Vajrayana · 1052–1135
Milarepa
Kagyu · Mahamudra · The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa
The one who went from murderer to saint. He sang his instructions straight from the slope of an icy mountain.
The essence of the teaching: The urgency of practice is born from the undeniable truth of death. In the solitude of the mountains, casting off all worldly things, you come to know the dreamlike, illusory nature of reality.
Transmission
In his youth Milarepa destroyed people with black magic and was poisoned by guilt. He came to the teacher Marpa, who broke his pride for years with hard labor before giving him the teaching. Then Milarepa went into the caves of the Himalayas and lived on nettles until his body turned green. He left no books – only songs he sang to his students and to the spirits of the mountains. Life is short, he sang, and the hour of death is unknown. Do not lay plans for a body that will become dust – lay them for that in you which outlives the dust. The solitude of the mountain, which seems lonely, is in truth full of life and dear to the Buddhas.
The full transmission — for members of the School. Here is its essence and its taste.
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