The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

by Tsangnyon Heruka

  When the thief of concepts begins to come,

  Consider the key instruction for recognizing the thief.

  When your mind is distracted toward outer objects,

  Consider the key instruction of the crow flying from a ship.*4

  Do you understand the method for engaging in conduct?

  If you don’t understand the method for engaging in conduct,

  You should engage like a great majestically poised lion.

  Engage like a lotus that grows from the mud.

  Engage like a crazy elephant.

  Engage like wiping a crystal ball.

  Do you understand the way that the fruition will dawn?

  If you don’t understand how the fruition will dawn,

  From nonthought comes the dharmakaya.

  From bliss itself comes the sambhogakaya.

  From clarity comes the nirmanakaya.

  The innate state is the svabhavikakaya.

  I am an expert in the four kayas

  I do not move from the dharmadhatu.

  View, meditation, and experience, these three,

  With the antidote, conduct, and fruition, make six.

  A yogi takes these up when experiences dawn;

  You too should practice accordingly.

  Thus he sang. Lotön, according to the guru’s command, developed great perseverance and meditated. He developed extraordinary experience and realization, to which the Jetsun sang this song of realization of pointing out:

  I prostrate to the father gurus.

  This luminous mind itself, free of arising and ceasing:

  Consciousness rides the wind;*5 thus it pervades every direction.

  It is free of object and effort; thus everything needed is present in oneself.

  It is free of color and shape; thus it is beyond all objects of the sense faculties.

  It is without words or letters; thus it is beyond all objects of speech.

  It is free of imputations and conventions; thus it is beyond any object of mind.

  Through practice of the profound key instructions,

  When blissful heat develops in the body,

  Profound certainty arises from within

  And imputations of outer appearances are cut.

  Without relying on means, the goal will not be accomplished.

  The whispered lineage key instructions are wondrous indeed!

  The meditation on the profound path of means

  Is the height of what this yogi has realized.

  This is the way that I have practiced.

  Thus he sang. Milarepa further advised, “Teacher, do not fasten your mind to any support or ground. Do not block any of your sense gateways. Do not fall into any bias. Do not aim for anything as ultimate. There is nothing that exemplifies it. It cannot be expressed as anything. A realization will come in which any name can be given to it, and they will have the same meaning.”

  Accordingly, Lotön practiced in the mountains without any distraction. As to his attainment of realization, he cut through all outer doubts through study, and all inner doubts through meditation practice. And so, as a snow lion-like teacher-meditator, he became one of the close sons of Milarepa.

  This is the cycle of Lotön Gendun.

  *1 Glorious Small Tamarisk Forest (T: ’om chung dpal gyi nags ’dabs).

  *2 This refers to the Sutrayana, or the “non-Vajrayana” path.

  *3 Connections and contradictions are key components of traditional Buddhist logic (pramana).

  *4 When at sea, crows may fly away from a boat, but they will always return. Likewise, when the mind is left uncontrived, it will return to a natural state of rest.

  *5 The word “wind” can also refer to prana (the inner, subtle winds); here it is being used in both senses as a metaphor.

  43

  Dretön Repa

  NAMO GURU

  When the Jetsun Milarepa was staying at the Poto Red Rock in Drin, there was a teacher from Drin of the Dre clan*1 who had heard of the Jetsun’s renown but had never met him. With faith, he came to see the Jetsun in person. In the cave where Milarepa dwelled there was nothing besides some bare necessities. The teacher thought, “He doesn’t even have any scriptures or Buddhist images, no dharma materials at all, not to mention any kind of material comforts. What will happen to him when he dies?”

  The Jetsun knew these thoughts had arisen in his mind and said, “Teacher, there’s no need to think like this. I do have such supreme scriptures and holy images, therefore I will not have any regrets at the time of death; I will be joyful.” Then he sang this song of realization:

  I prostrate to the father gurus.

  In my body, the mandala of Victorious Ones,

  Resides the deity—the essence of the sugatas*2 of the three times.

  With the blessing of having no attachment to sense pleasures,*3

  I make offerings all day and night.

  I am content with having no outer substance to offer.

  In the natural-born palace of the three realms

  Are the six types of beings who have buddha nature.

  Since great wisdom has been pointed out to me,

  Wherever I reside is a boundless palace;

  Whomever I’m with is the yidam deity;

  Whatever I do is the dharmadhatu.

  I’m content without having an outer support for my offering.

  On the white and red*4 paper of outer appearances

  I apply the ink of great wisdom.

  I write the letters of the five sense faculties

  And I know all that appears is dharmakaya.

  I’m content without texts of black letters.

  All sentient beings of samsara’s three realms

  Have buddha nature but don’t realize they do.

  Through connecting with the profound key instructions,

  I’ve the excellent samadhi not separate from the three kayas.

  At death, when it comes, I’ll be joyful indeed!

  Thus he sang. The man thought, “What they say about him having the higher perceptions is really true, so the other claims they make about him must be true as well.” Thus he developed unwavering faith. “Lama, please accept me as your student,” he said, wholeheartedly offering himself.

  The Jetsun thought, “This is a disciple with karmic connection.” He gave the abhishekas and key instructions and set the teacher to meditate. Excellent experiences of bliss arose for Dretön and at a time when there were many disciple-sons gathered, he came to report this to Milarepa.

  He said to the Jetsun, “Before, such happiness had never dawned within me, and so I had great attachment to material wealth. For the Jetsun, such bliss dawns without any fixation toward anything whatsoever. Now, I request to roam in mountain retreats as the Jetsun does and come to know such happiness.”

  The Jetsun was pleased and said, “If one wanders in mountain retreats, one is always happy and, later, could be a guide for others to have happiness like this.” Then he sang this song of realization on the eight wondrous kinds of happiness:

  Lord, Wish-fulfilling Jewel, Nirmanakaya,

  Great precious Chakravartin King,

  Supreme lamp that dispels the darkness of ignorance,

  At the feet of Marpa the Translator, I bow.

  The Poto Red Rock Sky Fortress

  Is a place where the four ranks of dakinis gather.

  At the site where this old man has such delight,

  Through experiences of joy, I sing this song.

  You with sharp intellect and endurance in meditation,

  Sit here, disciple-son, and listen to me.

  This mountain retreat without any bias

  Is the guide for sustaining meditative experience.

  Is there someone who has such a path?

  One who knows his body is the monastery is happy.

  Mind’s nature is pure like space—E MA HO!*5

  This stable and unwavering faith

  Is the guide for relinquishing
samsara.

  Is there someone who has such a path?

  One who’s liberated samsara and nirvana in its own place is happy.

  This perfection of the four kayas in your mind—E MA HO!

  This meeting of the appearances of the six consciousnesses

  Is the guide for taking adverse conditions to the path.

  Is there someone who has such a path?

  One who can carry craving to its exhaustion is happy.

  The cutting of the rope of perceiver and perceived—E MA HO!

  This noble guru endowed with lineage

  Is the guide for clearing away the darkness of ignorance.

  Is there a person who has such a path?

  One who follows the guru as a buddha is happy.

  Mind’s recognition of its own nature—E MA HO!

  This cloth that’s free of heat or cold

  Is the guide for roaming in snowy retreats.

  Is there anyone here who has such a path?

  One free of the fear of heat and cold is happy.

  Sleeping nakedly in the snow—E MA HO!

  These key instructions that connect one with mixing and transference

  Are the guide for vanquishing the fear of the bardo.

  Is there someone who has such a path?

  One who has no next rebirth is happy.

  Arriving at the space of dharmata—E MA HO!

  This profound path of means of the whispered lineage

  Is the guide for separating the silt from the clearness of mind.

  Is there someone who has such a path?

  One for whom the bliss of body and mind expands is happy.

  Prana-control penetrating the central channel—E MA HO!

  A yogi who’s trained in emptiness and compassion

  Is a guide for cutting the elaborations of terms.

  Is there someone who has such a path?

  The one with a realized retinue is happy.

  The gathering of nirmanakaya as a retinue—E MA HO!

  Through this old man’s giving rise to joy,

  I sang a little tune of experience on the eight kinds of happiness.

  To brighten up the practice of you who are gathered here,

  This yogi sang it with delight.

  Don’t forget it and keep it at the center of your heart.

  Thus he sang. Dretön and the others in the retinue all were overjoyed. Dretön said, “This is all truly wondrous. Now, I ask you, please give a teaching that is easy to understand and keep in mind on cutting through the deviations of the practice of view, meditation, conduct, and fruition.”

  “You should practice like this!” Then Milarepa sang this song of realization:

  I prostrate to the father gurus.

  If you are gaining certainty in the view,

  Study will not become a deviation for your mind-stream.

  But as long as you’ve not realized awareness, the abiding nature,

  Don’t speak of the view of emptiness with mere words.

  Whatever it is that appears or resounds

  Shows the result of the harm or benefit you’ve done.

  Thus, never disregard cause and effect.

  Without knowing the distinctions of the different yanas

  You will cling to names for the very nature of mind.

  Such a view will just be another way of clinging to an “I,”

  So you shouldn’t denigrate others’ names for it.150

  If you are practicing meditation

  But the true nature has not become manifest for you,

  Then you have not cut through imputations from within,

  And the experience of luminosity has not dawned in your mind.

  If this elixir of experience has not embraced you,

  Don’t cling to the fortress of emptiness.

  Knowable objects are the union of appearance and emptiness,

  But don’t let yourself be swayed into ordinary desires;

  Don’t cling to what’s empty as being empty—

  Don’t throw out every grain of characteristics.

  Within the waves of defiled bliss

  The coarse conceptions still remain:

  The taste of true bliss will never be relished.151

  The nonconceptuality of stable shamatha—

  Do not take that as being genuine reality.

  When engaging in the conduct of equal taste,

  If experience of this hasn’t dawned from deep within,

  And appearances have not yet been blessed,

  If the five objects do not dawn as bliss,

  Then conceptual elaborations have not been exhausted.

  Do not engage in such wrong yogic discipline—

  It will not carry you to the path of liberation.

  If the fruition becomes manifest

  You will not fall into the extremes of hope and fear

  Where you search for buddhahood somewhere else

  Without seeing the essence of your own mind.

  The form kaya that appears for those to be tamed

  You will not be attached to as being the true essence of the buddha.

  When concepts dissolve into dharmakaya,

  You will take existence to be completely negated.

  Good qualities, enlightened activity, and the pure realms,

  These are the self-display of wisdom.

  Do not take these to be solid things outside.

  Thus he sang. Dretön developed stable certainty and, meditating for a long time in mountain retreats, developed the experience of the special qualities of the signs of experience in his mind. He came to be known as Dretön Tashi Bar, one of the close sons of Milarepa who were teachers of meditation.

  This is the cycle of Dretön Repa.

  *1 Dretön (T: ’bre ston) literally means “Teacher of Dre.”

  *2 “Essence of the sugatas” could also be translated as “sugatagarbha” or “buddha nature.”

  *3 Having no attachment to sense pleasures as being truly existent. (KTGR)

  *4 Red and white here does not refer to red and white bindu. Sometimes appearances in the day when the sun is shining are referred to as white and those at night correspond to red. In short, red and white appearances refers to all appearances of perceiver and perceived that are like “paper” in Milarepa’s example here. (KTGR)

  *5 “E MA HO” is an expression of amazement.

  44

  Likor Charuwa

  NAMO GURU

  There was a monastery where all of its residents had great hostility [toward Milarepa] and scoffed, “That so-called Jetsun Milarepa is a nihilist!” Ignoring his disciple-sons’ pleas not to go there, Milarepa went straight to the entryway of the monastery’s assembly hall.

  When they saw him standing there, the monks all gathered and beat him many times. After that, they took him inside and tied him up to a pillar, but then Milarepa appeared outside. The monks beat him again there, but Milarepa reappeared inside the temple. No matter how much they beat him, Milarepa remained silent and did not flinch. When they tried to push him outside, they could not move him at all. They called more monks, and though they tried, they could not move him. Tying ropes to his body to pull him, some of them pulled from the front, some of them pushed from behind, but they could not move him. He just sat there like a boulder. They tried and tried until they all were exhausted.

  Amazed by this, some of them said, “When we pull you inside, you end up outside. When we try to take you outside, you stay inside. How is this possible that we cannot take you out?”

  The Jetsun replied, “Since I am a nihilist, when I’m killed, it doesn’t exist; when I am beaten, it doesn’t exist; when I’m dragged inside, it doesn’t exist; when I’m kicked outside, it doesn’t exist. All of this is because fixation on samsara and nirvana as two different things doesn’t exist!”

  Some of the better monks said, “We confess that we have antagonized someone who is a true siddha-yogi. Now, please leave.”

 
The Jetsun said, “I am not a siddha, I have no such attainment. You do not know who is a siddha and what siddhas do. Give up mistaken views of others and thinking so highly of yourselves. Having such wrong views is to be more scorned than the ten nonvirtues. To think highly of yourself is self-clinging and therefore a cause for falling into samsara.”

  The monks replied, “You are most certainly a siddha. Please tell us, why have you come and said these things to us?” Then Milarepa sang this song of realization in reply:

  Like a crystal ball, or a sentient being in the bardo,

  Nothing can obscure me; I am free of hindrance.

  I cannot be caught or sent away.

  This way I moved, like a shooting star,

  Was to transform your outlook that’s devoid of faith.

  Thus, Milarepa has performed these acts.

  Now I shall not do any more,

  For I’m certain your wrong thinking has been dispelled.

  When Milarepa had sung this, several of them said, “How marvelous! Why will you not perform any more of these miracles?”

  “Such conduct has three contexts in which it should be performed.” Then he sang this song of realization:

  To transform the outlook of those with no faith,

  To bring enhancement to the experience one has,

  And to point out the fruition, these are the three.

  These are the times to perform such deeds;

  At other times one should not do them, it’s taught.

  This is what the lord guru said.

  Thus he sang. Some of the monks said, “To be so knowledgeable about such points you must have studied very well.”

  The Jetsun replied, “I did study, but I don’t think much of it. Though I did some study, I forgot it all, but that’s just fine.” Then he sang this song of realization:

  When you realize the nature of equality,

  It’s fine to forget the close ones you have.