My creation and completion*3 in union feels good.
My mindfulness free of prana coming or going feels good.
My silence without friends to talk to feels good.
This is the state of my speech.
My view that is free of identification feels good.
My meditation that’s always flowing feels good.
My conduct that never degenerates feels good.
My fruition without hope and fear feels good.
This is the state of my mind.
Unchanging nonconceptual luminosity feels good.
Great bliss in perfect purity’s space feels good.
Unceasing manifestations*4 in the expanse feels good.
This short little tune of feeling so good
Is just my experience put into song.
With view and conduct joined together,
Henceforth, you who strive toward awakening,
Whenever you practice, do it like this.
When he had sung this, the disciples said, “These ways that the guru’s body, speech, and mind feel so good is marvelous! Where is it that all of this arose from?”
Milarepa replied, “This has all arisen from the realization of mind.”
“Even though we don’t have the kind of bliss that you have, we hope we can have at least a taste of that. Please teach us dharma that is easy to understand about the meditation that is a method for this realization of mind and can bring about such bliss.” In response, the Jetsun sang this song of realization, “The Twelve Points of Mind”:
I bow at the feet of the noble guru.
You benefactors who wish to realize mind’s nature,
When you practice, do it like this:
Faith, knowledge, discipline, these three:
These are the life-rod of the mind.
If you plant it stably you will have bliss.
If you’ll have a life-rod, have it like this.
No attachment, no clinging, no ignorance, these three:
These are the armor of the mind.
Light to wear and weapon-proof,
If you wear armor, wear it like this.
Meditation, diligence, and endurance in hardship, these three:
These are the stallion of the mind.
When it runs, you’ll quickly escape to liberation.
When you get on the stallion, do it like this.
Self-aware, self-luminous, self-blissful, these three:
These are the fruition of the mind.
It’s planted, then ripens, and is nutritious to eat.
When you attain the fruition, attain it like this.
These twelve points of the mind
Dawned within the mind of this yogi.
You faithful benefactors should practice them!
As he was singing this, they gave rise to faith and later served Milarepa fully. Then the Jetsun decided to go to the Yolmo Snowy Range.
This is the cycle of Kyangpen Sky Fortress.
*1 Literally “completion or perfection” (mthar skol). After giving rise to authentic view and meditation, one needs to practice conduct that is free of attachment and clinging. This conduct, in turn, should be done continuously, without break. (KSP)
*2 Here, “yana” means vehicle for traversing the spiritual path. It is generally taught that in order to have a complete path, both skillful methods (or means) and prajña (or wisdom) must be present.
*3 T: bskyed rdzogs. This refers to the creation (or generation) stage practice and the completion stage practice of the Vajrayana.
*4 This word, translated here as “manifestations,” has a slightly negative connotation (T: ’char sgo); the line could be understood as “any negative or adverse conditions that arise are blissful.”
7
The Yolmo Snowy Range
NAMO GURU
To fulfill the command of his guru, the lord of yogis, the Jetsun Milarepa, went from Kyangpen to the Yolmo Snowy Range, where he stayed at Tiger Cave Lion Fortress*1 in the forest of Singa Ling. At that time, the local protector goddess of Yolmo appeared, manifesting peacefully from the start, with beautiful form. Accepted as a subject, the spirit gave abundant service and respect to Milarepa.
While the Jetsun’s practice was greatly flourishing, five young nuns from Mönyul*2 came to request teachings from Milarepa. They said to him, “Because there are many fearsome conditions here, this is a place where experience and realization greatly flourish and practice is enhanced. Guru, have you also found this to be so?”
In reply, he sang this song of praise of that place and of how his experience and realization arose:*3
I bow at the feet of the noble guru.
By gathering merit, I’ve met such a lord.
Because of the guru’s prophecy I have come here,
This blissful castle in the wooded mountains of Mönyul.
It’s a land of grassy mountains with radiant flowers
In the midst of many dancing trees;
A land where langurs and monkeys play;
A place where birds sing myriads of songs;
A land where bees fly gently about;
Where rainbows shine both day and night;
Where light rain falls in both summer and winter;
Where the mist billows in fall and spring.
Within such a solitary place,
For me, the yogi Milarepa,
The luminous experience of meditation
On the emptiness of mind feels so good.
However many negative manifestations arise, it feels extremely good.
When the highs and lows are intense, it feels even better still.
My body free of negative karma feels good.
When there’s a myriad of disturbances, it feels extremely good.
When fearsome appearances are intense, that feels even better still.
Being free of afflictions, birth, and death feels good.
When the [demons’] savagery gets worse, it feels extremely good.
When there’s no sickness, it feels even better still.
Suffering arising as bliss feels good.
Trulkhor*4 coming from meditative experience feels extremely good.
The dancing of running and jumping feels even better still.
This treasury of spontaneous song feels good.
Such words that are like the melodies of bees feel extremely good.
When that sound becomes merit, it feels even better still.
The confidence of strength of mind feels good in the expanse.
Mind’s self-arising by its own strength feels extremely good.
Its dawning as a variety feels even better still.
This yogi who has blissful experience and is happy
Makes this parting gift for a child with faith.
Once he sang this, he gave the abhishekas and instructions, then had them meditate. They developed excellent experience and realization, at which the Jetsun was very pleased. Then he sang this song of realization, “The Song of Experience of the Amrita of Advice”:
Guru, buddha, dharmakaya,
Unerring teacher of the path of liberation,
Your compassionate activity is the glory of beings;
You sit, never separate from me, as the ornament of my crown.
You practitioners of dharma who are residing here,
Though there are many ways to practice genuine dharma,
You are so fortunate to be practicing the profound path.
When accomplishing buddhahood in a single life,
Do not let your desires in this life be great.
If you do, you’ll engage much in virtue and negativity.
If that happens, you’ll fall to the lower realms.
When offering service to the guru,
Don’t complain about all you’ve done to help.
If you do, there’ll be resentment for both master and student.
If that happens, you’ll not accomplish your wishes.
When you are k
eeping the samaya vows,
Don’t sleep in the cities of ordinary people.
If you do, you’ll be influenced by negative examples.
If this happens, your samaya vows will be broken.
When you are engaging in study,
Do not have great pride in conventional knowledge.
If you do, the five poisons’ embers will flare.
If they flare, your intention toward virtuous activity will be disturbed.
When meditating together with friends,
Do not engage in many endeavors.
If you do, you’ll be distracted from profound virtuous activity.
If distracted, you’ll miss out on the fortune of sacred dharma.
When practicing the whispered lineage’s path of means,
Don’t get involved in blessing or taming ghosts.
If you do, your own mind-stream will rise up as a ghost.
If that happens, you’ll strive in the dharma of townsmen.*5
When experience and realization are beginning to dawn,
Don’t speak of your prowess or higher perceptions.
If you do, you’ll corrupt the secret code language.
If that happens, the path’s good qualities and signs will be obscured.
When you see these faults, abandon them.
Eating the food of deceit, negative conduct;
Taking offerings intended for the deceased;
Striving in pleasing others: engage in none of these.
Act with humility, and be self-sufficient.
Then they asked, “What is the way in which one should be self-sufficient?”17 When they had requested the Jetsun to say more, he sang this song of realization in reply:
I supplicate the lord who is so kind:
Grant your blessing that this beggar’s practice may go well.
You young, new students,
In the deceitful city of virtue and negativity,
Don’t extinguish your good fortune; listen to the genuine dharma.
You’ve not gone down the wrong path, for you have met me.
Gathering the accumulations again and again, practice meditation.
The mist of blessings gives rise to experience and realization.
Rousing that alone won’t help; you must be self-sufficient!
This upadesha of being self-sufficient
I will explain with love; listen carefully.
When keeping to isolated mountain retreats,
Don’t reminisce about the entertainment of the city.
If you do, you’ll be distracted by the demons of your own mind.
Keep the mind turned inward, and be self-sufficient!
When penetrating the key point with perseverance in meditation,
Contemplate the uncertainty of the time of death,
And remember the faults of samsara.
Without mulling over the pleasures of this life,
Cultivate endurance in hardship, and be self-sufficient!
When receiving instructions on profound meditation,
Don’t have great desire for conceptual knowledge.
If you do, then you’ll strive in worldly conduct.
If that happens, this human life will be empty and wasted.
Act with humility, and be self-sufficient!
When bits of experience and realization arise,
Don’t regard yourself highly with compulsion to speak of them.
If you speak of them, it will upset the mamos*6 and dakinis.
Meditate without distraction, and be self-sufficient!
When spending time around the guru,
Don’t examine his good qualities or faults.
If you do, you’ll just see a heap of faults.
Have pure vision, and be self-sufficient!
When in harmony with dharma friends and in the abhisheka rows,
Don’t wish for seniority or the head of that row.
If you do, attachment and anger will upset your samaya.
Remain harmonious, and be self-sufficient!
When begging for alms in the midst of the town,
Don’t deceive others with false dharma.
If you do, you’ll fall to the lower realms yourself.
Act honestly, and be self-sufficient!
Always and in all that you do,
Be without high self-regard or strong desires.
If you have them, you’ll just become jaded while looking dharmic.
Abandon deception and lies, and be self-sufficient!
Then, someone who is able to be self-sufficient
Should pass on the instructions that are so kind
In order to benefit self and others.
Hold generosity in the core of your heart!
When Milarepa had sung that, they all developed perseverance in their meditation and great enthusiasm for letting go of this life. With unwavering faith in the Jetsun, they offered a gold mandala and requested a practice that condenses to their essence the key points of view, meditation, and conduct.
The Jetsun said, “Take this gold and use it for your retreat provisions. As for the key points of view and meditation, they are like this.” Then he sang this song of realization, “The Nails of View, Meditation, and Conduct”:18
Grant your blessing that I may naturally abide
In accord with the lord guru’s view, meditation, and conduct.
For this view there are three nails to drive.
For this meditation there are three nails to drive.
For this conduct there are three nails to drive.
For this fruition there are three nails to drive.
To explain the three nails of the view:
All phenomenal existence is subsumed in mind;
Mind itself is of the nature of luminosity;
Yet it cannot be identified.
To explain the three nails of meditation:
Concepts are liberated as dharmakaya;
Clear awareness is of the nature of bliss.
Resting, uncontrived, is equipoise.
To explain the three nails of conduct:
The ten virtues are the natural expression of conduct;
The ten nonvirtues are naturally pure in their own place;
The antidote doesn’t fix luminosity-emptiness.*7
To explain the three nails of fruition:
Nirvana is not established as being somewhere else.
Samsara is not to be abandoned for somewhere else.
I’ve determined that my own mind is buddha.
From among three nails, there’s a single nail to drive:
That nail is the nail of dharmata’s emptiness.
The nailing is done by a noble guru.
If you analyze too much, it won’t be driven in.
Coemergent realization will drive it in.
This wealth that is shared by dharma practitioners
Arose in the mind of this yogi here:
May all of you students be pleased.
Then the disciples said, “Besides ardently supplicating the root guru who guides one on the unerring path of practice, is there anything more to practice?”
The Jetsun, with delight, said, “The root guide on the path has these aspects.” He then sang this song of realization:
The guru, instructions, and student, these three;
Perseverance, endurance, and faith, these three;
Prajña, compassion, and character, these three;
These are ever the guides on the path.
This solitary place that is free of busyness
Is the guide on the path that protects meditative concentration.
The revered siddha guru
Is the guide on the path who clears away darkness.
Faith that is free of any weariness
Is the guide on the path to the higher states.
Thoughts about the five sense faculties
Is the guide on the path of liberating whatever’s encountered.
The instructio
ns of the Kagyu gurus
Are the guide on the path that shows the three kayas.
The objects of refuge, the three precious jewels,
Are the guide on the path that’s without any error.
Once these six guides have shown the way,
The yogi will go to the field of great bliss
And remain in the state free of elaboration and concepts.
How happy is the homeland of self-recognition and self-liberation!
I take the seat of certainty in understanding reality.
In this empty uninhabited land
This happy yogi’s song was let out like a dragon’s roar.
The rain of renown falls in all ten directions,
The petals of compassion’s bloom unfurl,
Bodhichitta’s result purely ripens,
And enlightenment’s activity pervades everything!
Then the nuns thought, “Since it is fine for the guru to stay anywhere, we should invite him to our own land,” and said to Milarepa, “Lama, since the guru’s practice is flawless and he doesn’t need to meditate, come to our land and allow the benefactors there to accumulate merit, turn the wheel of dharma, and accomplish the benefit of sentient beings.”
The Jetsun said, “My meditation right here in these mountain retreats is how I benefit sentient beings. Although my meditation is flawless, to stay in mountain retreats is the meditator’s pride.” Then he sang this song of realization:
The guru’s kindness I repay with my practice;
Grant your blessings that my mind-stream be ripened and liberated.
For you fortunate dharma practitioners who are here
I’ll sing a song of upadesha on the profound meaning.
Listen with focus, and be without distraction.
The white snow lioness of the snows on high
The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa Page 12
