Milarepa Quotes on Knowledge
Milarepa (c. 1052–1135), the Tibetan yogi whose long apprenticeship under Marpa Lotsāwa carried the Mahāmudrā teachings into the practical biographical tradition of the Kagyü school, gave Tibetan Buddhism its most influential narrative of the experiential acquisition of liberating knowledge through prolonged meditative retreat. The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa (Mila'i mgur'bum) collects the spontaneous doctrinal poems Milarepa is said to have composed for his disciples and visitors during the years of solitary practice in the caves of southern Tibet, and the corresponding biography preserved in the Life of Milarepa supplies the Tibetan tradition with its archetypal model of the transformation of the heaviest karmic inheritance into liberating knowledge through unwavering practice.
Quotes
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“Having meditated on gentleness and on compassion, I have forgotten the difference between myself and others.”
From the song offered to Geshe Tsaphoua, as quoted in Meditation Techniques of the Buddhist and Taoist Masters (2003) by Daniel Odier , p. 104 -
“When I drink at the stream of enlightenment, Or the cool blue waters of a mountain cascade, Which is the property of no one else, Strong tea and beer are both abandoned. Such easing of the pain of affliction Is the best way of taking drink– I've left tea and beer behind.”
Brian Cutillo and Lama Kunga Thartse Rinpoche, Drinking the Mountain Stream. Songs of Tibet’s Beloved Saint, Milarepa . Wisdom Publications. 1995. p. 51. ISBN 0-86171-063-0 . -
“I attain all my knowledge through studying my mind within, thus all my thoughts become the teachings of Dharma. So long as I do not become separated from my own mind, I am always accompanied by sutras. I have realized that all manifestations are Mind, and the mind itself is the illumination.”
p. 378 -
“I pray to all accomplished beings; I pray you to extinguish the Five Poisonous Klesas .”
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