The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa
Page 28
This very illusory body feels good.
Where there is no joy, I feel quite joyful,
This very dream is so joyful.
This yogi here feels better and better.
Is Drakya Vajra high, or not?
If Drakya Vajra isn’t high,
Then how could vultures soar below?
If the icy new year’s wind isn’t great,
Then how could water in the mountain and valley freeze?
If the garment of chandali isn’t warm,
How could I feel warm with a single cotton cloth?
If I don’t eat samadhi for my food,
How could I survive being hungry with an empty belly?
If the river of enlightenment isn’t drunk,
Then how could I survive being thirsty without water?
If the guru’s instructions are not profound,
Then how is it obstructions and maras don’t come?
If this yogi does not have realization,
How could I wander in mountain retreats with no people?
This is all due to the kindness of the wise guru.
Put efforts in practicing just like this.
Thus he sang. The dakinis said, “What you have said is wondrous, indeed! Tomorrow, a fortunate worthy disciple will come; you should accept and care for him,” and they departed like a vanishing rainbow.
Then several students from Kutang came to meet the master Jetsun and his disciples. They requested dharma teachings and the Jetsun gave them the transmission and advice as well as the explanation of the benefits of taking refuge.
The students said, “Guru, is this also your practice and refuge?”
The Jetsun answered, “Yes, this is my refuge and virtuous activity. This refuge has satisfied me well; therefore you all too should sincerely, without pretense, go for refuge in the unsurpassed three jewels. In accord with the benefits of refuge that I have explained since yesterday, I have been satisfied.” Then he sang this song of realization on classifying the sources of refuge and inciting one to dharma:
I prostrate to the guru lords.
The Buddha, dharma, and the sangha,
These are the outer sources of refuge.
Taking refuge in them has satisfied me.
If you, too, took refuge in them, that would be good.
The guru, yidams, and the dakinis,
These three are the inner sources of refuge.
Taking refuge in them has satisfied me.
If you, too, took refuge in them, that would be good.
The nadis, pranas, and the bindus,
These three are the secret sources of refuge.
Taking refuge in them has satisfied me.
If you, too, took refuge in them, that would be good.
Appearance, emptiness, and the inseparability of those,
These three are the ultimate sources of refuge.
Taking refuge in them has satisfied me.
If you, too, took refuge in them, that would be good.
If you do not take refuge in these sources
Who always protect from suffering,
A rain of days and hours will fall
Upon the decrepit house of your illusory body;
It will be tormented by the drops of months and years.
It’s sure that decrepit house, your illusory body, will disintegrate.
It’s time to make preparations to die happily!
Like the example of your shadow at sunset,
No matter how far you run, it will always be there.
I’ve never seen liberation by running away.
When dharma practitioners see death,
It is the master who incites them to virtue;
They examine and see what joy they have in death.
When those with negativity see death,
It is the master who teaches them virtue and negativity.
They examine and see what regret they have.
When those who are rich see death,
It is the master who teaches them to let go of wealth and enemies.
They examine and see what generosity they can perform.
When the elderly see death,
It is the master who teaches this life’s impermanence.
They examine and see what disillusionment they have.*5
When the youthful see death,
It is the master who teaches urgency in life.
They examine and see what diligence in practice they have.
Comfort and well-being are provided by parents.
What can be done for those orphans who suffer?
An inner fleece is soft and warm.
What can be done if one has never worn it?
The fruit of the harvest clears away poverty.
What can be done if one can’t do the work?
Speed is found with a Gyiling steed.*6
What can be done if one has never ridden it?
Making one’s life about dharma brings happiness.
What can be done if one can’t practice dharma?
For those without food, be generous to them;
Reduce your sleep and do virtuous activity!
Remember the suffering of the lower realms.
Contemplating that, practice the sublime dharma.
Thus he sang. Then many of the students became devotees of the dharma. In particular, there was a young man who gained unwavering faith in the Jetsun and requested him to accept his service.
The Jetsun thought, “This is the one that the dakinis predicted last night; therefore I must accept and look after him.” He accepted him as an attendant and gave abhishekas, key instructions, and advice to him. The young man meditated and thus was ripened and liberated. That disciple became known as Rongchung Repa and became one of the close disciples of Milarepa.
This is the cycle of the later time when Milarepa went to Drakya Vajra Fortress and met Rongchung Repa.
*1 Once the branches or leaves of a palm tree have been cut, they do not grow back. This is a symbol for the yogi not being reborn due to karmic compulsion.
*2 The four powers of confession are (1) feeling remorse for what one has done; (2) relying upon an object to whom one confesses, such as the Buddha or one’s guru; (3) engaging in some type of remedial activity, such as reciting a purifying mantra; and (4) resolving not to commit the misdeed in the future.
*3 Literally, “This mindfulness that is not separate” (T: tha dad med pa’i dran pa ’di).
*4 This is a reference to Milarepa’s single cotton cloth and his practice of chandali.
*5 They examine their disillusionment with samsara.
*6 T: gyi ling rta, a breed of horse from Amdo that is renowned for its exuberant running.
24
Meeting Shengom Repa
NAMO GURU
When the Jetsun Milarepa was staying at Drakya Vajra Fortress observing silence, on the early morning of the eighth day of the waxing moon, dakinis came wearing the attire of young human females, and with a single voice sang this melody of prophecy:
E MA! Yogi observing silence,
You who have perseverance in hardship,
With vast knowledge that sees samsara and nirvana,
Solitary lion in the midst of snowy mountains,
Brave and agile one, listen to us.
We four dakinis who have come here are sisters—
Lion cubs who act as your companions.
Today, very early this morning,
From this place, Drakya Vajra Fortress,
Go to the east of Paltang Lake.
Engagement in negativity for wealth
Will be transformed into pure virtue;
And several beings who have entered wrong paths
Will enter into the genuine path.
By that, it is certain the benefit of beings will be accomplished.
Singing this they disappeared, and the Jetsun reflected on the dakinis’ prophecy. Then, along the road that goes toward the east, a shepherd encountere
d him, seeing the Jetsun moving through the air without his feet touching the ground. He gained unwavering faith. He offered his food to the Jetsun and requested the dharma. The Jetsun taught the shepherd the dharma of karma, cause and effect; the faults of samsara; the difficulty of finding the freedoms and resources; and the uncertainty of when death will come. Through that, those dharmas arose in the shepherd’s mind-stream.
“Lama, because of the dharma you just taught me, I have reflected on the suffering of samsara and have no need for the mundane happiness of this life. Should the suffering that the guru spoke of fall upon me, there would be unbearable suffering due to karma; it would be almost like death. Please teach me dharma that will be beneficial for this.”
The Jetsun said to him, “Very well, I will teach as you have said.”
The shepherd said, “I have a cave for hiding sheep that other people are not able to find. Please come there.” Thus he invited Milarepa to Hidden Cave Sheep Fortress.*1 He offered Milarepa excellent service, and in response to his request for dharma that would be an aid for suffering, the Jetsun gave him an object on which he did shamatha meditation.
Then the shepherd said, “When my mind is resting, no suffering comes at all. But when mental activity proliferates and I think of the suffering of samsara, it’s completely unbearable. Please accept me and grant continual happiness.”
The Jetsun said, “If it is continual happiness that you need, then you must completely abandon negative actions and practice the pure dharma just as I do.”
“Then, since I want to have continual happiness, I shall practice pure dharma. Thus, Lama, please take me with you while I serve you as an attendant.”
The Jetsun, thinking he was a disciple with karmic connection, accepted him as his attendant, took him along, and gave him the abhisekas and instructions. Among all those with realization, he became a supreme and special being known as Dziwo Repa.
Early on the morning after he met Lukdzi Repa,*2 again the dakinis appeared and said, “There is a place called Lapuk, go there.”
According to their prophecy, he went there. When he arrived, there was a great rich man with many sons who was a fervent devotee58 of Bön. As he had become very ill, his son went to have a divination done for him. According to the divination, as a ransom, he had to kill one hundred yaks, one hundred goats, and one hundred sheep and hold a banquet and Bön ritual; if the meat was offered in these rites, he would recover. To get ready for the great Bön ritual, the rich man’s sons brought down the yaks, goats, and sheep and prepared to kill them. At that point, the Jetsun arrived in their village and told a woman who had brought him water that he needed some provisions.
The girl said, “In this village there is a rich man who has become ill. For his rites, they are doing a great Bön ritual. Go there, and they will see to it that you get provisions.”
The Jetsun went to the home of the sick man and entered, making it past the dogs and people without obstruction. They said, “Lama, as our precious loved one is sick, please go out.”
The Jetsun said, “I can go if you like. I’m just begging for any leftover food you could gather for me.” They collected some and brought it to him. The relatives of the rich man were there surrounding him and healers were examining him. The Jetsun went over to them as well to beg for some tsampa.
As soon as the sick man saw the Jetsun’s face, faith arose and his outlook changed. He clutched at the Jetsun’s clothes. “Lama, please look with compassion upon this man who will live for only tonight or tomorrow,” he said, with tears welling up and falling.
The Jetsun said, “Just your having this much faith in me is an excellent tendrel. If I free you from this sickness, would you be able to let go of this life and devote yourself to practicing dharma?”
“If I am freed of this illness, I will do whatever the guru commands and will practice dharma. My sons, too, will enter the dharma.”
When the man had said this, the Jetsun thought of the dakinis’ prophecy that said there would be someone who engaged in negativity for the sake of wealth who would be transformed so that he acted with pure virtue, and that there would be benefit for beings. “This is him,” Milarepa thought.
“Even if you kill these yaks, goats, and sheep that you have prepared, it will not help you; in fact, it will do nothing but harm you. You should release and save them. I will use a method that will certainly free you from this illness. To what religion are you devoted?”
“I do not disbelieve in the Buddhist dharma, but I am a devotee of Bön.”
“Very well, send away these Bönpos and healers, and I will do a Bön ritual that will benefit you.”
His oldest son said, “Is it impermissible for the guru to perform a ritual while the other Bönpos are here?”
The Jetsun replied, “That would be fine. However, the type of illness you have will not be helped by any kind of rites with material offerings or many examinations by healers. You can recover from the illness, but everyone should be sent elsewhere.”
The sick man said, “This time, do as the guru says,” and so all the ritual performers and healers were sent out.
With that, the people said, “The performers of the rites and healers have come out, but the yogi hasn’t! This is no good. Has the rich man died?” All of them were distraught over what they saw.
Meanwhile, the sick man asked, “What things need to be gathered for the guru?”
The Jetsun said, “For me to perform this ritual, no ransoms or materials need to be gathered. Listen here to my Bön ritual!” Then chanting a song of the dharma put to a Bön melody, he sang this song of realization of giving examples for the twenty-one family members:
SO YANG YANG YANG YANG YANG OOOO*3
At the beginning of time where there was mere appearance,59
For all that there was at the beginning of existence,
Names*4 were given to perceived outer objects.
Based on the collected skandhas of the elements
Came the great city, the three realms of samsara.
Names were given to the inner perceiving mind.
Awareness, empty and clear, dawned as a variety of appearances,
The basis of all karma and afflictions.
Names were then given to that castle built—
The deceiving castle of the defiled world.
The father, mental engagement of clinging to a self,
Was given the name “father.”
The mother, [the mental factors of] intention and interest,*5
Was given the name “mother.”
From the craving and emanating of those two:*6
Came their son, the twelve points of interdependence,
And their daughter, the eightfold consciousness.
Then twenty brothers and sisters arose;
There were twenty-two family members who arose.
Because of the arising of these family members,
The eighty-four thousand afflictions arose,
Three hundred sixty hindering spirits arose,
Eighty-four thousand demons and obstructing spirits arose,
And the four hundred and four kinds of disease arose.
This is the first chapter: enumerating the family members.
The twenty-two different family members
Became afflicted by the ignorance of mind
Along with every other human illness:
The upper parts are afflicted with a fever:
The heat of anger blazes like a fire;
One wheezes at enemies like a yak.
The lower parts are afflicted with an illness of cold:
The cold of desire agitates like water;
The infection of selfishness blocks the urine.
The middle is afflicted with the tumor of delusion:
The edema of self-clinging swirls like a pond.
The limbs are afflicted by an illness of wind.
The arrogance toward qualities disturbs like one who is lewd.60
Th
e heart is taken by a combination illness.*7
Praising self and slandering others, one is pierced like a thorn.
Sick with the five poisons in the bed of the enemy, distraction,
The head rests on the pillow of perceiver and perceived.
One has no appetite for the food of virtue,
And there’s a craving thirst for the water of nonvirtue.
The medicine of virtuous activity makes one vomit.
The mucus of idle chatter is flung in the ten directions.
On top, one covers up with the mantle of the eight concerns.
Underneath, the small mat of pretense is laid down.
One is surrounded by the infants of the ten nonvirtues.
Many material things go along with the mind of confusion.
There is strong clinging to desirable food and wealth.
This horrible disease, oh, how unfortunate!
This is the second chapter: the types of illness.
What is it that brings benefit to this?
Divinations and Bön practice bring benefit.
Therefore, this yogi will consult divination and astrology.
The messenger—the motivation of life’s impermanence—
Is sent to summon a guru—a master of divination.
Then the mat of stable faith is laid out
And the drink of respect and devotion is poured.
All is laid upon the divination—devotion to dharma;
The divination of profound meaning is requested to be cast.
The guru, a master of divination,
Lays out the chart of the four elements.
Then the year cycle of twelve dependent links is calculated
And the trigrams of the eight consciousnesses are cast.
These are turned by the mewa of the nine progressive yanas.*8
Then the friends and enemies of virtue and nonvirtue conflict.*9
This is the third chapter: casting the divination.