ABSTRACT

There is no figure in the history of Tibetan Buddhism who inspires more affectionate devotion amongst his countrymen and women than the yogi Milarepa. He is the ideal Tantric adept, possessed of the super-normal powers associated with the most advanced yogic practice – flying; shape-changing; multiple physical manifestation, and so on – yet devoted to the path of the bodhisattva: a being who has achieved buddhahood yet remains by choice in the realm of the samsara in order to assist more sentient beings towards the goal of enlightenment. Milarepa’s life perfectly exemplifies the path of the ascetic yogi: after years of discipline with his guru, the formidable Marpa the Translator (1012-1096 CE),1 Milarepa withdrew to meditate in the icy mountain fastnesses of Tibet, gaining the fullest enlightenment. Thereafter, he lived the life of a mendicant yogi, abjuring all property, living in caves in the most absolute poverty, and refusing to try to found any organization of which he might be made head. He devoted his life to seeking to bring enlightenment to others, chiefly by his own example and by explaining to them the path of the Buddha. His explanations often took the form not of prose sermons but of songs, recorded both in his biography, the JetsünKhabum, and in the long collection of stories about him, the Mila Gurbum,2 both major Tibetan classics.