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=                              Milarepa                              =
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                            Introduction
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Jetsun Milarepa (, 1028/40-1111/23) was a Tibetan , who was famously
known as a murderer when he was a young man, before turning to
Buddhism and becoming a highly accomplished Buddhist disciple. He is
generally considered one of Tibet's most famous yogis and spiritual
poets, whose teachings are known among several schools of Tibetan
Buddhism. He was a student of Marpa Lotsawa, and a major figure in the
history of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is also famous for
the feat of climbing Mount Kailash.


                             Biography
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Milarepa's life-story is famous in Tibetan culture, and retold many
times. The best-known biography, 'The Life of Milarepa', written by
Tsangnyön Heruka (1452-1507) in the fifteenth century and drawing from
older biographies, is still very popular. Most of the present-day
stories on Milarepa come from this single source, with oral lineage
predominating as well as relics including his bearskin coat. While
"very little [is known] about him as a historical person at all,"
Milarepa is venerated by all Tibetan schools "as an exemplar of
religious dedication and mastery." His life story established the
lineage of the Kagyu sect and its key figures.


                             Early life
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According to 'The Life of Milarepa', Milarepa was born in western
Tibet to a prosperous family. When his father died, his family was
deprived of their wealth by his aunt and uncle. At his mother's
request, Milarepa left home and studied sorcery to take revenge,
killing many people.


                      Training and realisation
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Later he felt sorrow about his deeds, and became a student of Marpa
the Translator. Before Marpa would teach Milarepa, he had him undergo
abuse and trials, such as letting him build and then demolish three
towers in turn. Milarepa was asked to build one final multi-story
tower by Marpa at Lhodrag, which still stands. Eventually, Marpa
accepted him, explaining that the trials were a means to purify
Milarepa's negative karma. Marpa transmitted Tantric initiations and
instructions to Milarepa, including 'tummo' ("yogic heat"), the "aural
transmissions" (), and 'mahamudra'. Marpa told Milarepa to practice
solitary meditation in caves and mountain retreats.

According to the biography, after many years of practice, Milarepa
came to "a deep experiential realization about the true nature of
reality." In some other sources, it is said that Milarepa and Marpa
both came to India to seek one most important thing for ultimate
realisation from Marpa's guru, but even he didn't know about it. Later
on he tried for many years and finally attained enlightenment.
Thereafter he lived as a fully realized yogi, and eventually forgave
his aunt, who caused his family's misfortune.

According to Lopez, 'The Life of Milarepa' represents "Buddhism as it
was understood and practiced in Tibet in the fifteenth century,
projected back in time." It contains "many of the key terms and
doctrines of Buddhism." Tsangnyön Heruka did his best to establish a
lineage of teachers that connects the Kagyu tradition with the Indian
'siddha' tradition, portraying Marpa as a student of Naropa, though
Naropa had already died when Marpa went to India.


                           Tibetan Buddha
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Lopez notes that Tsangnyön Heruka used stylistic elements from the
biography of Gautama Buddha to portray Milarepa effectively as a
Tibetan Buddha, "born and enlightened in Tibet, without going to India
or receiving the direct instructions of an Indian master." The life
story of Milarepa portrays "the rapid method of the Tantric path," in
which liberation is gained in one lifetime. It describes how Milarepa
practiced the generation stage and completion stage, to achieve
'mahamudra', "spontaneous realization of the most profound nature of
mind." Yet, in his instructions to his Tibetan audiences, Milarepa
refers to the basic Buddhist teachings of "impermanence, the
sufferings of 'saṃsāra', the certainty of death and the uncertainty of
its arrival, the frightful rebirth that is the direct result of our
benighted deeds." But, his own life also is an example that even a
murderer can transform into a Buddha. Lopez further notes that 'The
Life of Milarepa' portrays two parallel worlds, a profane world and a
sacred world, which are ultimately one, showing that the world itself
is sacred.


                              Students
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Gampopa was Milarepa's most renowned student. Four of Gampopa's
students founded the four major branches of the Kagyu lineage: Barom
Kagyu, Karma Kagyu, Phagdru Kagyu, and Tshalpa Kagyu. Another of
Milarepa's students, the yogi Rechungpa, brought several important
transmissions into the Karma Kagyu lineage. Along with Gampopa,
Rechungpa was a teacher of the 1st Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa (1110-1193).
Upon meeting Dusum Khyenpa, Gampopa told his students, "He is
pretending to be a disciple of mine in order to hold my lineage for
future sentient beings, but in actuality, he has already accomplished
the goal of the path."


             ''The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa''
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The acclaimed spiritual poetry of Milarepa is known of as 'The Hundred
Thousand Songs.'
Previous biographies of Milarepa were enlarged with religious poetry
and song cycles, which doubled the volume of biographical information.
Collected for publication in English translation by the Oriental
Studies Foundation in 1962, in 1999 these songs were re-published in a
separate volume entitled 'The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa'
translated and annotated by Garma C.C. Chang, then in 2017 a new
translation by Christopher Stagg of the Nitartha Translation Network,
both published by Shambhala. These summarize the various song cycles
in chapter eleven of 'The Life of Milarepa'.


                         Historical context
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Milarepa lived during the so-called second dissemination of Buddhism
in Tibet (10th-12th century), when Buddhism was re-introduced. Three
pivotal figures in this Tibetan Renaissance were Rinchen Zangpo
(958-1055), who translated sutras, tantras and commentaries; Atiśa
(982-1054), whose student Dromtön founded the Kadam school of Tibetan
Buddhism; and Marpa the Translator, the teacher of Milarepa, and
himself regarded as student of Naropa. Marpa introduced tantric texts
and oral instructions from the siddha tradition into Tibet, and
Marpa's purported connection with Naropa established the lineage of
the Kagyu school, thereby reaching back to the Buddha himself.


                              In media
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; Literature
* Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt. 'Milarepa' ("Milarepa", 1997).


                              Gallery
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Bhutanese painted thanka of Milarepa (1052-1135), Late 19th-early 20th
Century, Dhodeydrag Gonpa, Thimphu, Bhutan.jpg|Bhutanese painted
thanka of Milarepa (1052-1135), Late 19th-early 20th century,
Dhodeydrag Gonpa, Thimphu, Bhutan
Otgonbayar Ershuu Jetsun Milarepa.jpg| Milarepa, Tempera on cotton,
21x30 cm, 2008 Otgonbayar Ershuu
File:Milarepa (1040-1123) LACMA M.82.165.2.jpg|Tibetan or Nepalese
painted thanka of Milarepa, 19th century, mineral pigments and gold on
cotton clothes of Nepal.


                              See also
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* Detachment (philosophy)
* Éliane Radigue
* Kaihōgyō
* Machig Labdrön
* Milarepa's Cave
* Shugendō


                          Further reading
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;Biography
* 'The Life of Milarepa', translated by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa, Book
Faith India, 1997,
* 'The Life of Milarepa', translated by Andrew Quintman, Penguin
Classics, 2010,
* 'The Yogin and the Madman: Reading the Biographical Corpus of
Tibet's Great Saint Milarepa,' by Andrew Quintman. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2013.

;Songs of Milarepa
* 'The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa: A New
Translation',Tsangnyön Heruka; under the guidance of Dzogchen Ponlop
Rinpoche, translated by Christopher Stagg of the Nitartha Translation
Network. Boulder, Shambhala, 2017.
* 'Milarepa, The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa', translated by
Garma C.C. Chang, City Lights Books, 1999,


                           External links
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* [https://www.shambhala.com/milarepa A Reader's Guide to Milarepa]
* [http://www.samye.org/mila.htm Biography on Kagyu website]
* [http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/60songs.pdf The sixty songs of
Milarepa]
*
[https://web.archive.org/web/20150311071045/http://www.quietmountain.org/links/teachings/yogi_chen/87.htm
Text, The Essential Songs of Milarepa] in English
* [http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-EPT/simm.htm Inviting
the demon. (Milarepa, Tibetan Buddhism)(The Shadowissue)] Judith
Simmer-Brown, Parabola Vol.22 No.2 (Summer 1997) pp. 12-18
* [https://archive.org/details/bdrc-W1GS56158/page/n9 Original Tibetan
text of the biography of Milarepa] at the Internet Archive
*[https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/11955/view Bronze
sculpture of Yogi Milarepa at the University of Michigan Museum of
Art]


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