and take care of it?’ Milarepa replied, ‘As sun and
\nmoon never stop to brighten one small place, so I devote myself to the welfare of all sentient
\nbeings. I cannot, therefore, become a member of your family. By merely beholding me, both
\nof you will be benefited in this and future lives. I will also make a wish that we may meet in
\nthe Pure Land of Oujen.”
\n“Milarepa then burst into another song.” All right let’s hear the other song.
\n“Wealth, at first, leads to self-enjoyment,
\nMaking other people envious.
\nHowever much one has, one never feels it is enough.
\nUntil one is bound by the miser’s demon;
\nIt is then hard to spend it on virtuous deeds.
\nWealth provokes enemies and stirs up ghosts.
\nOne works hard to gather riches which others will spend;
\nIn the end, one struggles for life and death.
\nTo amass wealth and money invites enemies;
\nSo I renounce the delusions of Samsara.
\nTo become the victim of deceitful devils,
\nI have no appetite.”
\nMilarepa does make some excellent points here.
\nIt is definitely true that more money does not necessarily lead to a feeling of financial security, and it can also bring a whole raft of problems.
\nHowever it is also true that a bit of money can make life a bit easier, and mean that we can have more choices, including avoiding doing a horrible stressful job.
\nSo it is a complex subject. But certainly if someone wanted to live a life of impoverished solitude, and found fulfilment through that, it does seem more appealing than a hen pecked husband who spends his days in a stressful job, which is what Milarepa is arguing against.
\nUltimately it is up to each of us to find our own way through life, but we get so much pressure from society to marry, have kids, and sell our soul to our corporate bosses, that it is like a breath of fresh air to see the alternative path so clearly laid out, and eloquently argued.
\nIt reminds me a bit of Timothy Leary\u2019s exhortation to \u201cTurn on, tune in and drop out\u201d , not to mention Emerson, Henry Thoreau, and other people advocating voluntary simplicity.
\nAnyway, this particular part of the song had a happy ending which was:
\n“These songs gave the couple unshakeable faith in Milarepa and they gave away all their
\npossessions for the sake of the Dharma. They began to practise the Jetsun’s teachings and
\nwere forever released from falling into the three lower realms. When they died, they entered
\nthe Path (of Bodhi) and step by step approached Buddhahood. \u201c
\nI hope I have given you a taste of Milarepa\u2019s wisdom, and why I find him so inspiring. Apart from his dramatic and entertaining life story, just in a few verses of this song, we can see how he takes on our soulless consumerist culture, and gives us a way out.
\nAnd he is by no means a one trick pony. His other songs show this same wisdom applied to many other situations and people.
\nHis songs are particularly good to read, if one is feeling a little down and miserable, as his joy, and his love for the dharma and his teacher shine through in a very infectious way.
\nThe end<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is something about Milarepa, that really inspires me, and has done since I first heard about him 33 years ago. He seems so emotional, so human, yet so loving and devoted, and he was able to communicate his ideas using very simple analogies and metaphors, with language very evocative of nature and beauty. I … <\/p>\n