The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume Five (60 page)

At that very moment, intense emotion manifested itself as a vision of Marpa riding on a white snow lion in the clouds. Gazing at the distant sky, Milarepa sang this song:

Though in my deepest faith and veneration

I have never been apart from you,

I am now tortured by my need to see you.

This fervent longing agonizes me,

This great torment suffocates me.

Pray, my gracious Guru, relieve me from this torment.

Because of absorption and unshakeable faith, he heard the voice of Marpa saying, “Powerful one, my son, why with such deep emotion did you call to me so desperately? Why do you struggle so? Have you not an abiding faith in your Guru and Yidam. Does the outer world attract you with disturbing thoughts? Do the Eight Wordly Winds howl in your cave? Do fear and longing sap your strength?”

This was the moment of a great lesson. The pleasure of the vision of the guru had to be accompanied by the pain of hidden neurosis. And so, as Milarepa returned to the cave, he confronted his own projections which manifested themselves as demons, the living portrait of aggression. Trying to subjugate them by mantric spell did not work; theoretical understanding, that is, regarding everything as one’s own mind in a naive attitude, didn’t do the trick; finally, a nondualistic attitude, that of welcoming any threatening projections of mind, dissolved them.

Milarepa’s experience of practicing yogic teachings had gone through different phases; first the romantic notion of Marpa and then the heroic attitude of asceticism had to be used up. Milarepa discovered that he had made a commitment from which there was no stepping back. There was not only his commitment to the teachings but also a commitment to others. He had to learn to communicate with ordinary people who had not gone through the same experiences as himself. People began to discover that there was an extraordinary quality about Milarepa, a steadfast wildness, a quality of relating to basic sanity rather than to convention.

Nevertheless, he remained an ascetic because that physical situation had become part of his makeup. Since he was true to himself, he had no relative concept of other living styles and did not compare himself to others. Although he taught people with many different lifestyles, he had no desire to convert them and so remained true to his own style, even though the “trip” aspect had worn away.

Milarepa often mentioned how joyful it is that the phenomenal world can be seen as scriptures, “so I don’t have to become a bookworm.” The way he related to every situation in his life coincided with the teaching rather than being a result of a calculation in terms of the doctrine. This is ultimate yoga, where every happening is seen in the spectrum of the mandala. It is clear perception of anuttara yoga which can also be expressed in terms of mahamudra.

On the other hand, Milarepa, in the inspiration of his songs, did not romanticize the living quality of nature but just stated the facts of the natural occurrence in the situations of the moment.

In the West, in the Ma Pam ocean, blue and vast,

The Tangkar Nya (white-bellied fish) brings prosperity;

She is the supreme dancer of the water-element,

In a marvelous way she rolls her eyes.

When she seeks delicious food,

Do not harm her with a fish-hook!

Milarepa was not regarded as a poet from the scholarly point of view. At that time, Tibetans cultivated the Indian style of poetry which is longwinded and full of synonyms, its imagery involved with
Ramayana
and
Mahabharata
myths. But the ruggedness of Milarepa’s literal poetry is comparable to the koan quality in the Zen tradition—purely stating the facts. The implications behind the facts are merely a shadow.

This mahamudra quality of literalness and simplicity in Milarepa’s songs is thought-provoking. A simple person speaks a simple language as in the following song:

If there be obstacles,

It cannot be called space;

If there be numbers,

It cannot be called stars.

One cannot say, “This is a mountain,”

If it moves and shakes.

It cannot be an ocean

Should it grow or shrink.

One cannot be called a swimmer

If he needs a bridge.

It is not a rainbow

If it can be grasped.

These are the Six Outer Parables.

The practicality of Milarepa’s wisdom is ageless because somebody experienced something and actually expressed it in the literal sense. His inspiration continues, without any conflicts. His teaching of mahamudra is liveable. Ordinary people like ourselves can keep up with the ruggedness and simplicity. This simplicity is applicable to the situation of transcending neurotic mind by using domestic language. It becomes profound without pretense, and this naturally provokes the actual practice of meditation at its simplest level and allows us to perceive the colorful and dramatic experiences of life.

1
. All verses quoted are from
The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa,
translated by Garma C. C. Chang (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1999). © 1962 by the Oriental Studies Foundation.

2
. This and subsequent quotations are from
The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa,
translated by Garma C. C. Chang. (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1999). © 1962 by the Oriental Studies Foundation.

GLOSSARY

T
HE DEFINITIONS
given in this glossary are particular to their usage in this volume and should not be construed as the single or even most common meaning of a specific term.

abhisheka
(Skt., “anointment”): A ceremony in which a student is ritually introduced into a mandala of a particular tantric deity by a tantric master and is thus empowered to visualize and invoke that particular deity. The essential element of abhisheka is a meeting of minds between master and student.

arhat
(Skt., “worthy one”): One who has attained the highest level of hinayana.

ati
(Skt., “great perfection”): The primary teaching of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. This teaching is considered the final statement of the fruition path of vajrayana. It is called “great” because there is nothing more sublime; it is called “perfection” because no further means are necessary. According to the experience of ati practitioners, purity of mind is always present and needs only to be recognized.

Atisha Dipankara
(980/90–1055
CE
): A Buddhist scholar of royal family who particularly systematized the method for generating enlightened mind.

bhikshu
(Skt.): Beggar; monk; male member of the Buddhist sangha who has entered homelessness and received full ordination.

bhumi
(Skt., “land”): Each of the ten stages that a bodhisattva must go through to attain buddhahood: (1) very joyful; (2) stainless; (3) luminous; (4) radiant; (5) difficult to conquer; (6) face-to-face; (7) far-going; (8) immovable; (9) having good intellect; and (10) cloud of dharma.

bodhisattva
(Skt., “awake being”): Someone who has completely overcome confusion and dedicated his or her life and all of his or her actions to awakening or liberating all sentient beings.

bodhisattva path
: Another name for the mahayana.

buddha families
: The mandala of the five buddha families represents five basic styles of energy, which could manifest dualistically as confusion or nondualistically as enlightenment. The enlightened mandala is portrayed iconographically as the mandala of the five tathagatas, or victorious ones. All experience is said to be colored by one of these five energies. The central, or buddha, family represents ignorance which can be transformed into the wisdom of all-encompassing space. In the east is the vajra family, representing aggression, which can be transformed into mirrorlike wisdom. In the south is the ratna family, representing pride, which can be transformed into the wisdom of equanimity. In the west is the padma family of passion, which can be transformed into discriminating awareness wisdom. And in the north is the karma family of envy, which can be transformed into the wisdom that accomplishes all action.

buddha nature
: According to the mahayana view, the true, immutable, and eternal nature of all beings. Since all beings possess this buddha nature, it is possible for them to attain enlightenment and become buddhas, regardless of what level of existence they occupy.

buddha principles
:
See
buddha families.

buddhadharma
(Skt.): The Buddha’s teaching; Buddhism.

crazy wisdom
(Tib.
yeshe chölwa
): Primordial wisdom that radiates out spontaneously to whatever situation is present, fulfilling the four enlightened actions of pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying. Crazy wisdom goes completely beyond convention. Thus, though the crazywisdom person’s behavior may appear mad or outrageous to others, he or she always automatically destroys whatever needs to be destroyed and nurtures whatever needs to be cared for.

dharmakaya
(Skt.): One of the three bodies of buddhahood. The dharmakaya is enlightenment itself, wisdom beyond any reference point—unoriginated primordial mind, devoid of content.

duhkha
(Skt., “suffering”):
Duhkha satya
, “the truth of suffering,” is the first of Buddha’s four noble truths. The term refers to physical and psychological suffering of all kinds, including the subtle but all-pervading frustration we experience with regard to the impermanence and insubstantiality of all things.

hinayana
(Skt.): The “lesser vehicle,” in which the practitioner concentrates on basic meditation practice and an understanding of basic Buddhist doctrines such as the four noble truths.

jnana
(Skt.): The wisdom activity of enlightenment, transcending all dualistic conceptualization.

Kagyü
(Tib., “command lineage”): One of the four principal schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyü lineage is known as the practice or practicing lineage because of its emphasis on meditative discipline.

karmamudra
(Skt.): A tantric practice using a consort as an object of meditation and devotion, seeing union with him or her as the embodiment of nondual wisdom.

mahamudra
(Skt., “great seal/symbol/gesture”): The central meditative transmission of the Kagyü lineage. The inherent clarity and wakefulness of mind, which is both vivid and empty.

mahayana
(Skt.): The “greater vehicle,” which emphasizes the emptiness (shunyata) of all phenomena, compassion, and the acknowledgment of universal buddha nature. The ideal figure of the mahayana is the bodhisattva; hence, it is often referred to as the bodhisattva path.

mandala
(Skt.): A total vision that unifies the seeming complexity and chaos of experience into a simple pattern and natural hierarchy. The Tibetan translation,
khyilkhor,
literally means “center and surroundings.” A mandala is usually represented two-dimensionally as a four-sided diagram with a central deity, a personification of the basic sanity of buddha nature. Three-dimensionally, it is a palace with a center and four gates in the cardinal directions.

Manjushri
(Skt., “He Who Is Noble and Gentle”): The bodhisattva of knowledge and learning; usually depicted holding a book and the sword of prajna.

mantra
(Skt.): Mantras are Sanskrit words or syllables that are recited ritually as the quintessence of various energies. For instance, they can be used to attract particular energies or to repel obstructions.

mindfulness
: To practice mindfulness in Buddhism means to bring attention to bear on all activities—including everyday, automatic activities such as breathing and walking. Mindfulness is associated in meditation with the practice of shamatha, which is based on paying attention to the breath and labeling thoughts as thinking, so that one experiences the basic space of mind.

Nagarjuna
(second/third century): A great Indian teacher of Buddhism, the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy. He contributed greatly to the logical development of the doctrine of shunyata; was the author of many key texts; and, in legend, was the guru of various important Buddhist teachers who lived centuries apart.

nirmanakaya
(Skt., “emanation body,” “form body,” or “body of manifestation”): Communication of awakened mind through form—specifically, through embodiment as a human being.

nirvana
(Skt.): The idea of enlightenment according to the hinayana. It is the cessation of ignorance and conflicting emotions and therefore freedom from compulsive rebirth in samsara.

pandit
(Skt., “scholar”): A scholar or learned person who studies and interprets sacred texts as an intellectual activity.