The Life of Milarepa

Milarepa lived around 900 years ago and he is revered by Tibetans as one of the greatest Masters to ever live.

The first time I read ‘The Life of Milarepa’ it was in a bookshop. I’d heard about the book so I went there in the morning and started reading it. I don’t know if I was reading more or crying more! I was sitting on the lounge in the bookshop, and my tears came as I read. I put my head down and wiped my eyes because I didn’t want to show other people I was crying in the bookshop. Then I read more, and then I cried more.

I sat in that bookshop reading for maybe eight hours. And when the bookshop was about to close I had around 50 pages more to read. I thought, “Oh, I’ll come back and read it tomorrow, that way I can save $25.” But five minutes before they closed, I felt I just had to finish it. So I bought the book, went home and that night I finished reading it.

One thing I really love about Milarepa was his sense of ordinariness. He had a family, he had family problems with his mum and relatives. He was a good son, innocently following his mum’s instructions. He was ordinary.

When he followed his mum’s instructions, he committed tremendous harm or what you could call ‘sins’—he used black magic, and it caused the death of more than 20 people. So, he didn’t begin as a saint and he didn’t have a privileged background. He got himself involved and got stuck and he caused tremendous harm.

From that ordinariness he applied himself. He wanted to get rid of the negative feeling he had inside him from the sins he committed, so he looked for a great Master to help him clear all those sins.

And this ordinary person, a sinner, had such endurance in terms of spiritual practice. For example, he said he meditated for so long that when he stood up, he could not feel his legs were part of his body! Basically, he was so numb he couldn’t feel anything.

He practised in the cave at high altitude, in the snow through many winters. He struggled in the hardship of the conditions. But he practised daily, diligently.

Milarepa didn’t start off with a perfect background, but he put forth so much effort in his practice, and he had such endurance, that he became a saint, he attained enlightenment. That’s where I find his greatness. I find it so admirable and very inspiring. He had such endurance, such great self-effort. 

Another quality he had that is really critical to attain mastery is the quality of surrender. He had such surrender. For example, his Master, Marpa, told him to build a nine-storey tower with his bare hands. And after he finished building it Marpa said, “Who told you to build this in that position? That is not a good position for the tower.” Marpa asked Milarepa to pull the whole thing down.

Then Marpa asked him to build the tower again in another position. And when Milarepa finished the whole tower again, Marpa said, “It’s facing the wrong direction.” So Marpa asked him to pull it down again.

Milarepa had blood and sores from carrying bricks on his shoulders and his back. And when Marpa’s other disciples helped Milarepa with the bricks, Marpa said, “Don’t help him. That’s his karma. He’s killed that many people, that’s his karma. It’s his job, so don’t help him.”

He went through that process three times—building the tower and pulling it down, building the tower and pulling it down—before the final tower, the fourth tower, was built.

At one point, Milarepa thought Marpa was crazy, and he left the Master for some time to go and learn from another teacher. So, he gave up for a while, and that shows his ordinariness too.

But how many people can endure that? If a Master asks a disciple to build a chicken coop and then says, “That’s the wrong position, pull it down and go build it in another position,” the disciple will have already left by then. And it’s just a chicken coop—I’m not even talking about a multi-storey tower made of bricks.

So, that type of endurance, that is admirable, isn’t it? Most of us would’ve given up so much earlier. Even when someone is rude to us, we want to quit and leave for another place!

When a Master is just being strong and firm to remove a person’s ego, if the person doesn’t quit, they’re thinking of quitting. The Master’s doing their ‘surgery’ to remove the person’s negativity and ego, and after just a little confrontation from the Master the person spends all night thinking about leaving, considering alternatives, and finding faults in the Master.

Marpa said to Milarepa, “This is your greatness—that I asked you to pull the tower down many times and rebuild it, and that I screamed at you and scolded you and treated you roughly, but not once did you think badly of me, not once during the whole process did you have hatred of me, or anger towards me. Not once.”

That’s why in Tibet Milarepa is more well known than the Dalai Lama. Even in the highlands of Tibet, where they don’t have much education at all, the nomads and the people living there are still singing the songs that Milarepa used to compose and sing. They know some of his songs by heart, and they sing those songs.

Because after his enlightenment, Milarepa came out from the cave and when people asked him questions, instead of answering in words, he used to just compose a song immediately and sing an answer in the form of a song.

There are so many great qualities about him, but what moves me the most were his surrender and faith in his Master. Such surrender, such love and faith towards his Master. And such endurance. And also his ordinariness, he was such an ordinary person.

So, in that sense, throughout my whole spiritual life after reading that book, Milarepa became my benchmark. If I was struggling physically, tired or in whatever way, in my spiritual practice or my spiritual life, I would think of Milarepa and ask myself, “Have I reached that level? Is my endurance even half as good as his?” See, he became my benchmark, so I always strived towards his effort.

With his effort like that, combined with such faith and surrender towards his Master, it was impossible for him not to attain enlightenment. When we have that, it’s impossible not to attain perfect mastery over our ego.