{"id":5887,"date":"2017-09-08T09:12:37","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T16:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=5887"},"modified":"2017-09-08T09:12:37","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T16:12:37","slug":"milarepa-the-profound-definitive-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/08\/milarepa-the-profound-definitive-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Milarepa – The Profound Definitive Meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Profound Definitive Meaning
\nby Milarepa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Marpa Translation Committee<\/font><\/p>\n

For the mind that masters view the emptiness dawns
\nIn the content seen not even an atom exists
\nA seer and seen refined until they\u2019re gone
\nThis way of realizing view, it works quite well<\/p>\n

When meditation is clear light river flow
\nThere is no need to confine it to sessions and breaks
\nMeditator and object refined until they\u2019re gone
\nThis heart bone of meditation, it beats quite well<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re sure that conducts work is luminous light
\nAnd you\u2019re sure that interdependence is emptiness
\nA doer and deed refined until they\u2019re gone
\nThis way of working with conduct, it works quite well<\/p>\n

When biased thinking has vanished into space
\nNo phony facades, eight dharmas, nor hopes and fears,
\nA keeper and kept refined until they\u2019re gone
\nThis way of keeping samaya, it works quite well<\/p>\n

When you\u2019ve finally discovered your mind is dharmakaya
\nAnd you\u2019re really doing yourself and others good
\nA winner and won refined until they\u2019re gone
\nThis way of winning results, it works quite well.<\/em><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Hartwig HKD<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

A seer and seen refined until they\u2019re gone\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Witness and thing witnessed. Look deeply enough, with your whole being, and the two merge. The object disappears into you. You disappear into it. Seer and seen are gone! What is left but a field living awareness?<\/p>\n

\u2026it works quite well.<\/i><\/p>\n

A few words of special meaning\u2013<\/p>\n

Samaya<\/i> are the vows of initiation within Vajrayana Buddhism. The phrase about keeping samaya is a reference to upholding one\u2019s spiritual vows. But the poet is speaking of the vows as mental and energetic discipline. Seeing how all the categories of mind and philosophy vanish into space, one is no longer a keeper of vows and the vows are no longer there to be kept. Those vows are a way of navigating the confusions of the mind. When the mind settles, the truth simply is and there are no misperceptions to stumble through. That is the real way to fulfill the vows of samaya.<\/p>\n

Dharmakaya<\/i> can be translated as the \u201cbody of truth.\u201d It is the perceived re-integrated wholeness of reality. Discovering that your mind is dharmakaya is the goal. One who attains this state of realization might be said to have \u201cwon.\u201d Not just glimpsing this goal, but refining self and experience until the artificial distinction is lost. One becomes it, and it becomes oneself, until there is no goal and no separate self that attains. We are left with a boundless Reality that simply is, everywhere, and no artificially separate viewpoint that claims victory.<\/p>\n

This way\u2026 it works quite well.<\/i><\/p>\n

Who knows what adventure an open glance at the world might initiate?<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Milarepa<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Songs of Spiritual Experience: Tibetan Buddhist Poems of Insight & Awakening<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa: The Life-Story and Teachings of the Greatest Poet-Saint Ever to Appear in the History of Buddhism<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nSongs of Milarepa: (Dover Thrift Edition)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nDrinking the Mountain Stream: Songs of Tibet\u2019s Beloved Saint, Milarepa<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Life of Milarepa: A New Translation from the Tibetan<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Milarepa,<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nMilarepa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Tibet (1052 \u2013 1135) Timeline<\/a>
\nBuddhist<\/a> : Tibetan<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

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 sorcerer, a trickster, a wanderer, and a poet. He is both folk hero and cultural preceptor, the embodiment of the ideal in Tibetan Buddhism.<\/p>\n

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. His life stories and poetry are read devoutly to inspire determination in meditation and spiritual practice.<\/p>\n

Milarepa\u2019s 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\u2019s mother convinced the teenaged boy to study magic with a local sorcerer 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Milarepa then spent several years meditating in seclusion in remote mountain caves, struggling, at times, against the \u201cdemonic\u201d forces of the mind, until he achieved the ultimate enlightenment.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Milarepa<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Profound Definitive Meaning by Milarepa English version by Marpa Translation Committee For the mind that masters view the emptiness dawns In the content seen not even an atom exists A seer and seen refined until they\u2019re gone This way of realizing view, it works quite well When meditation is clear light river flow There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[40,105,1759,107,2116],"class_list":["post-5887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-buddhist-poetry","tag-milarepa","tag-seer-and-seen","tag-tibetan-buddhism","tag-vajrayana-buddhism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5888,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5887\/revisions\/5888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}