The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume Five (58 page)

Milarepa

A SYNOPSIS

M
ILAREPA WAS BORN
on a farm in northern Tibet of a lower-middle-class family. When his father died, his aunt took over the farm and forced Milarepa, his mother, and his sister to work for her. Milarepa’s mother was very bitter about this suppression and urged him to study black magic in order to seek revenge against her sister-in-law and her relatives. And so Milarepa became an adept of the black arts.

He produced a hailstorm that completely destroyed all the fields belonging to his relatives except those rightfully owned by his mother. He created a giant scorpion that uprooted the pillars supporting their house, while a gay party went on within. The house collapsed, killing all except his aunt, who was powerless to continue her domineering ways without her family to reinforce her.

Seeing that the endless round of aggression, suffering, and pain would never bring fulfillment, he decided to devote his energies to seeking enlightenment.

He set out to find a teacher and encountered considerable difficulty in finding one. When he heard the name of the great guru Marpa the Translator, he knew immediately that it was right. When Milarepa offered his whole being to him, Marpa said he would either support him or give him teaching, but not both. Milarepa then undertook the building of a great stone tower under Marpa’s supervision in order to pay for his teaching. This was still learning, but by situation rather than by formal theoretical training.

Marpa expressed dissatisfaction with the tower and told Milarepa he would have to tear it down and build another. He had to put all the stones back where he had found them so as not to spoil the landscape. Marpa caused him to build three towers in this way.

Many years later, when the last tower, nine stories high, was completed, Milarepa once again appealed to Marpa for the teaching. Marpa refused. Damema, Marpa’s wife, was more sympathetic and secretly asked Marpa’s chief disciple to teach Milarepa. This project failed because the disciple had no real link with Milarepa, so he joined an audience of disciples who were going to Marpa for a particular initiation. This also did not work because the gift that he brought to pay for the teaching had been kindly provided by Damema; Marpa angrily realized that it was already his own possession and he got up off his throne and chased Milarepa out.

Completely disheartened, Milarepa decided to commit suicide. Just at the crucial moment, a message arrived asking him to go to see Marpa, who offered to give him the teaching he longed for if Milarepa would give him an appropriate gift. Delighted, Milarepa set out with a begging bag to accumulate barley grain, which he exchanged for a copper cauldron. Marpa received him well but told him that the empty cauldron signified that his practice would be a severe one. He would often be without food and would suffer many other hardships. Marpa then gave him the teaching for which he had waited so long.

He went into retreat in a small cave near his guru’s home where he stayed for some time. One day Marpa suggested that he return home to see his family. Milarepa found his house in ruins with his mother’s skeleton in the doorway and his father’s skeleton entombed within. The triangular barley field was overgrown with weeds, and everywhere it was desolate and ghostly. The death of his family brought him to the realization of the transitory nature of all existence. He passed the night there in great sadness and left the following morning with some of the family heirlooms that remained: some pages of gold-written manuscript. With this gift, he went to see the teacher who had taught him reading and writing. At this teacher’s suggestion, he went to see his aunt. As soon as she saw her nephew approaching, she let loose her dog and chased him away with her tent pole.

Milarepa found a cave and stayed there to meditate, depending on nettles for nourishment. One day his aunt took him some food and told him that he should never go back to the farm as he had a bad reputation as a black magician and for neglecting his mother. But Milarepa had no more desire to connect himself with the past.

Later, his sister arrived and begged him to return to the world and shape his spiritual practice, more like the grand abbots of the surrounding monasteries. But he wished only to continue his solitary meditation.

One day while he was meditating, Milarepa suddenly felt hunger. Discovering that he had neither food nor fuel, he went out in search of wood and to gather nettles. A strong wind came up and blew his robe away. When he grabbed the robe, the wood blew away. Tired of his own ego-clinging, he ceased resisting and let the wind blow away his robe and the wood. Due to lack of food, he fell in a faint with the next gust of wind.

When he came to, he saw clouds coming from the direction of the Drowo Valley where his guru lived. Filled with longing to see Marpa Milarepa dedicated a song to him. The clouds stretched toward him and on the clouds appeared Marpa, riding on a snow lion. He reassured Milarepa that their spiritual link was a bond that would keep them together always. He told him to continue meditating.

Milarepa returned to his cave and found five demons with eyes as big as soup bowls and bodies as small as thumbs inside. One was preaching from Milarepa’s seat while two others listened. Two more demons were preparing food. He made several attempts to vanquish them, but to no avail. Realizing then that they were creations of his own mind, he became confident and rushed at them. They shrank back and disappeared. . . .

. . . Marpa told Milarepa that he should go to meditate in a cave at Lapchi Snow Mountain. When he arrived there, the villagers welcomed him warmly, for they had heard of the powerful Yogi who always lived alone in remote places. They asked him to stay with them and teach them and begged him to rid one of their farms of the demons and ghosts that were plaguing it. He agreed to do so, for the farm was on the very mountain that Marpa had ordered him to go to.

When he arrived there, a great storm broke loose and lightning struck all around. The river burst its banks and created a vast lake. Milarepa made a gesture and the flood subsided. The demons shattered the mountains and created landslides. Milarepa once more subdued them. Then the demons came and threatened to tie him up and chop him into pieces. Milarepa expounded the teaching to them in song; their evil deed would beget more of the same and they would forever remain demons. They were all gradually subdued and became his disciples. Because Milarepa overcame these obstacles, he experienced great spiritual growth. . . .

. . . Milarepa went to Nyanang to meditate in a cave. One night he heard a sound coming from a crevice next to where he sat. A beam of light shone through, in the midst of which appeared a red man on a black deer led by a beautiful woman. The man gave Milarepa a blow with his elbow, accompanied by a suffocating wind, and then disappeared. The woman became a red bitch, who immediately caught Milarepa by the foot. He realized that she was an apparition conjured by the she-demon Tra Simmo, so he sang to her,

Should you not control your harmful thoughts and vicious

If you do not realize that all things are merely of the mind,

The endless apparitions of Namtog will never cease.

If one realizes not that the mind-essence is void,

How can one dispel the spirit of evil? [40]
¹

She disappeared, but still holding his foot, she replied to Milarepa,

When you were engrossed in the practice of meditation,

The powerful force of your habitual thoughts arose,

It stirred your self-mind and aroused delusory discriminations.

If in your mind the discriminating thought “Enemy” has ne’er arisen,

How could I, Tra Simmo, afflict you? [42]

Milarepa told her that he was making fun of her, that he had no fear of her nor of anything else. Moved by his song, Tra Simmo released Milarepa’s foot and sang,

I roam the earth in this evil form,

Desiring blood and flesh for food.

I enter into the soul of whomsoever I encounter;

I incite the hearts of maidens, pretty and charming;

I madden with lust the blood of young men, strong and handsome.

With my eyes, I amuse myself watching all the dramas;

With my mind, I instigate cravings in all nations;

With my body, I incite people to excitement and restlessness. [45]

Milarepa told her to make a wish to be his disciple in the future. Great faith arose in her. She reappeared visibly and renounced her wrongdoings and swore before Milarepa that in the future she would never harm anyone and would protect all who meditate. Then she made obeisances to him and circumambulated him many times.

Then Milarepa sang,

Should one cling to the reality of visions,

He would be confused in his meditation.

If he knew not that all obstacles

Reveal the void, the manifestation of mind,

He would be misled in his meditation.

The very root of all confusion

Also comes out of the mind.

He who realizes the nature of that mind

Sees the great illumination without coming and going.

Observing the nature of all outer forms,

He realizes that they are but illusory visions of mind.

He sees also the identity of the void and form. [53]

. . . One day as Milarepa sat meditating in a cave on the border between Tibet and Nepal, he heard a dog barking in the distance. Sensing that some disturbance was on the way, he left the cave. He came to a huge rock and, pausing there, he became absorbed in meditation. A spotted deer ran up, badly frightened. Milarepa, taking pity on him, sang him a song about fear and hope. The deer was relieved of his pain and he lay down at Milarepa’s feet. Shortly thereafter, a savage hunting dog ran up. Milarepa sang to her of hatred and greed, which greatly moved the dog. She became completely subdued and lay down on the other side of Milarepa.

Thereupon a hunter, the owner of the dog, rushed up and shouted angrily at Milarepa. The hunter drew his long bow and shot an arrow at him. The arrow flew high of its target. Milarepa assured the man that he had plenty of time to shoot him and that he might first listen to his song. And so he taught the hunter that if he would conquer his own mind, then all his enemies in the outer world would disappear. The hunter suspected that Milarepa was a black magician because he had completely subdued the animals; he entered the cave and saw nothing but some inedible herbs. Finally overcoming all his doubts, great faith arose in the hunter. He offered Milarepa all his possessions and became one of his disciples. . . .

. . . At a certain stage, Marpa advised Milarepa to go to Gung Tang. Milarepa went there and found a cave. A young boy came to visit him and was overwhelmed by Milarepa’s presence. He was an intelligent boy and though already well versed in Buddhist teachings, he asked Milarepa for further instruction. Milarepa agreed. The boy’s mother and uncle became very angry because the boy had left them, so they sent him a pot on which a curse had been placed. As a result, the boy—Rechungpa—contracted leprosy. Some Indian Yogis passed and suggested that he go to their guru in India, who might be able to cure him. He went to India and was cured. Fearing that Milarepa was dead, he returned to the cave where he had left his guru. Milarepa sat within, meditating. When Rechungpa asked about his health and welfare, Milarepa sang this song:

I bow down at the feet of Marpa, the gracious one.

Because I have left my kinsmen, I am happy;

Because I have abandoned attachment to my country, I am happy;

Since I disregard this place, I am happy;

As I do not fear the lofty garb of priesthood, I am happy;

Because, I cling not to house and family, I am happy;

I need not this or that, so I am happy.

Because I possess the great wealth of dharma, I am happy;

Because I worry not about property, I am happy;

Because I have no fear of losing anything, I am happy;

Since I never dread exhaustion, I am happy;

Having fully realized mind-essence, I am happy;

As I need not force myself to please my patrons, I am happy;

Having no fatigue nor weariness, I am happy;