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# 2016-12-09 - Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa | |
The sound of one wave clapping | |
Book notes from October, 2015. | |
> Our present time is a most precious time, wherein each of us must | |
> decide, in one way or the other, for lasting good or lasting ill. | |
From another web page: | |
> The beauty of Milarepa's life can perhaps best be described as a | |
> paradigm shift in Buddhist thinking. His life is revolutionary in | |
> that sense. For more than 1500 years, Buddhist thought was that a | |
> person's path to enlightenment was hopeless in their own lifetime, | |
> rather, the only worthy path to be followed over a vague, | |
> indeterminate period of "countless lifetimes. | |
> Milarepa became painfully aware of the need to achieve perfect | |
> and complete enlightenment, not in countless lifetimes, ... but | |
> rather in this lifetime, in this body. The story of his life takes | |
> him to exactly that goal, and establishes the real possibility for | |
> any human to take that path. | |
# Introduction from translator | |
> [This book is] a nosegay of precepts which can be understood only | |
> by putting them to the test of practice. | |
The introduction compares the Kargyuetpa system of mystical insight | |
to Christian gnosticism. | |
Milarepa, the Socrates of Asia, counted the world's intellectualisms, | |
its prizes, and its pleasures as naught; his supreme quest was for | |
that personal discovery of Truth, which, as he teaches us, can be won | |
only by introspection and self-analysis, through weighing life's | |
values on the scale of the Bodhi-illuminated mind. | |
# Chapter 1 | |
Milarepa's student Rechung dreams that his guru is even greater than | |
he knew. He is encouraged and inspired to ask Milarepa for his | |
story. Milarepa consents and begins with his lineage and the origin | |
of his name. | |
Mila = Oh Man! | |
Birthname, Thoe-Pa-Ga = Delightful To Hear | |
He and his sister grew up in comfort, then his father died. | |
# Chapter 2 | |
Milarepa's aunt and uncle take everything. His mother and sister | |
live a hard life. He knows sorrow for the first time. | |
# Chapter 3 | |
His mother asks him to study black magic and seek vengeance. She | |
promises to pay his tuition. Milarepa finds a guru to teach him | |
black magic. The guru listens sympathetically, but double-checks | |
Milarepa's story before agreeing to teach him magic strong enough for | |
vengeance. | |
First, Milarepa caused an illusion that stirred up a group of horses. | |
His aunt and uncle were spared, but their family was killed by the | |
stampede. | |
Second, Milarepa caused hailstorms that destroyed the community's | |
barley crop just before harvest time. | |
# Chapter 4 | |
Milarepa repents and seeks salvation. He finds a new guru, but his | |
guru gives up and refers him to Marpa the Translator. He finds | |
Marpa, who agrees to teach him, or feed and shelter him, but not both | |
at the same time. | |
# Chapter 5 | |
Milarepa has a tough time under his guru Marpa. He is instructed to | |
use more black magic, and then he is instructed to pay penance. | |
Marpa sets him on a series of construction projects, and then has him | |
undo his work half-way through. Part of this is a strategem to | |
deceive his neighbors and make it easier to construct a house in a | |
disputed location. Part of it is to make Milarepa work off his | |
karma. Milarepa develops terrible sores until his back is a solid | |
sore. He becomes too sick to work for a while. | |
Milarepa seemed impressionable. I wonder whether Marpa treated | |
Milarepa harshly to satisfy Milarepa's desire for penance. | |
# Chapter 6 | |
Marpa initiates Milarepa, explains all of his harsh behaviors, and | |
blesses him. | |
# Chapter 7 | |
Milarepa meditated in a cave for 11 months, somewhat similar to Swami | |
Rama. At the end, his master asked him to discuss what he learned. | |
> This, our life, is the boundary-mark whence one may take an | |
> upward or downward path. Our present time is a most precious time, | |
> wherein each of us must decide, in one way or the other, for | |
> lasting good or lasting ill. I have understood this to be the | |
> chief end of our present term of life. | |
> The ceremony of initiation conferreth the power of mastering deep | |
> and abstruse thoughts regarding the Final Goal. | |
> To sum up, a vivid state of mental quiescence, accompanied by | |
> energy, and a keen power of analysis, by a clear and inquisitive | |
> intellect, are indispensable requirements; like the lowest rungs of | |
> a ladder, they are absolutely necessary to enable one to ascend. | |
> But in the process of meditating on this state of quiescence, by | |
> mental concentration, either on forms and shapes, or on formless | |
> and shapeless things, the very first effort must be made in a | |
> compassionate mood, with the aim of dedicating the merit of one's | |
> efforts to the Universal Good. Secondly, the goal of one's | |
> aspirations must be well defined and clear, soaring into the | |
> regions transcending thought. Finally, there is need of mentally | |
> praying and wishing for blessings on others so earnestly that one's | |
> mind processes also transcend thought. These, I understand, to be | |
> the highest of all Paths. | |
Milarepa has a vision about another religious text. Marpa travels to | |
India to get it. Naropa predicts Marpa's son's death and the success | |
of Marpa's disciples. It comes to pass. Marpa asks his disciples to | |
report their dreams. Milarepa's dream is taken as a good omen for 4 | |
disciples including Milarepa. Marpa entrusts each of his successors | |
with a different spiritual path. | |
# Chapter 8 | |
Milarepa had a bad dream about the fate of his mother, sister, and | |
family property. His guru warns him that if he leaves, he will not | |
meet his guru again in this life. Milarepa feels compelled to part | |
and return home to check on his family. His guru sends him off in | |
style with blessings and gifts. | |
# Chapter 9 | |
Milarepa returns home to discover that his dream was true. His | |
mother is dead and the family property is in ruins. Milarepa becomes | |
determined to be a hermit and spend his life meditating. | |
# Chapter 10 | |
Milarepa meditates in a cave. When he runs out of food, he begs. He | |
encounters his aunt and uncle, who try to beat and kill him. He | |
saves his life by singing a song to rouse his aunt's conscience. He | |
saves his life again by faking black magic to intimidate his uncle. | |
He meets his betrothed and makes her the steward of the family land. | |
He instructs her to give the land to his sister, or keep it if his | |
sister dies. | |
> I am of course opposed to those hypocrites ... who, having strong | |
> party feelings, strive for the victory of their own party and the | |
> defeat for the opposite party. But as for those who are sincere | |
> devotees, although they be of different sects and creeds, if their | |
> principle be not like the one mentioned above, then there cannot be | |
> much disagreement between the aim of the one or the other, so I | |
> cannot be opposed to any of them. | |
Milarepa's aunt contrives to gain possession of the family land. She | |
strikes a deal to supply Milarepa with food in exchange for the land. | |
She honors it for a time, and then contrives to scare Milarepa off | |
with threats that the neighbors will be violent. Milarepa sees | |
through his aunt's deception, but gives her the property anyway. He | |
does this to maintain the peace and to accelerate his own | |
enlightenment by practicing a difficult patience. | |
Milarepa becomes a hermit and lives off water and nettles. He | |
becomes emaciated and green-skinned. Milarepa's sister and betrothed | |
discover his location. They visit and give him good food. He has | |
intense pain and cannot meditate. He opens a scroll his guru gave | |
him to open during crisis. It gives him instructions for diet and | |
yogic exercise. He becomes more enlightened and starts to gain | |
psychic powers, including levitation. | |
He has a number of interesting encounters and conversations. | |
> Worldly folk regard with shame that which involveth no shame. | |
> But that which is really shameful is evil deeds and wily deception; | |
> these they do not feel shame in committing. They do not know what | |
> really is shameful and what is not. | |
> Meditate upon, consider, and weigh deeply the serious facts | |
> contained in the biographies of previous saintly lives... | |
# Chapter 11 | |
Summarizes records about Milarepa. | |
# Chapter 12 | |
Milarepa has a minor conflict with Pandit Geshe, who persuades his | |
concubine to poison Milarepa. During this conflict, Milarepa | |
exhibits psychic powers. Toward his death he sings hymns and | |
preaches dharma to his disciples. | |
author: Gtsan-smyon He-ru-ka, 1452-1507 | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Milarepa | |
LOC: BQ7950.M557 G813 | |
tags: biography,book,hagiography,non-fiction,spirit | |
title: Tibet's Great Yogi, Milarepa | |
# Tags | |
biography | |
book | |
hagiography | |
non-fiction | |
spirit |