The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

by Tsangnyon Heruka

Though the mother cries out, he won’t reply.

  In the end, the neighbors, without any affection,

  Will say spiteful words and bring you ruin.

  With this enemy you’ve borne, your mind will be troubled.

  I relinquish such tethers of samsara.

  When he had sung this, the couple replied, “Well, maybe it’s true that one’s own son would just become an enemy. But to have a daughter would surely be something worthwhile. Without one, you won’t be happy.” Then Milarepa sang this song of realization in reply:

  A daughter, at first, would be a divine smiling princess,

  A powerful woman who takes what you treasure away.29

  In the middle, she brings debt that never ends;

  She takes things away from right in front of her father

  And secretly steals from behind her mother’s back.

  She has no appreciation for what they’ve given her

  And brings depression upon her kind parents.

  In the end she’ll be a red-faced knife-demoness.*2

  At her best, she gives many things away to others.

  At her worst, she brings her family shame and misfortune.

  With such a knife-demoness, your mind will be troubled.

  I’ve abandoned the misery that’s without relief.

  I don’t want a daughter, such a basis of ruin.

  When Milarepa had sung this, the couple said, “Although you may not need a son or a daughter, if you don’t have any other family, then you’ll have the unbearable suffering of low status.” Then the Jetsun sang this song of realization:

  In the beginning, families are happy to meet, and they smile when they see each other.

  “Come over!” “Stay here!” Such talk fills the whole valley.

  In the middle, they become those who owe meat and beer;

  Such gifts are given back and forth to each other.

  In the end, with attachment and aggression, they’re a basis for regret.

  With this source of quarrel and misery, your mind will be troubled.

  I’ve abandoned friends to just hang out with for fun.*3

  I don’t wish for any worldly relations.

  Thus he sang. Again, the couple fervently spoke, “Although you don’t want any relative toward whom you are partial, we have plenty of money and wealth. By all means you should take and keep it.” Thus they offered their wealth to him.

  The Jetsun said, “The sun and the moon never stay in one small place to eliminate the darkness there; likewise, I will not forsake the benefit of many beings to become your adopted son in this life. But by meeting me, you both have attained benefit for yourselves in this and in future lives. I make the aspiration that we may meet again next life in the land of Uddiyana.” Then he sang this song of realization:

  At first, wealth makes one happy and is an object of others’ aspiration.

  But however much one has, one won’t be satisfied.

  In the middle, one is bound by the knot of miserliness;

  One won’t be able to practice generosity for the sake of virtue.

  It’s a summoning gesture for enemies and demons.

  What you have accumulated, others will spend.

  In the end, it becomes the mara of death.

  Enemies will seek after your wealth, and your mind will be troubled.

  I’ve abandoned the temptations of samsara.

  I have no wish for this mara’s deception.

  Thus he sang. The couple gave rise to unwavering faith in the Jetsun, and gave all of the wealth that they had amassed toward the cause of dharma. Then, receiving instructions from the Jetsun, they meditated. By doing that, they took hold of the path at the time of death. Thus becoming forever free from the suffering of the lower realms, they gradually progressed along to the attainment of enlightenment.

  Then the Jetsun again went to the Enlightenment Fortress in Rakma. While he stayed there, the benefactors from before offered their service to him and his practice flourished. One day, two young cowherds came and met the Jetsun.

  The younger one of them said, “Doesn’t the lama have any companions staying with him?”

  “I have a companion,” Milarepa answered.

  “Oh, then what is his name?”

  “My companion’s name is Bodhichitta.”

  “Then where is this friend now?” the boy asked.

  “Right now my companion is in the house of the all-base consciousness,” Milarepa replied.

  “Where is this house of the all-base consciousness?”

  “It is right within my body.”

  The elder one of them then said, “Guru, you are not someone we should take refuge in. We will go.”*4

  But the younger one asked, “Is the all-base consciousness the mind? Is this body the mind’s house?”

  “Yes it is.”

  The boy spoke further, “In a person’s house, one person can be inside, or many people can be inside. Within the body, is there one mind or are there many minds? How many are there, and what are they like?”

  The Jetsun replied, “As to whether there is one mind or many, you should look and see for yourself.”

  “Very well,” he said and the two of them went home.

  The next morning, the younger one went back to see the Jetsun and said, “Lama, I looked to see how many minds there are and what they are like. I found there is no more than one. If you try and kill it, you can’t kill it. If you try to overpower it, you can’t. If you try to seize it, you can’t grasp it. If you try to push it down, you can’t push it. If you place it, it won’t stay. If you send it away, it won’t go. If you try to gather it, you can’t gather it. If you look at it, you can’t see it. If you examine it, you can’t find it. If you think it exists, it won’t show itself. If you think it doesn’t exist, it spreads all over the place. It flickers and flutters, bounces and bounds, flashes and disappears.*5 I can’t say what it is at all! Please, Lama, teach me what it is!” Then the Jetsun sang this song of realization:

  Caretaking herder, now listen to me:

  The wonderful taste of candy so sweet:

  By hearing its qualities, you won’t experience it.

  You can think all about it, but you won’t have the taste.

  To experience the taste, you must use your tongue.

  Likewise, as to the essence of mind:

  Another person can point it out,

  But at that point you won’t be able to see it at all.

  Then, because of that previous occasion,

  If you look for mind, you’ll see it for sure.

  Herder, you should work with your mind like this!

  When Milarepa had sung this, the boy replied, “Then please, Lama, give me this pointing-out, and I will search this evening and return tomorrow morning to tell you what I find.”

  Then the Jetsun said, “Tonight, look and see if you can tell me what color mind is. Is it red? Is it white? Search like that. Then look to see what kind of shape it has. Is it oblong? Is it round? Then look from your head down to the soles of your feet to see where the mind actually abides.”

  In the morning, when the sun had come up, the boy drove his cows up the hill and went back to see Milarepa.

  The Jetsun asked him, “Last night, did you search for your mind?”

  “Yes, I did search for it,” he replied.

  “What is it like?”

  The boy said, “It moves and is clear and luminous. It’s not something I can identify. I couldn’t find any color or shape that it has. Together with the eyes, it can see. With the ears, it can hear. Together with the nose, it smells. With the tongue, it tastes. With the feet, it walks. It’s a total mishmash—a complete disaster!30 This present body is just the servant of the mind. When the body is happy, the mind uses it until it degenerates and becomes old. Then when it has completely deteriorated, the mind just throws it out like a stone used to wipe your behind, and the mind goes on its way just like a spoiled little kid. Then when the body trie
s to get retribution on the mind, the mind can’t just stay there relaxed at ease. Because of the suffering that ensues, the body tramples on it like a herd of animals in order to stop it. When the body falls asleep at night, the mind goes everywhere just as it pleases. The body gives the mind such a hard time. When the body tries to take ownership of the mind, things just get worse and worse.”

  Then the Jetsun sang this song of realization:

  Son, caretaking herder, listen here,

  Within this body, the meeting point of awareness and matter,

  Is consciousness that has such great negativity.

  Its experience of the lower realms’ suffering

  Is reversed through the abandonment of samsara.

  Do you wish to go, O noble son,

  To the higher realms, that city of freedom?

  If you do wish to go, I can take you there!

  When Milarepa had sung this, the boy said, “Oh yes, you must! Please accept me!”

  Then Milarepa asked him, “What is your name?”

  “My name is Genyen*6 Sangye Kyap.”

  “How old are you?”

  “I’m sixteen years old.”

  With that, the Jetsun gave him the transmission for refuge, explained the benefits of going for refuge, and said, “From this evening on, do not break your refuge vows. Now, go tonight and investigate: are you who go for refuge body, or mind? Then come back tomorrow morning with your answer.”

  The following morning the boy returned with his answer. “Lama, last night I looked to see whether the one who goes for refuge is body or mind, and I saw that it’s neither of the two. I saw that all the parts of my body from my head down to my feet each have their own name. And then I thought, ‘Can it be that the one who goes for refuge is included in all of these parts of my body? If the body is separate from mind, then the body is just a corpse, so in that case, the body can’t be the one that goes for refuge. Not only that, but if one takes apart all the pieces of that corpse, they each in turn have their own names.’

  “So then I turned to look and see if it was the mind that goes for refuge. If the mind is given the name, ‘the one who goes for refuge,’ then it can’t also be called ‘mind.’ Not only that, if a previous mind is called ‘mind,’ can you then call a later mind ‘the one who goes for refuge’? The mind at the time of being ‘the one who goes for refuge’ then can’t be a previous mind or later mind. Furthermore, the present mind and the future mind also have their respective names; if you call both the previous mind and the later mind ‘the one who goes for refuge,’ then it would never go out of existence. So, all of the past and future lives that one takes within the six classes of beings could be called ‘the one who goes for refuge.’

  “But I don’t remember my past lives and I don’t know what future lives I will take. Last year’s and yesterday’s mind have already ceased, and the mind of tomorrow has not yet arisen. The present mind also changes in every moment. Lama, you know, so please explain this to me.”

  In reply, the Jetsun sang this song of realization:

  The guru who’s realized the nature of selflessness

  I respectfully supplicate with my three gates:

  To me and all the students to come hereafter,

  Grant your blessings that we too realize the nature of selflessness.

  By your compassion, may we emerge from the object of self-clinging.*7

  Praying like that, caretaking herder, listen to this:

  This consciousness that clings to an “I”:

  If you look, you definitely won’t be able to see it.

  By the power of meditating on Mahamudra,

  You’ll see by not seeing anything at all.

  In the meditation of Mahamudra,

  You’ll need the ground—faith, devotion, and resolve;

  On the path, please know the causality of samsara;

  Then to actualize the final fruition

  You’ll need the guru’s abhisheka, transmission, and upadeshas.

  To be a suitable vessel for those,

  One needs to have the accumulation of merit

  And maintain resolve through both pleasure and pain,

  Persevering even in the face of death.*8

  Can you practice like this, my dear young son?

  If so, you have a karmic propensity.

  If not, there’s no need to explain any further.

  Again, you should carefully think this over.

  If you can’t find this “I” that one clings to,

  Then that in itself is the selflessness of persons.

  Now if you want to realize the selflessness of phenomena,*9

  Then follow me for the next twelve years.

  If you’ll do that, you’ll come to understand mind.

  My dear young boy, work with mind like that!

  Thus he sang. The boy said, “Guru, now I offer you my head and my entire body too. You know how to help me determine the nature of my own mind.”

  With that, the Jetsun thought, “Now I need to see if this boy has the ability to meditate or not.” He supplicated the three jewels and said to the boy, “Meditate on the form of the Buddha just in front of your nose.” Thus, giving him this instruction on shamatha meditation with an object, Milarepa sent him off.

  Seven days went by, and on the seventh day, the boy’s father came. “Lama,” he said to Milarepa, “my boy has not come home for seven days. Fearing that something awful happened to him, I set out to find him. All of his herder companions told me that he found a guru and is with him receiving dharma teachings. I thought he would have come home by now, but he hasn’t. Has he been here to see you?”

  “He hasn’t been here for seven days,” Milarepa replied. Hearing that, the father left, weeping. Then, after much searching, in the recesses of a mountain, he found the boy sitting straight up with eyes staring straight ahead.

  The father asked him, “What are you doing?”

  The boy answered, “I’m meditating on the key instructions of the guru.”

  “Seven days have gone by and you haven’t come home. Why?” the father asked.

  “What are you talking about? I’ve only been sitting here for just a little while.”

  “Look at the sun.”

  The boy looked up and could see that it was indeed earlier in the day than when he started meditating. “How can this be?” he exclaimed.

  After that, the boy disappeared several more times, sometimes for five or six days, and so the father continued having to go and search for him. “This constantly having to search for you is dangerous and it is making us tired and miserable. Do you want to go and be with your guru, or not?”

  The boy said that he wanted to go, so with that, the father prepared some provisions for him and brought him to Milarepa. Then the Jetsun guru initiated him into the trainings of an upasaka, taught him about karma, cause and effect, and finally gave him teachings on coemergent union and had him practice. Perfectly pure meditation arose in his mind-stream. The guru was greatly pleased and sang this song of realization:

  I bow at the feet of Lord Marpa the Translator

  Who was blessed by Maitripa and glorious Naropa.

  All the great teachers who speak of the dharma,

  Though they’re vastly learned in what dharma they teach,

  When the material body and awareness separate,

  Their mere words of dharma dissolve into the sky.

  Ignorance obscures mind’s luminous manifestations

  And they become fearful of the dharmakaya at death.

  Though they spend their whole lives studying the pitakas,

  When mind parts from the material body, it’s of no benefit.

  All meditators who practice shamatha

  Have powerful experiences, vivid and clear,

  And are happy, thinking that experience is vipashyana.*10

  But when the vipashyana of dharmakaya at the time of death is needed,

  Mother and child luminosity do not meet.
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  That shamatha from before won’t help at death,

  And again, they’ll be trapped in the animal realm.

  Upasaka son, supreme protector,*11 now listen!

  When resting evenly in meditation with the points of body,

  If appearances cease and you are without thoughts,

  These are the doings of a lethargic shamatha.

  But when you rouse yourself with mindfulness,

  It’s like a candle, self-luminous and shining bright,

  Or like a flower that’s naturally vivid and clear.

  Like looking with your eyes at the glow of the sky,

  Awareness-emptiness is naked, open, and clear.

  That nonconceptuality that’s luminous and clear

  Is the arising of the shamatha experience.

  On the basis of that meditative experience,

  While supplicating the precious jewels,

  Gain certainty by studying and contemplating the dharma.

  Take the vipashyana that brings the understanding of no self

  And tie the sturdy rope of shamatha to that.*12

  Then that strong noble being with love and compassion

  Through the mighty strength of rousing bodhichitta to benefit others,

  Having been lifted up with a pure aspiration

  To the completely pure path of seeing,

  There, vipashyana directly realizes the purity that cannot be seen

  And then the faults of mind’s hopes and fears will be known.

  Without going anywhere, you’ll arrive at the Buddha’s ground.

  Without looking at anything, you’ll see dharmakaya.

  Without achieving anything, your aim will be spontaneously accomplished.

  My upasaka son, work with mind like this.

  Having sung this, the Jetsun took the boy as his attendant and gave him all of the abhishekas and key instructions. Then meditating, the boy gained perfection in experience and realization and became one of Milarepa’s heart-sons, Repa Sangye Kyap.

  This is the cycle of Milarepa’s meeting Repa Sangye Kyap during his later visit to Rakma.

  *1 Literarally, “scent eaters” (T: dri za); this type of spirit or deity sustains itself on scents; also sometimes referred to as celestial musicians among devas in the desire realm.