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Buddhist : Tibetan

11th Century

Tibet
(East Asia)

Milarepa

Timeline (1052 - 1135)

Poems by Milarepa
Books - Links

Milarepa, Milarepa poetry, Buddhist, Buddhist poetry, Tibetan poetry, poetry, poetry

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Milarepa (often referred to as Jetsun Milarepa, meaning Milarepa the Revered One) is the central figure of early Tibetan Buddhism. He was a Buddhist saint, a yogi, a sorceror, a trickster, a wanderer, and a poet. He is both folk hero and cultural preceptor, the embodiment of the ideal in Tibetan Buddhism.

The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, an extensive collection of stories and poetry from the life of Milarepa, is a central text of popular Tibetan Buddhism, in some ways comparable to the Bhagavad Gita in Hinduism and the New Testament within Christianity. His life stories and poetry are read devoutly even today to inspire determination in meditation and spiritual practice.

Milarepa's father died when he was still a boy, and the land that should have passed to him was seized by relatives who treated the young Milarepa and his mother and sister as slaves. After several years of this cruelty and hard labor, Milarepa's mother convinced the teenaged boy to study magic with a local sorceror in order to take revenge on their relatives. Milarepa was so successful in this purpose that, it is said, a great hailstorm occurred, destroying the house during a wedding ceremony, killing several members of the family. In the aftermath of this incident, Milarepa felt such guilt for his actions that he vowed to cleanse himself of the evil karma he had accumulated.

In his search for a pure spiritual teacher, Milarepa eventually met his guru, the Buddhist yogi and translator, Marpa, who was himself a disciple of the famous Indian Buddhist master Naropa. Marpa, seeing Milarepa's great potential mixed with dark karma, put Milarepa through many years of severe trials and tests before he would formally accept Milarepa as a student.

Milarepa then spent several years meditating in seclusion in remote mountain caves, struggling, at times, against the demonic forces of the mind, until he achieved the ultimate enlightenment.

Rejecting the formalism of religious position and the endless squabbles of theological discourse, he adopted the life of a mendicant, traveling from village to village, speaking directly with the people he met, singing spontaneous songs of enlightenment and wisdom.

Poems by Milarepa

	Response to a Logician
	Song to the Rock Demoness
	The Profound Definitive Meaning
	The Song of Food and Dwelling
	The Song of Perfect Assurance (to the Demons)
	The Song of the Twelve Deceptions
	The Song of View, Practice, and Action
	The Song on Reaching the Mountain Peak
	Upon this earth, the land of the Victorious Ones

Recommended Books

	Drinking the Mountain Stream: Songs of Tibet's Beloved Saint, Milarepa, Translated by Lama Kunga / Translated by Brian Cutillo Amazon.com
	The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa: The Life-Story and Teachings of the Greatest Poet-Saint Ever to Appear in the History of Buddhism, Translated by Garma C. C. Chang Amazon.com
	The Life of Milarepa: A New Translation from the Tibetan, Translated by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa Amazon.com
	Magnificent Trickster: The Story of Milarepa, by Molly MacGregor Amazon.com
	Songs of Milarepa: (Dover Thrift Edition), by Milarepa Amazon.com
	Songs of Spiritual Experience: Tibetan Buddhist Poems of Insight & Awakening, Translated by Thupten Jinpa / Translated by Jas Elsner Amazon.com
	Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa: A Biography from the Tibetan, Translated by W. Y. Evans-Wentz Amazon.com

Related Links:

	The Magic Life of Milarepa http://www.sealevel.ns.ca/milarepa/ Several highlights from the life of Milarepa, illustrated by Dutch graphic artist Eva van Dam.
	Milarepa, Yogi of Tibet - Buddhist Saint http://www.cosmicharmony.com/Av/Milarepa/Milarepa.htm Several stories from the life of Milarepa and a few brief poems.
	KTD - Jetsun Milarepa http://www.kagyu.org/karmapa/kag/kag05.html Brief summary of the life of Jetsun Milarepa. The site contains biographies of other bearers of the Kagyu lineage.
	The Kagyu Lineage: Marpa the Translator and Milarepa http://www.samye.org/mila.htm Biography of Milarepa and other teachers of the Kagyu lineage.
	Life of Milarepa http://www.kagyu-asia.com/l_mila_life1.html An extended biography of Milarepa online. Elsewhere on the site they have a nice Milarepa image gallery.
	The Essential Songs of Milarepa http://www.yogichen.org/chenian/bk87.html Several of Milarepa's poems online.
	Songs of Milarepa: Sung by Kashimey Geshe Nawang Jinpa http://www.kreisels.com/milarepa/ Listen to several of Milarepa's songs sung in Tibetan. This site also displays the words written in both English and Tibetan.
	Sixty Songs of Milarepa eBook http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/60songs.pdf Download this free eBook in PDF format from Buddhanet containing 60 of Milarepa's poems, translated by Garma C. C. Chang.

Please support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you!

Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Milarepa

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