TEMPLE
OF MILAREPA
| About
Milarepa
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Jetsun Milarepa is Tibet's best-known yogi-sage as well as her most beloved bard. His The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, extemporaneously sung nine hundred years ago to disciples and followers in the snowy Himalayan wilderness, has been translated into many languages. Milarepa's skin displayed a greenish hue, because he subsisted for many years on wild nettle soup.
Milarepa is famous for having attained perfect awakened Buddhahood in a single lifetime through decades of solitary meditations in mountain caves, dressed only in white cotton robes. His example as a spiritual practitioner has been the inspiration for countless generations of lamas, from the eleventh century until today.
Milarepa's guru was Marpa the Translator, who spent seventeen years studying and meditating in India and brought the Mahamudra (Great Symbol) teachings to Tibet; Milarepa's own disciple was Gampopa. Gampopa sought out Milarepa after being blessed by a vision of a green yogi who flicked spit in his face.
Another source adds:
...11th century Tibetan saint, Jetsun Milarepa. A poet, musician, and meditation master, Milarepa was the first common Tibetan to attain enlightenment in only one lifetime, exemplifying the great human potential for transformation.
A Teaching Tale: Milarepa's Last Word
Jetsun Milarepa's cave in the Yermo Beyul, Nepal
Milarepa by Nicholas Roerich