The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

by Tsangnyon Heruka

With such phony and empty speech

  It’s not possible to purify your mind-stream’s stains.

  Due to your previous negative habits

  And swift accumulation of negative karma,

  The samaya vows that you took became impaired.

  By the power of that, you were born in this wretched state;

  You ran to the city of rakshasas where their bodies suffer.

  Your untruths, deceit, and lies are many.

  With unvirtuous mind, you’ve harmed the life-force of beings

  This ugly body, this form you were born in,

  You’ve gained by paying no heed to karma, cause and effect.

  Now, if you know how to contemplate the faults of samsara,

  Then confess all the negative actions you have done;

  Commit yourself to practicing virtue.

  Just like a lion, I have no fear.

  Like an elephant, I haven’t any dread.

  Like a madman, I have no reference points.

  To you I am speaking words of truth,

  Keep speaking to me with honesty.

  Inflicting harm and creating obstacles for me,

  Ghost, this is your harvest to be reaped in the end.

  By the power of this connection of a dharma aspiration,

  At a future time I will accept you.

  Think well on this, poor deluded one.

  Thus he sang. Then the rock-demoness, displaying her previous form, offered this song with honesty:

  Lord, principal among all the buddhas of the three times,

  Great Vajradhara*10 in the body of a sage,

  You act as sovereign over the marvelous teachings

  And have the excellent engendering of bodhichitta, so wondrous.

  How fortunate are my wretched brothers and sisters.

  We’ve heard and understood the words you spoke.

  At first, I studied and contemplated

  The genuine dharma, the strong command of my master.

  In the middle I engaged in negative karma.

  I have the harsh afflictions and am without any patience.

  Thus, I took birth in a wretched body.

  I’ve done benefit, but I’ve also brought harm

  To all of the wandering sentient beings.

  Previously, in this year gone by,

  Great meditator, you came here alone

  To Lingpa Rock and did your practice.

  I sometimes like you, but sometimes I don’t.

  Because I like you, this evening we met.

  Because I don’t like you, I took hold of your foot.

  Because I had remorse, I confessed to you, Lord.

  From now on, this wretched one will abandon her viciousness.

  I will practice dharma earnestly and be its supporter.

  In the future, for all of us,

  With your body of great bliss, a tree’s cooling shade,

  Please be a refuge for us ghosts with negative karma

  Who are afflicted by the five poisons day and night.

  Based upon the command you gave,

  Henceforth until the time of awakening,

  Having pacified all maliciousness,

  I’ll be a protectress of yogis.

  I’ll be a supporter of practitioners.

  I’ll be an attendant of all great meditators.

  I’ll be a caretaker of all who practice dharma.

  I’ll support those who have samaya.

  I shall protect and serve the teachings!

  Making this excellent aspiration, she developed strong faith, taking an oath to protect all practitioners and never to bring any harm. Then the Jetsun sang this song of accepting the rakshasa rock-demoness:

  I am a yogi16 who has abandoned samsara,

  I am the son of a noble guru.

  I’m a treasury of precious key instructions,

  A heartfelt practitioner of the genuine dharma.

  I’m a yogi who realizes dharmata,

  An old wise mother for all sentient beings.

  I am a being with bravery,

  A holder of the tradition of Shakyamuni.

  I am a sovereign of bodhichitta,

  One who’s long meditated on loving-kindness.

  Through compassion I’ve tamed malevolence.

  I’m the one who stays at Lingpa Rock;

  I am a meditator free of distraction.

  Are you happy now, or are you still wretched and confused?

  If you don’t feel joy, then you’re in a poor state.

  A greater ghost than you is clinging to an “I.”

  A more plentiful ghost than you is conceptual thinking.

  A more evil ghost than you is the malevolent mind.

  A wilder ghost than you is discursive thoughts.

  A more spoiled and stubborn ghost than you is the latent tendencies.

  If you take ghosts to be ghosts, then they are harmful.

  If you know ghosts to be empty, they’ll go away.

  If you know ghosts to be dharmata, one is liberated.

  If you know ghosts to be your parents, they’ll be apprehended.

  If you know ghosts to be mind, they will dawn as ornaments.

  By knowing this is the way things are, all is liberated.

  Wretched ghost, this is my answer to your words.

  I shall bind you under oath as one to be tamed.

  Practice now in accord with the words of your vow.

  Do not violate this solemn speech—

  This vidyadhara*11 samaya that we have.

  Do not belittle [the guru’s] strong compassion.

  Do not obstruct the body, speech, and mind [of practitioners].

  If you should tread over your stated commitments,

  You’re certain to go to the vajra hell.

  Because it’s important, three times I say:

  Understand this well, and maintain the practice.

  By our excellent aspirations, we have met.

  At a future time, in the infinite

  And fathomless realm of Sukhavati,*12

  Where you’ll be endowed with bodhichitta,

  You’ll be first among my retinue of ones to be tamed.

  You’ll be a lady of Vajrasattva.

  Singing this, he thus bound her under oath. The rock-demoness then prostrated to and circumambulated the Jetsun many times. She agreed to accomplish all that Milarepa said, then vanished like a rainbow.

  After that, in the morning, when the sun rose, the rakshasa rock-demoness, along with all her brothers and sisters as a retinue, [appeared] as exquisitely adorned men and women. With such beautiful and pleasing forms, they brought many offerings to Milarepa. When they had offered them to him, the rakshasa rock-demoness said, “Due to negative karma, I took on the body of a ghost, was driven by my negative latent tendencies, and previously inflicted harm with malevolent intention. I ask your forgiveness. From now on, yogi, I will listen to your command and be your subject. Now, Jetsun, please teach us the dharma of definitive meaning that has developed in your mind.” Then she sang this song of request:

  E MA! O son of the wise and noble ones,

  Fortunate one who has accumulated merit,

  One with the blessings of an excellent lineage,

  One who has perseverance in practice,

  One with bravery who stays all alone,

  You have striven in the practices of profound meaning.

  No ghost can ever make obstructions for you.

  Thus, from the tendrel*13 of signs of inner nadi and prana,

  With illusory dance, you teach the true meaning.

  We have joined together with your mind.

  Through excellent aspiration, we’re connected from before.

  Although I’ve met many siddhas up until now,

  It’s from you I have obtained blessing with kindness.

  Now I, this wretched one, offer this:

  With the deception of the lower yana’s provisional meaning,

  Taming karm
a and afflictions is quite difficult.

  Vain, arrogant guests with empty talk

  Will definitely run when adverse conditions of suffering come.

  Masters who are jaded by the dharma

  Are aggressive and don’t benefit themselves.

  Lord, who is an emanation*14 of the buddhas of the three times,

  You’ve realized the definitive—the dharmata.

  The profound reality that has been born in your mind

  [You sing] as upadeshas*15 that condense the key points—

  This definitive meaning, the ultimate place to be brought—

  To this retinue of brothers and sisters.

  We pray you grant these secret vajra words, the genuine meaning.

  Please grant supreme luminosity,

  The great wisdom-luminosity

  This secret seal of the profound definitive meaning,

  By hearing it, one will never fall to the lower realms;

  By meditating on it, one will never wander in samsara;

  Please don’t conceal it; grant it to us!

  Thus she sang. Then the Jetsun said, “You still are not able to meditate on the definitive meaning. If you are able, you must offer your life-essence to me as well as offer a solemn vow.” The demons offered their immutable life-essence and then offered a commitment to the Jetsun to do whatever he commanded from then on and to support all dharmic deeds. In reply to that, the Jetsun sang this song of realization of the definitive meaning on the twenty-seven cases of dissolution:

  Lord, hidden Buddha with human form,

  Lotsawa whose name is not lightly uttered,

  Father, so kind, at your feet I bow.

  I am not skilled in singing Vedic songs,

  But, ghost, you said, “Sing a song, sing a song!”

  Now, I’ll respond with a melody about the abiding nature.

  Thunder, lightning, and clouds from the south, these three:

  When they arise, they arise from the sky;

  When they dissolve, they dissolve back into the sky.

  Rainbows, fog, and mist, these three:

  When they arise, they arise from space;

  When they dissolve, into space they dissolve.

  Plants, crops, and fruits, these three:

  When they arise, they arise from the earth;

  When they dissolve, into the earth they dissolve.

  Forests, leaves, and flowers, these three:

  When they arise, they arise from the mountain;

  When they dissolve, into the mountain they dissolve.

  Rivers, bubbles, and waves on the water, these three:

  When they arise, they arise from the ocean.

  When they dissolve, into the ocean they dissolve.

  Latent tendencies, attachment, and fixation, these three:

  When they arise, they arise from the all-base;

  When they dissolve, into the all-base they dissolve.

  Self-awareness, self-luminosity, self-liberation, these three:

  When they arise, they arise from mind’s essence;

  When they dissolve, into mind’s essence they dissolve.

  Unarisenness, unceasingness, ineffability, these three:

  When they arise, they arise from dharmata;

  When they dissolve, into dharmata they dissolve.

  The appearances of, clinging to, and concepts of ghosts, these three:

  When they arise, they arise from the yogi;

  When they dissolve, into the yogi they dissolve.

  So, hindrances are the magical display of mind.

  If you don’t recognize your own empty projections

  But take your own mind as a ghost, then you, yogi, are deluded.*16

  The root of delusion arises from the mind.

  By realizing the very essence of mind,

  One sees luminosity to be free from coming or going.

  The appearances of outer objects is mind’s confusion.

  By examining the characteristics of appearances,

  One realizes appearance and emptiness are not two.

  “Meditation,” itself, is a thought.

  And then “nonmeditation,” as well, is a thought;

  Meditation and nonmeditation are not two different things.

  The dualistic view is the basis of confusion.

  There is no view in ultimate reality:

  All of these examples show the characteristics of mind.

  Giving the example of space’s characteristics,

  One comes to certainty toward mind’s true nature.

  Now, for view, look at this reality beyond conceptual mind;

  For meditation, rest without distraction;

  For conduct, sustain it with spontaneity and without any break;

  For fruition, abandon terms, such as hope and fear.

  Ghost, this is your lot, your treasury of dharma!

  I’ve no time to sing you endless empty songs.

  Don’t ask questions or think a lot, just remain silent.

  Ghost, you said, “Sing a song,” so I sang this song.

  These are the words of a crazy man.

  Ghost, if you can put this into practice,

  For food, you’ll eat the food of great bliss;

  When thirsty, you’ll drink the undefiled amrita;

  For work, you’ll be a support for all yogic practitioners.

  The rock-demoness and the entire retinue gave rise to great faith, then prostrated and circumambulated many times. Thanking Milarepa, they all vanished like a rainbow. From that time forth, they did as the Jetsun commanded, never harming meditators who stayed there and supporting those who were harmonious with the dharma.

  This is the cycle of the rakshasa demoness of Lingpa Rock.

  *1 Glorious Blazing Mountain (T: riwo dpal ’bar).

  *2 Lingpa Drakpuk (T: ling pa’i brag phug).

  *3 In traditional Buddhist cosmology, Rahu is considered the planet that causes eclipses.

  *4 In Tibetan, the same word is used for “mindfulness” and “remembering” (dran pa).

  *5 Literally, “heart prana [sickness].”

  *6 This is a metaphor for the nature of mind, which is luminous and always present within but is not seen by ordinary beings because it is obscured, in the same way that a lamp is obscured when placed in a vase.

  *7 One of the Jataka tales, the collection of stories about the Buddha’s previous lives, tells how the Buddha was once a king who always meditated on loving-kindness in order to protect his subjects. By the power of his meditation, no harm was ever able to come to them. A group of local rakshasas (a type of flesh-eating demon) complained to the king because, as all of the subjects of the kingdom were protected, they could never get anything to feed upon. So the king offered his own blood for them to drink and made the aspiration that he would be able to tame them in the future. It is said that those five rakshasa brothers became the Buddha’s first five disciples in a subsequent lifetime and attained arhathood under the Buddha’s (formerly that king’s) guidance.

  *8 Another name for Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche.

  *9 This means they become overwhelmed with fear or depression.

  *10 Vajradhara is considered the “primordial buddha” in the Kagyu lineage and is said to be the nonhuman founder of the lineage.

  *11 Literally, “awareness holder”; one who continually abides in the state of awakening.

  *12 In Tibetan, Dewachen. This is the abode of great bliss of the Buddha Amitabha.

  *13 On the Vajrayana path, tendrel, or auspicious coincidence, is taught to play a very important role.

  *14 Literally, nirmanakaya (emanation body) (T: rje dus gsum sangs rgyas sprul pa’i sku).

  *15 In contrast to the classifications and logic of the scriptural tradition, upadeshas, or pith instructions, condense the meaning of the Buddha’s teaching into short instructions that can be put into practice directly.

  *16 If one takes the ghost, a mere projection of the mind, as something ex
ternal, separate, and real, then one is deluded. (DPR)

  5

  The Prior Visit to Rakma

  NAMO GURU

  It was the Jetsun Milarepa’s intention to go from Lingpa Rock to Riwo Palbar in order to meditate. When he was on his way, he told his benefactors from Rakma that he was going to Riwo Palbar.

  They said to him, “Below Riwo Palbar, there is a place even more lovely than Riwo Palbar that is called Protector Fortress.*1 It would be good if you stayed there. Even we are not very familiar with the road to Riwo Palbar, but if you stay at Protector Fortress, we will send a guide with you.”

  Milarepa thought to himself, “First I will stay at this place they speak of, and then I will go to see Riwo Palbar. But I don’t need their guide.” He said to them, “I do not need your guide; I will find the way myself.”

  “But if you don’t have a guide, there’s no way you’ll be able to find it,” they told him. “Do you have your own guide?”

  “I do,” Milarepa said.

  “What is the guide’s name?” they asked. Then he sang this song of realization in reply:

  The fully qualified noble guru

  Is the guide who clears away any darkness.

  This single cloth beyond warmth or cold

  Is the guide for abandoning attachment.

  The three cycles of teaching on mixing and transference*2

  Are the guides that eliminate the bardo states.

  Prana and mind so pliable here

  Are the guide for journeying around the land.

  To cast away this body as food

  Is the guide for taming the clinging to self.

  To meditate in solitary places

  Is the guide for achieving enlightenment.

  With these six guides that lead the way,

  I’ll go and stay at the Enlightenment Fortress.

  With that, he went off to the site just above Rakma, and from that time forward that place was known as the Enlightenment Fortress.*3

  At that site, while the Jetsun was dwelling in river-like samadhi, one night at midnight there was a great clamor of military trumpets and war cries. Milarepa thought, “Have enemies come to attack the people of this region?” Then as Milarepa remained within a samadhi of strong compassion, the sounds grew closer and closer. Suddenly, a bright red light appeared.