A biography called in Tibetan "Jetsun-Kahbum", or "The Life of Jetsun-Milarepa", written by Milarepa's disciple Rechung and translated into English by Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup.
Edited with an introduction and notes by Evans-Wentz (Jesus College, Oxford), author of Belief in Spirits in Celtic Countries, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, etc.
Translation from English by O.T. Tumanova
EXCERPT FROM A BOOK.
“JETSUN-KAHBUM” AS A CULTURAL MONUMENT
This biography of one of mankind's great religious geniuses depicts in vivid color the social life of Tibet in the 11th and 12th centuries AD. We Europeans often forget that India and China had a high culture at a time when Europe had not yet emerged from its barbaric state, and that Tibet, which had already drawn much from the cultures of China and India since the seventh century, was in its own medieval narrow-mindedness is no lower than Europe, and in the field of philosophy and religion even surpassed it.
In Europe, during the dark ages of the early Middle Ages, few people knew about the great ancient Athens and Alexandria. Scientific and philosophical thought was suppressed by the authority of the church and confined within the narrow framework of pedantic scholasticism. The Arab scholars of Cordoba and Baghdad, who preserved the teachings of the ancients, were able to transmit them to the Europeans only when Europe awoke to a new life in the Renaissance. But in the Promethean East the fire never went out. And even to this day, China and India have maintained in uninterrupted continuity a culture that originated in ancient times.
The civilizations of Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome, having experienced their heyday, disappeared, but China and India continue to live, despite the social upheavals they suffered caused by contact with the utilitarian West. And if they retain their amazing fortitude, they will be able to survive the materialistic civilization of the West and, as before, will lead humanity to a more sublime ideal - victory over the world of the divine principle in man, and not the animal nature, through bloody wars. This is the ideal on which Milarepa's teachings regarding the problems of human society are based. And in this it is consonant with the teachings of Buddha, Christ and all the great teachers of Asia, who with compassion and love have done immeasurably more for humanity than countless armies and their leaders have done for them throughout history.
While Milarepa was meditating among the snow-capped peaks of the Tibetan Himalayas, the culture of Islam was spreading throughout Hindustan. Thanks to Milarepa and his teacher Marpa, who traveled to India to acquire manuscripts on Indian and Buddhist philosophy and, having acquired them, delivered them to Tibet, much of the spiritual heritage of India, which was threatened with destruction at the hands of the conquerors, was used to educate the Tibetans and was preserved until our days. This happened at a time when England was experiencing the consequences of the Norman Conquest. Therefore, for a student of the history of religions and a historian in general, “Jetsun-Kahbum, i.e. The Life of Jetsun Milarepa should be of particular interest.
Current page: 1 (book has 23 pages in total)
THE GREAT YOGI OF TIBET MILAREPA
PERSONALITY
ACTS
THIS BOOK IS ABOUT MILAREPA
I DEDICATE
TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH FAITH,
BASED ON BOOKS AND TRADITIONS,
AND STRIVES FOR DIRECT KNOWLEDGE
VICTORY CHARIOT YOGA
Who has acquired Faith and Wisdom,
He who is well equipped is moved forward by his mind.
Consciousness is a drawbar, and Mind is a harnessed pair,
Vigilance is a cautious charioteer.
Righteous Life - Chariot;
Joy is the axle, Energy is the wheels.
Calmness is the ally of a balanced Mind.
The absence of desires is its decoration.
Benevolence, non-harm and detachment -
His weapon.
Patience is the armor of Order.
This chariot is moving towards Peace.
It is built by the person himself, his inner self is created.
She is the best of all chariots.
The sages on it leave this world
And, verily, they achieve victory.
Buddha, from Samyutta Nikaya
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
THE PATH TO SIMPLE LIFE AND FREEDOM
“To have few desires and be content with little is characteristic of exalted people.”
Testaments of Teachers (Guru)
The same call of the Great People of antiquity to a simple life and heroism, repeated more than once over thousands of years and heard in America by Thoreau, Emerson and Whitman, is addressed from the pages of this book from Tibet, the country of snowy mountains, to the people of the West, extolling their complex life in century of industrialization and those who give preference to it, although not without many misgivings that confused them until recently.
While The Tibetan Book of the Dead (the first volume of our Oxford series on Tibet) teaches how to die well and choose the womb to be born again, this book, part of the second volume of the series, teaches how to live and direct life towards the transcendental goal - Liberation from conditioned existence.
Since life, death and rebirth are considered by Buddhism and many other religions as inseparable states of the One Being, the first volume of the series should be considered a continuation of the second, although it is a separate treatise on yoga.
The response to the first edition of the Life of Milarepa, the great Buddhist saint of Tibet, was a large number of enthusiastic letters sent to the publisher of this book not only by lay people and members of the Sangha of Northern and Southern Buddhism, but also by Hindus and Christian Catholics and Protestants. The editor expresses his deep gratitude to all of them for the high appreciation of his work. Each letter contained the idea that Milarepa's personality embodied those universal traits of holiness that no religion can consider its exclusive achievement and which are inherent in the saints of all religions. Therefore, Milarepa can be counted among the lights that dispel the darkness of Ignorance, about which the Enlightened One said that this darkness enveloped the world. The words said about Abraham Lincoln also apply to Milarepa, that he belongs not only to his country, but to the whole world.
The book argues that the path of yoga leading to the achievement of the Highest State is transcendental to speculative concepts of salvation and is open to all people regardless of their religion. Milarepa taught that no method of developing the mind leads to Wisdom. True knowledge cannot be achieved by studying books or expounding creeds. Many of the saints of the highest learning and culture who lived in Tibet and India were illiterate, as evidenced by the forthcoming fourth volume of the Oxford series, The Tibetan Book of Great Liberation. Milarepa expressed the same thought in his song:
“Having been accustomed for a long time to meditate on Selected Truths transmitted in whispers,
I forgot everything in the rewritten and printed books.
Having become accustomed for a long time to acquiring more and more new experiences on the path of spiritual improvement,
I forgot all beliefs and dogmas.
Accustomed for a long time to know the meaning of the Unspeakable,
I forgot about ways to research the roots of words and the origins of words and phrases.”
By bringing the mind, through self-discipline, analogous to the method of taming a wild horse, into a state of immunity to the intrusive and, from the point of view of yoga, unwanted influences generated by the illusory phantasmagoria of the world, we are freed, as Milarepa teaches, from the fetters that bind us to it. As he sings in his song about the Horse of the Mind, the undisciplined mind must be caught in the noose of the One Purpose, tied to the post of Meditation, fed by the teachings of the guru and watered from the Source of Consciousness. The Youth of the Mind will be the rider riding on the Horse of the Mind across the wide Plain of Happiness to achieve Buddhahood.
Just as a chemist experiments with the elements of matter, so Milarepa experimented with the elements of consciousness, and no one else has more fruitfully tested the teachings of his Great Teacher Buddha through practical application. For his highest achievements in the practice of Buddhism, Milarepa is revered not only by Buddhists of all schools in his homeland - in Tibet and in neighboring countries of Asia, where he is recognized as completely Enlightened, but also by an ever-increasing number of truth seekers around the world who learned about him after the publication of his biography in the West .
Buddhists themselves, even those who do not belong to Milarepa's school, recognize, as we must admit, that Milarepa's path is short, leading beyond the limits of limited earthly existence, can only be traversed by an exceptional person, prepared in the process of evolution to do this daring leap towards a goal inaccessible to slowly evolving humanity. Although very few have the fortitude, physical stamina and will to follow Milarepa, his discovery that this goal is not a mirage and can be achieved is of enormous value to them. From the point of view of Milarepa's devotees, one can glean from this book the courage necessary to embark on the path, no matter how long and thorny it will be and how many lives it will take to live to achieve this goal, which Milarepa, thanks to his special preparation, achieved within one.
Regardless of how Saint Milarepa is received in our utilitarian age - with veneration on the part of the few and with utter indifference on the part of the many, from an anthropological point of view it is necessary to recognize, as did our famous Oxford professor Arnold Toynbee, that the best contribution to the improvement of life Man on earth was brought from among the representatives of the human race not by scientists with all their wonderful and praiseworthy discoveries, not by inventors, not by industrial magnates, not by political leaders, not by rulers and not by statesmen, but by prophets and saints:
“Who are they, these greatest benefactors of humanity? I dare say that Confucius and Lao-tse, Buddha, the prophets of Israel and India, Zoroaster, Jesus, Mohammed and Socrates.
They are the lonely lights of civilizations that occupied territories from the Pacific Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, and in these few individuals the highest wisdom of all historical eras was embodied. In them the evolution of the diverse aspirations of countless generations of people who lived on our planet over the millennia of the existence of the great cultures of China, India, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Arabia and Europe, represented by Greece, found the most perfect expression.
The works of artists and writers survive the deeds of entrepreneurs, military leaders and statesmen. Poets and philosophers are superior to historians, but saints have no equal.”
The Westerner, much more than the Easterner (where simple living and self-sufficiency still prevail in the village community), will probably be surprised to read in this book the life of a man who had no attachments to transitory things. For Milarepa, as well as for many sages of Asia, victory over oneself was higher than victory over the world and renunciation of it was better than all earthly riches.
The same can be said about Mahatma Gandhi. The property that he left behind is not much different in appearance and value from the things that were Milarepa's property: a wooden staff, two pairs of sandals, glasses with old-fashioned frames, a low table at which he wrote while sitting on the floor, an inkwell, a pen, a shot glass writing paper, a mat for prayer and meditation, several religious books and among them the Bhagavad-Gita, two cups, two spoons and several pieces of homespun cotton cloth that served as his clothing.
A bamboo staff, a dress and cape also made of homespun cotton fabric, a bowl from a human skull found in a cemetery, a flint and steel, and a bone spoon were Milarepa's property.
Although physically weak due to age and ascetic life, Gandhi the Saint influenced the course of events in the powerful and prosperous vast British Empire in a way that no army, sea or air armada could influence.
When a delegation of high-ranking officials came to Milarepa with an invitation to visit the ruler of Nepal, Milarepa refused the monarch's envoys and thereby emphasized the imaginary of his superiority. He told them that he himself was a powerful king, possessing riches, and his greatness and power were higher than all the kingdoms of the world.
When Gandhi met the English king at Buckingham Palace, he was not wearing the suit of etiquette established, as Milarepa teaches, by “ignorant conventionalists,” but a white loincloth of simple homespun cotton, such as that worn by Indian peasants. When Gandhi was then asked whether his bandage alone was enough to cover his body for such a solemn moment, he replied: “The king had enough clothes on for both of us.”
A person possessing such extraordinary abilities as Milarepa possessed, such as the ability to fly through the air, would not need cars, airplanes or other means of transportation, and therefore would not need the material benefits of an industrial society acquired at the cost of back-breaking labor in the coal mines. mines, iron smelters and mass production factories.
Gandhi also opposed industrialization, although without much success in his own country. He believed that industrialization was not a sad necessity, a necessary evil, not because, as Milarepa's life shows, yoga makes it unnecessary, but because industrialization harms the arts and crafts that usually flourish in the simple and relatively happy life of the village community, and therefore suppresses the sprouts of the Beautiful inherent in every person. Village communities, which in India and China for thousands of years were centers of national culture not associated with mass production, are, according to Gandhi, the best and economically sustainable social formation. And this simple, natural and materially independent form of social life, conducive to the development of a Higher Culture, is closer to the ideal of Milarepa than an industrialized society.
Thanks to the constant control of his physical body, Milarepa was able to live, although experiencing suffering to which, as a yogi, he was indifferent, in the arctic climate of the Himalayan heights, on simple and meager food and often without any other food than that which he received from air, water and solar energy in a manner similar to the Cosmos, like a plant producing chlorophyll. There was no heating in his cave except that which was created in his bodily abode through the yogic practice of tummo.
Consumer goods produced in ever-increasing quantities, considered in the West as a necessary attribute of life, for the acquisition of which people voluntarily sacrifice their vital energy, health and their short time on earth, are for Milarepa, as for the Buddha, only an obstacle to the Right Way of Life . Milarepa taught that the purpose of life in the human body is not to wallow in the quagmire of contentment and comfort that binds to the world, but to withdraw from it, no matter how abundant, prosperous and worldly happy one becomes thanks to the discoveries of Western science.
From his Himalayan cave, Milarepa looked with pity and compassion at the lives of people striving for luxury and contentment. As he taught in his song “On the Five Kinds of Contentment,” when the desire for contentment, common to people and animals, is overcome and Freedom is achieved, “there are no thorns; everything is pleasant,” and he asked those not inspired by the ascetic life to keep their pity for him to themselves. He said this about the contentment of life in monasteries:
With even greater pity and compassion, Milarepa would look at the lives of people in our time, surrounded by numerous things without which the inhabitants of Europe and America cannot imagine their existence, and among them even many monks preaching piety. He saw the meaning of life not in enjoying material wealth and conquering the world with the help of science, but in conquering oneself and breaking the shackles that tie a person to the wheel of birth and death. Milarepa, like the saints of all religions, all civilizations and eras, was convinced that the absence of desires and the complete renunciation of worldly goods, and not the all-consuming passion for acquiring temporary things, lead to the achievement of a state that is the highest on our planet.
Milarepa realized early in his life what most people realize too late: “All earthly ambitions have one inevitable end, which is sorrow: acquisitions end in loss, meetings end in parting, what is built is destroyed, births end in death. Keeping this in mind, one must from the very beginning renounce acquisitions, accumulations, construction and meetings and, following the instructions of the revered guru, strive to achieve the Truth (which has neither birth nor death). This is the best science."
Before passing to Nirvana, Milarepa continued to admonish his disciples: “Life is short, and the hour of death is unknown. Therefore, meditate diligently – i.e. do not commit sins and gain merit by sparing no effort and even sacrificing your life. All I have said is summed up in this: act in such a way that you do not have to be ashamed of yourself, and stick to this rule firmly. If you do this, know that you are not violating the commandments of the Supreme Buddhas, even if you come across conflicting requirements in books.”
Milarepa's commandments about righteous living are the same commandments bequeathed to the saints of all eras - Ancient China, India, Babylon, Egypt, Rome and our time. But only a very few individuals, prepared by their evolution to observe them and merge with the Brotherhood of Compassion and Peace, passed on the Torch of Wisdom from one generation to another. May the words of the devoted disciple Milarepa Rechunga, written by him in the colophon to the “Life”, come true, that “those devoted to the Teaching will receive spiritual help from this book even while listening, thinking about it, touching it, and studying it and following the commandments contained in it are pleasing to the Hierarchy of Teachers.” The Tibetan guru Phadampa Sangay (presumably a contemporary of Milarepa), whose sermons will be published in the fourth volume of the series - “The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation”, addressed his disciples and the residents of the village of Tingri with words that have not lost their meaning for us, which we We conclude this preface:
“Dharma is like sunlight shining through a crack in the clouds.
Know that there is such light now. Use it wisely, people of Tingri."
San Diego. California.
All Saints' Day, 1950
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
In our introduction and notes to this book, as in The Tibetan Book of the Dead, I have tried to convey to the Western reader and for this purpose I have set out in writing some aspects of the Higher or Transcendental Teachings of the Mahayana, which were transmitted to me for this purpose by my Tibetan guru, the now deceased Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup. For any errors that critics may find in these comments (and I am not sure that there are none), I alone bear full responsibility. While I am especially grateful as a student to him who was my teacher, I also express my gratitude to the yogis of the Himalayas and India (who wish not to be named) from whom I had the good fortune to receive, during my scientific journey in India, valuable information from first hand regarding the same ancient ideals of asceticism and renunciation of the world that Milarepa, a devoted disciple of his First Guru - Gautama Buddha, so inspiredly preached when he spoke about his life. These ideals, fortunately, still find many adherents among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Taoists, Islamic Sufis and even Christians living in Asia.
It is my sincere hope, as editor, that this book will also serve its modest purpose in helping Europeans and Americans to recognize the fact that the peoples of the East, like all mankind, are motivated by the same aspirations and devoted to essentially the same religious ideals that from an anthropological point of view, humanity is one family and therefore external differences due to hereditary, racial characteristics, skin color and external physical factors are insignificant. For too long has stood the dividing wall, erected in the Dark Ages out of prejudice and misunderstanding, the cause of which is the lack of scientific knowledge. When knowledge has finally destroyed it, then the hour will come for the leaders of races and nations to work not only to create a Federation of the countries of the world, but also a Federation of Truth that lives in all religions.
Let us end this preface with the words of the translator: “May this translation of the Life of Milarepa help to learn about him in other countries, and may Milarepa be revered there in the same way as in his native country. This was my only desire, which inspired me in my work, and remains my fervent prayer now, at the moment of its completion."
MILAREPA
I, Milarepa, illuminated with great glory,
Memory and Wisdom child.
Although I am old, abandoned and naked,
A song flows from my lips,
For all Nature serves me as a book.
The iron rod is in my hands
Leads me through the Ocean of changing Life.
I am the master of Reason and Light,
And, performing feats and miracles,
I don't need the help of earthly gods.
Milarepa "Gur-Boom"
“Only Buddhas and Arhats revealed my true essence and defeated me. All other beings live under my despotic rule. I sentence them to death and give them life. I am the deity who brings them the prosperity they enjoy. Good and evil deeds are done according to my will. Gods, emperors, kings, rich and poor, strong and weak, noble and low-born, happy and unfortunate spirits, living in this world and in the upper and lower worlds - I raise or lower all of them to the state corresponding to each of them. I humiliate those who are high and exalt those who are low according to some of the deeds they do. Therefore, I am truly God who rules this phenomenal world.”
From “Proclamation of the Omnipotence of Karma” 1
This is the title (but without indicating the title of the Tibetan original) of the three-page English translation, discovered by the editor among the papers of the late Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup. At the end of the translation from which this quotation is taken, there is a caption: “Translation by Dava-Samdup, made in accordance with the instructions of the Venerable Prajna Satha, 28.5.1917.”
“Our future depends on what we do;
As a shadow follows the body, Karma follows us.
Everyone should try what he himself has done.”
From "The Golden Necklace of the Legends of Padma Sambhava" 2
In Tibetan: “Padme-Thangyig-Serteng.”
INTRODUCTION
“Just as a traveler who strives to reach a city needs eyes to see the path leading to it and feet to walk that path, so one who strives to reach Nirvana needs the Eyes of Wisdom and the Feet of Method.”
"Prajna-Paramita"
I. “JETSUN-KAHBUM” AS A CULTURAL MONUMENT
This biography of one of mankind's great religious geniuses depicts in vivid color the social life of Tibet in the 11th and 12th centuries AD. We Europeans often forget that India and China had a high culture at a time when Europe had not yet emerged from its barbaric state, and that Tibet, which had already drawn much from the cultures of China and India since the seventh century, was in its own medieval narrow-mindedness is no lower than Europe, and in the field of philosophy and religion even surpassed it.
In Europe, during the dark ages of the early Middle Ages, few people knew about the great ancient Athens and Alexandria. Scientific and philosophical thought was suppressed by the authority of the church and confined within the narrow framework of pedantic scholasticism. The Arab scholars of Cordoba and Baghdad, who preserved the teachings of the ancients, were able to transmit them to the Europeans only when Europe awoke to a new life in the Renaissance. But in the Promethean East the fire never went out. And even to this day, China and India have maintained in uninterrupted continuity a culture that originated in ancient times 3
“In the East, even during periods of material prosperity, they never forgot about the superiority of the spirit. Kings renounced their kingdoms and went into the jungle or mountains to spend the rest of their lives in meditation. “To die in chains” was considered then, as now, an evil that must be avoided. This is the secret of the inexhaustible vitality of the East,” Prof. Atal Bihari Ghosh.
The civilizations of Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome, having experienced their heyday, disappeared, but China and India continue to live, despite the social upheavals they suffered caused by contact with the utilitarian West. And if they retain their amazing fortitude, they will be able to survive the materialistic civilization of the West and, as before, will lead humanity to a more sublime ideal - victory over the world of the divine principle in man, and not the animal nature, through bloody wars. This is the ideal on which Milarepa's teachings regarding the problems of human society are based. And in this it is consonant with the teachings of Buddha, Christ and all the great teachers of Asia, who with compassion and love have done immeasurably more for humanity than countless armies and their leaders have done for them throughout history.
While Milarepa was meditating among the snow-capped peaks of the Tibetan Himalayas, the culture of Islam was spreading throughout Hindustan. Thanks to Milarepa and his teacher Marpa, who traveled to India to acquire manuscripts on Indian and Buddhist philosophy and, having acquired them, delivered them to Tibet, much of the spiritual heritage of India, which was threatened with destruction at the hands of the conquerors, was used to educate the Tibetans and was preserved until our days. This happened at a time when England was experiencing the consequences of the Norman Conquest. Therefore, for the student of the history of religions and the historian in general, “Jetsun-Kahbum” 4
Kahboom, literally translated – 100,000 words; "Nam-thar", its other more common Tibetan name, means "complete liberation"
Those. The Life of Jetsun Milarepa should be of particular interest.
Biography of the great Tibetan ascetic, magician, mystic and meditator - yogi Milarepa. We are not talking about “Jetsun-Kahbum”, or “The Life of Jetsun-Milarepa”, a treatise written by Milarepa’s disciple Rechung. We bring to your attention a film created by Tibetan and Indian filmmakers in the style of theatrical productions that were once famous in Tibet. Milarepa is a beloved hero of the common people and the aristocracy, a man who found the strength to overcome not only the dark sides of his soul, but also the restrictions that avidya imposes on us...
Yogi Milarepa - the great magician of Tibet
The ancient Namtar scrolls contain the very first records about this amazing man. Milarepa was born in 1052 AD into the Josi family. Among his ancestors was Lama Nyingmapa, who was credited with the ability to control demons and spirits. Little Milarepa received the most ordinary education, despite the fact that he grew up in a fairly wealthy family. His father was an ordinary merchant, and became rich in trading outside the province. From childhood, Milarepa stood out among his peers for his unusual mental perception and desire for knowledge of the spiritual. In that movie about Milarepa you will be able to see the first steps of a young yogi. The father wrote a will for his brother and his wife, and after his death all the property went to Milarepa's uncle and aunt.
Milarepa's Teachings
The first teacher for Milarepa was the magician Yungton Trogyel, whose roots went back to ancient Nyingma. According to legends, Yungton possessed a power called the "Snake Power of the Eight Nagas", which was credited with the ability to transform into other forms, as well as expanding consciousness to serve all living things. Milarepa's newly made disciple sacrificed everything to him and was accepted. At first he was a simple assistant and apprentice. But when Yungton saw the true power of Milarepa, he sent him for further training to Lama Yonten Gyatso. The new teacher taught Milarepa the art of destruction and developed in him the ability to control the weather. After two weeks of training, the already strengthened magician returned home and took revenge on his greedy uncle and aunt. Milapera watch could not bear to see how they plundered the property acquired by his father. Greedy relatives organized luxurious festivities in honor of the wedding and filled the father's house with a large number of guests. The house could not stand it and collapsed on people. Only Uncle and Aunt survived. These deeds are also attributed to Milarepa.
Milarepa - the path to enlightenment
After all these events, Milarepa became different. Despite his distorted sense of justice and moral blindness, he realized the workings of the Law of Karma. He came to understand that evil begets evil, that his actions were terrible and will definitely return to him with more serious consequences. At this time, the mentor of the teacher Milarepa died, and Yungton immersed himself in the study of the Dharma and the workings of karma. He sent Milarepa to Lama Ronong Lhaga, explaining that he was going to withdraw from worldly affairs. Having met him, Milarepa finally repented to him of all his atrocities. Milarepa online— the film tells about the life of a great yogi. The new teacher told him that direct awareness through the deepest meditation would allow him to remove part of his black karma. Milarepa rejoiced at the relief and began to meditate deeply. The further history of yogi Milarepa can be learned from his own notes, which have been published and are available for sale. We bring to your attention the historical film "Milarepa - the path to enlightenment" dedicated to this person.
APPLICATION
Great Gurus of the Kargyutpa School
Reproduction from a watercolor painting by Lama Kazi-Dawa-Samdup in 1920 in Gangtok, Sikkim, in strict accordance with the traditions of Tibetan monastic painting. It depicts the Main Gurus, or Great Teachers of the Kargyutpa school of Northern Buddhism. This icon is the lama's farewell gift to the publisher.
In the upper part is depicted the Divine Guru, the Heavenly Buddha - Dorje-Chang (Sanskrit: Vajra-Dhara), i.e. the Holder of the Lightning (called dorje - spiritual lightning or the scepter of the gods), from whom the esoteric teaching of Kargyutpa emanates. The official church not only recognizes him as an emanation of Buddha-Shakyamuni, but, like Kargyutpa, honors him as the Head of the Heavenly Buddhas, equal to Adi, or the Primordial Buddha of the Old School, founded by Padma Sambhava. He is dressed in rich royal robes, in which it is customary to depict the Dhyani Buddhas (Buddhas of Meditation) of the Sambhoga Kaya order, to which he also belongs. This robe serves as a sign that he directly guides sentient beings and their moral development. He has a detached expression and a beautiful appearance because he is by nature passive (non-impulsive) and is the Source of Good, Truth and Justice. He sits on the throne in the pose of Buddha (Skt. vajra-asana) because he is constantly in a state of equanimity - samadhi. The bell he holds in his left hand symbolizes Emptiness (Sanskrit Sunyata), i.e. the Supreme Mind. Dorje in his right hand symbolizes Divine Method and Spiritual Power. The lions at the base of the throne signify fearlessness as he has overcome his fear of change. Blue color - the color of the Eternal Sky expresses the immutability and eternity of its existence. As the founder of the Heruka Hierarchy of Bodhic Deities, he wears a necklace made of bone beads - a symbol of renunciation of the world, victory over samsara (the cycle of death and birth) and possession of the yogic abilities of Heruka and Dhyani Buddha.
On the right side of him, that is, on the left in the picture, is depicted the first human guru - the Indian yogi, or saint, Tilopa, who directly received the teachings from the Divine Guru. The goldfish that Tilopa holds in his raised right hand symbolizes sentient beings immersed in the ocean of samsara, or the world of phenomena, which it is Tilopa's mission to save and liberate.
The blood-filled skull that Tilopa holds in his left hand symbolizes his ability as a Heruka to transmit the Lokich Siddhis - the occult forces operating on Earth. His identity as Heruka is indicated by a tiara made of human skulls and bone jewelry. The lotus-shaped throne on which he sits signifies his membership in the Order of the Lotus. The red color of the lotus petals symbolizes Sukhavati (Western Paradise), where Buddha Amitabha rules - the Boundless Light, Illuminating and Enlightening, whose symbol is the all-consuming and purifying mystical Fire. Tilopa is revered as the incarnation of Amitabha, the green color of his aura and the auras of other gurus expresses yogic equanimity, peace and spiritual strength.
On the other side of the Divine Guru, the second human guru, the Indian yogi (saint) Naropa, is depicted sitting on the same lotus-shaped throne, blowing a ram's horn and glorifying the order of his guru Tilopa. Naropa's tiara of human skulls and bone jewelry, like Tilopa's, indicate not only his Heruka essence, but are also an esoteric symbol of the supreme principle or foundation of the Universal - Dharma-Kaya (or Body of Truth) as true being - uncreated, transcendental nature, Nirvana means victory over Birth and Death, that is, over formation and change. There are usually six such decorations with which Tilopa and Naropa are depicted:
1) tiara made of skulls,
2) wrists,
3) bracelets on the hands,
4) ankle bracelets (visible only in Naropa),
5) an apron with a belt made of bone beads, which are not in this picture, and
6) a double thread of bone beads passing through the shoulder and chest, where the Mirror of Karma is suspended, in which, as described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, good and evil deeds are reflected. These six ornaments (usually made from human bones) symbolize the six paramitas (infinite virtues):
1) dana-paramita (infinite mercy),
2) shila-paramita (infinite moral purity),
3) kshanti-paramita (infinite patience),
4) virya-paramita (endless diligence),
5) dhyana-paramita (endless meditation) and
6) prajna-paramita (infinite wisdom).
Anyone who wants to achieve Buddhahood and, by becoming a bodhisattva, help all sentient beings achieve salvation, must strictly implement the six paramitas.
Naropa, like the first two gurus, sits in one of the many yoga poses (asanas). His throne is also made of red lotus, but this color is inferior in brightness to the color of Tilopa's throne. It also symbolizes Sukhavati and indicates Naropa's affiliation with the Masters of the Order of the Lotus.
Guru Marpa, known as the Translator Marpa due to the large number of tantric yoga treatises he translated and acquired in manuscript form in India, is depicted at the bottom of the painting. He is dressed in the semi-secular robe of a lama living in the world, such as is worn by the upper class Tibetans, for although he is a very famous guru of this Order, unlike other gurus of the hierarchy, he has not renounced family life. He also holds a human skull filled with blood (dyed sacred water is used in Lamaistic ritual) as a sign of the right and ability to transmit lokich siddhi. He sits on a white lotus throne, which indicates that he belongs to the Order of the Vajra (Tib. Dorje), also called the Order of the East (the white color symbolizes the eastern part of Heaven).
Milarepa, commonly called Jetsun-Milarepa in Tibet, is depicted to the left of his guru Marpa. He sits in a cave on the skin of an antelope, on which yogis are accustomed to sit while practicing yoga. He wears only one robe of cotton cloth, such as is worn by the ascetics of the Kargyutpa sect, indicating his ability to keep warm in the absence of any other clothing in the harsh climate of the snow-covered Tibetan highlands. He also holds a skull filled with blood, which signifies the ability to betray lokich siddhi. His right hand is raised to his ear as a sign that he is singing the anthem. On his chest is a red ribbon, reminiscent of the sacred brahman thread, with which Tibetan yogis hold their legs in an asana pose when immersed in a state of samadhi during deep meditation. We see the same ribbon in Tilopa and Naropa. A lion is depicted above the entrance to the cave, as a symbol of the fact that the cave is located in the desert area of the Himalayan highlands, where the loneliness-loving mountain lion lives, and that Milarepa himself is the fearless lion of Dharma (Truth), and the cave is the “Dwelling of the Lion.” To the right of Marpa, Gampopa is depicted in the robes of a lama of the Kargyutpa sect, sitting in a preaching booth on a cushion embroidered with rich ornaments. Holding a sacred Tibetan book in his hand, he preaches the Teachings of the Enlightened One - the End of Suffering and the Path to Final Liberation. Gampopa is the fifth of the Great Gurus who incarnated on Earth for the benefit of many, and the sixth Hierarchy, the ancestor of which is the heavenly Dorje Chang, who, as modern Kargyutpas believe, sends directly from the Heavenly World, which he rules, blessings to the Brotherhood on Earth, transmitted telepathically in the form of “waves of grace.” From the time of Gampopa, who was the most spiritually developed disciple of Milarepa, the succession of Kargyutpa Teachers has been maintained until the present time.
Milarepa - Tibetan yogi (or saint)
Milarepa is depicted in the center, in the traditional pose - with his right hand raised to his ear as a sign that he is singing a hymn. As in the painting described above, Milarepa is sitting on an antelope skin, in a yoga pose, with a ribbon on his chest. He is also wearing a dress made of cotton fabric, which is here decorated with rich ornaments. He is surrounded by human and celestial beings who worship him and bring gifts. The picture is filled with miniatures, each of which reflects an episode from the biography of Milarepa (Jetsun-Kahbuma). For example, in the foreground in the center, directly below the image of Milarepa and below to the very edge of the picture, buildings of various shapes are visible that Milarepa built while undergoing severe trials under the guidance of his Guru Marpa, and at the left edge of the picture there are four columns with symbolic animals surrounding a high mountain They are a depiction of Milarepa's prophetic dream about the Kargyutpa hierarchy. This illustration is a reproduction of an icon that can be found in many homes in Tibet. It is as revered among Tibetan Buddhists as images of Christian saints among Christians, which testifies to the special veneration of Milarepa by Tibetans of all classes even now - more than 800 years later since his life on Earth.
Dhyani Buddha Akshobya
About Dhyani Buddha Akshobya (Equanimous, Unshakable). Akshobya is the second of the five Dhyani Buddhas of Northern Buddhism. Vairochana is the first, Ratna-Sambhava is the third, Amitabha is the fourth and Amogha-Siddhi is the fifth. (See "Tibetan Book of the Dead"). Akshobya is depicted sitting cross-legged with his feet facing upward. This is the yoga pose in which all Buddhas are depicted - meditation. His right hand, lowered down, touches the ground with the ends of his outstretched fingers. This is the bhumisparsha, or mudra of testimony, which in the Gandhara school depictions of Gautama Buddha signifies the moment in his life when he addressed the Earth, asking her to bear witness that he had resisted the temptations of the evil spirit Marpa. The third eye (Sanskrit urna) at the junction of the eyebrows symbolizes spiritual wisdom and omniscience, and the bulge (Sanskrit ushnisha) on the head symbolizes his attainment of Buddhahood.
Supreme Guru - Adi-Buddha Vajra-Dhara
Vajra-Dhara, like Dhyani-Buddha, is depicted in a pose of meditation. The arms crossed on the chest mean that he is the Supreme and Eternal Buddha (vajra-hum-kara-mudra). In his right hand he holds a vajra, symbolizing the Mystical Truth (which, like the lightning of the gods, i.e. vajra, cannot be destroyed), or Divine Wisdom, which frees from passions and leads beyond samsara (worldly existence). In his left hand he carries a bell with a vajra-shaped handle, called a ghanta in Sanskrit. Like Ashkobya, it bears the signs of the Enlightenment he achieved - an urn and an ushnisha.
Milarepa demonstrates mastery of occult powers
Milarepa, transformed and surrounded by a shining halo, demonstrates his occult knowledge to his close disciples and blesses them for the last time. This takes place in the Brilche cave in Chubar before his departure into paranirvana. Above him is a luminous Mandala, and in the next cave are the Wheel of the Law and the Flame of Wisdom, revealed by Milarepa with the help of occult powers.
The illustration is a reproduction of a painting by a Tibetan artist, “Close Disciples Ask for Blessings.”
Marpa
As a child, Marpa studied Sanskrit with Lotsava Brogmi, the spiritual mentor of a school that professes a doctrine based on the interdependent relationship between the “initial cause” and the “final effect.” According to this doctrine, the “energy of thought” or “mind” is of the nature of light, and the essence of thought is the Absolute, or Emptiness, and their fusion generates light. The essence of thought is devoid of duality, constancy, finitude and is beyond the limits of discursive thinking.
Then he went to India, where he found Naropa, who lived near the famous Nalanda Monastery. Naropa initiated Marpa into the cycle of tantric teachings and sent him to receive instructions from a mahasiddha who lived on an uninhabited island located in the middle of a poisonous lake. He introduced Marpa to the “Great Illusion Tantra”, and subsequently another mahasiddha imparted to Marpa the knowledge of the teachings of the “Great Symbol” (“Mahamudra”). But the main teaching of the Kargyutpa school was the “Six Doctrines of Naropa,” into which Naropa initiated Marpa. They include six yogic teachings: “yoga of the inner fire”, “yoga of the illusory body”, “dream yoga”, “clear light yoga”, “bardo yoga” and “yoga of moving consciousness”.
The tireless Marpa visited India three times and brought home many sacred books belonging to the Vajrayana tradition. This was at a time when Buddhist teachings in India were on the verge of crisis. According to Tibetan historians, Buddhism in its tantric form, as taught at the Buddhist University of Nalanda, shone a particularly bright light in India during this period before dying out there forever. Therefore, to Marpa, whose amazing curiosity and perseverance helped him make these difficult and dangerous journeys to India, the Kargyutpa school of philosophy owes much of its existence. Marpa saw the great Bengali pandits in glory, but he did not know then that he would be the only heir to their teachings. Transferred to Tibet, the “Six Doctrines of Naropa” became a traditional, prosperous teaching, more spiritual than the teachings of other schools.
Marpa translated fifty works from Sanskrit into Tibetan, which, among other things, set out the theory and practice of the path leading to liberation from the bonds of samsara in Vajrayana Buddhism. In Tibet, Marpa met Atisha, but did not become his follower. Marpa's main student was Milarepa, who continued the tradition of the Kargyutpa school, passing on his knowledge to numerous students, among whom the most famous was Gampopa (1079–1153). Gampopa began his spiritual path by studying the tenets of Atisha’s school and only at the age of 32, having met Milarepa, he adopted the doctrines of the Kargyutpa school from him and was recognized as its fifth hierarch. Gampopa was recognized as the reincarnation of Song-tsen-Gam-po, the first Buddhist ruler of Tibet, who died 500 years before his birth. Je-Gampopa died in 1152, two years after he founded the Tsur-lka monastery, which became the main monastery of Kargyutpa, whose hierarchy has not been interrupted to this day.
Marpa's teachers belonged to the ancient Indian sect of the Kusulips, i.e. those who strive to achieve Enlightenment through meditation, which distinguishes them from the pandits who sought to achieve the Supreme Truth contained in the doctrine of Sunyata, i.e. Emptiness, in a speculative way. One of the great Kusulip gurus Tilopa, who lived around the 10th century, became the first apostle of Kargyutpa. The teachings of the Kargyutpa school are based on the philosophy of Mahamudra, transmitted to Tilopa by the Celestial Buddha Dorje Chang (Skt. Vajradhara), whom the Kargyutpas reverence as their Heavenly Guru, equal to Adi - the Primordial Buddha, and as an emanation of mercy inseparable from him. Tilopa presented the teaching orally as esoteric (it remains so to this day) to his disciple Naropa. Naropa and Tilopa were deeply educated. Naropa, for example, was one of the first interpreters of the Kalachakra system. Naropa gave it to Marpa, and Marpa gave it to Milarepa. Naropa was second in the hierarchy of human gurus, the third was Marpa, the fourth was Milarepa.
In the country of Bhigunagara lived a very learned teacher named Tilopa. The king of that country himself revered and worshiped him and daily presented him with five hundred gold coins. But one day Tilopa became restless, just as he was preaching the Dharma to the countless number of disciples around him. He thought about the meaninglessness of his life and, captured by this thought, wanted to slip away somewhere. His followers tried in every possible way to dissuade him from such a plan, but when left alone, he took off his monastic robe and put on old and torn clothes. He wrote a note and left it in his house: “I will not return. Don't look for me." And at night he fled.
Tilopa stopped at a cemetery near the city of Kanchi and there he lived on alms and performed asceticism. Then Naropa also came to him and brought him food. Living in this way, Tilopa was cleansed of spiritual impurity without a trace. After ten years of asceticism, he achieved the highest success in Mahamudra.
Having ascended to the sphere of the gods, Tilopa received food offerings from them there too. Having acquired the beneficial powers of body, speech and mind, he became known throughout as Tilopa. He guided countless people to a good path and worked incessantly for the benefit of living beings. Finally, in his flesh, he ascended to the Dacian sky.
Naropa came from a family of wine merchants, but he himself rejected this family trade. Living in Saliputra in eastern India, he earned his living by collecting firewood. One day Naropa heard that a certain sage named Tilopa lived in Vishnunagara. Then Naropa exchanged a large bundle of firewood for the skin of a black antelope, chose the life of a yogi, and eventually went in search of a sage named Tilopa.
He came to Vishnunagara and began asking everyone about that yogi, but the Teacher had already gone somewhere, leaving everyone in deprivation. Naropa wandered all over that land, but could not find him. Finally, after a long search, he met Tilopa on the road. Naropa bowed, walked around Tilopa and asked: “Oh, Guru, are you in good health?” “I am not your teacher, and you are not my student,” Tilopa replied and began to beat Naropa in anger, but the beatings only strengthened Naropa’s faith.
Then Naropa collected alms in a clay pot and presented it to Tilopa, placing him in front of his Guru, but the Teacher again became angry and beat him, as before. Naropa's faith grew more than ever. He ate the rest of the food and again walked around the teacher. In the evening Naropa again brought the collected alms, and the next morning he also went to collect alms. So for twelve years in a row he worshiped his Guru, not despairing for a moment, although the Teacher did not say a word to him, but was only angry.
One day Naropa was collecting alms at a wedding feast. He received a variety of different foods and an abundance of a very tasty dish called “green patasa,” which is prepared with eighty-four seasonings. He offered this dish to his Guru, and when he tasted it, he liked the dish so much that he asked: “My son, where did you get this food? Who gave it to you?
Naropa was overcome with such joy as only a bodhisattva at the first stage experiences. He thought to himself: “For twelve years I accompanied my Guru, and he did not even ask me who I was. Now he said “my son”! And realizing this, Naropa was very happy.
“Son,” said Tilopa, “go and get more of this tasty food.” Four times Naropa came to ask for this food, and everyone in that house was glad to serve it to him. On the fifth day, Naropa was ashamed to ask for more, but felt that if he did not get that food, the Guru would be displeased. Therefore, he still went to ask again. Seeing that all the householder's guests were irritated, he stole a pot full of this food and ran away. When he presented it to his Guru, he was more satisfied than before.
Naropa received initiation with blessings and instructions about Vajravarahi. After six months of contemplation, he became known everywhere as Naropa. People came to him from everywhere with offerings. Such light emanated from his heart that it could be seen even at a distance of a month's journey. After laboring for the benefit of countless living beings, he eventually ascended to the Dacian sky.
Tibetan chorten
Chorten (literally, reliquary, Skt. dhatugarbha). In Indian Buddhism it corresponds to chaitya, stupa or tope, and in Ceylonese it corresponds to dogaba. Miniature chortens, or chaityas, made of metal, stone, wood or clay, decorate the altars of Lamaist temples, and relics are often kept in them. For other purposes of chortens, see the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
In its exoteric aspect, the chorten symbolizes the five substances into which the human body breaks down after death. The square base symbolizes the solidity of the earth, that is, the substance of the earth; the spherical part in the form of a drop of water - the substance of water; the part tapering upward, resembling a tongue of flame, symbolizes fire; a crescent in the form of an inverted sky - air; a ball with a pointed top in the form of a tongue of flame rising to the sky - ether.
In esoteric interpretation, the chorten symbolizes the Path of Liberation, starting from the Earth (the base of the chorten) and passing through the Thirteen Bodhisattva Heavens (thirteen segments in the form of steps) to the Formless, Uncreated, Transcendent to Nature Nirvana beyond the ether (the last of the elements of samsara) - where the flame (called Jyotih, or the Sacred Light of the Buddha) points, merging with the Emptiness.
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We offer several films dedicated to the Great Tibetan mystic, yogi and poet of the 12th century Milarepa Shepa Dorje (1052-1135), the founder of the Kagyu tradition in Tibetan Buddhism.
Milarepa 2006.
(2005, Bhutan, fiction, 90 minutes).
The first part of the classic story of Milarepa, filmed in the kingdom of Bhutan.
Milarepa 1974.
(1974, Italy, fiction, 108 minutes).
This rare and old film presents a highly original take on the story of Milarepa, directed by renowned director Liliana Cavani.
Caves of Milarepa.
(documentary, 54 minutes).
Great Yogis of Tibet.
(documentary).
A Brief History of Milarepa.
The story of Milarepa is one of the most famous in Tibet, and he himself is probably the most revered character among this people, about whom there are many legends and tales. The poems left behind by him are still extremely popular among Tibetans, and he himself has long been included in the complex and branched pantheon of figures of Tibetan Buddhism.
Milarepa was born into a wealthy Tibetan family, but his father died shortly after his birth, after which the boy's property passed to his guardian, his uncle. However, when Milarepa reached adulthood, his uncle refused to return what he had received; moreover, he treated the young man and his mother in a very humiliating manner.
The mother, driven by a sense of revenge, insisted that the young man go to study magic and sold the last thing she had left for this. Having completed his studies, Milarepa perfectly mastered the art of magic and, with its help, arranged for the roof of his uncle’s house to collapse during the festival, burying 35 people under its weight - his entire uncle’s family and his guests. Somewhat later, Milarepa punished the inhabitants of his village by destroying the crops and thus dooming them to starvation.
The mother was satisfied, but Milarepa himself quickly realized the depth of his fall and the meaninglessness of revenge, which only aggravated the situation of many people and brought them great suffering.
After this, he began to look for ways to get rid of the terrible karma that he himself had created. People recommended him to the teacher of Buddhism - Marpa, the famous translator of sacred texts. According to legend, shortly before the arrival of his future student, Marpa had a prophetic dream that they brought him a very large, but inconvenient diamond for cutting.
From this moment began the years of Milarepa's life next to his teacher, during which Marpa deliberately treated the student very harshly, each time giving him the most difficult tasks and refusing to transmit the teachings. However, after a long time, he began to give instructions to the student.
Milarepa spent more than 12 years in meditation, during which he lived in caves and ate very little, but the hard practice bore fruit, and as a result, he achieved the state of vajradhara (complete and final liberation).
Many Buddhists said about Milarepa that he was one of the first to achieve awakening in one life, having such bad karma and having practically no merit in previous incarnations.
Having reached the age of 45, Milarepa completely withdrew from the world and became a wandering ascetic, spending most of his time in cave meditation. That is why in Tibet and the Himalayas there are so many caves associated with the name of the hermit.
His most famous students were Rechung and Gampopa, who founded the Kagyu Buddhist sect, which is today one of the main schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
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