The Life and Example of Milarepa

Emily Waters

"Milarepa in the Mountains" illustrated collage by Emily Waters

“Milarepa became a famous person because he wouldn’t lie to himself in his meditation practice, fundamentally speaking. That is a very important point. As long as we are not kidding ourselves, then we can accomplish something. As long as we are kidding ourselves, we create spiritual materialism. … If you want to get something out of this experience, then you won’t make a good Milareapa. If you want to do something with this experience, properly, in a genuine fashion, then every one of you have great potential of becoming a future Milarepa.”
Chögyam Trungpa, Milarepa: His Life and Example, Talk 1: “Milarepa’s Genuineness and Honesty”

Jump to seminar playlists and an audio clip

Milarepa: His Life and Example (Karmê Chöling, VT, 1976.)

The seminar below, Milarepa: His Life and Example, is an intimate, detailed look at the path of the great yogi and Kagyu lineage figure, Jetsun Milarepa (1040-1123 CE). Chögyam Trungpa draws connections between Milarepa’s life in medieval Tibet and ours as modern-day students and meditators. He presents the difficulties of Milarepa’s early life as an example of all circumstances being workable and the real potential of attaining enlightenment in one lifetime.

This seminar, given at Karmê Chöling, Vermont in 1976, was published as part of the book Milarepa: Lessons from the Life and Songs of Tibet’s Great Yogi (in chapters 6-10). A focal point is Milarepa’s relationship to his main teacher and fellow Kagyu master, Marpa Lotsawa. In the editor’s introduction to the book, Judy Lief insightfully sums up this particular seminar, highlighting Milarepa’s relationship to Marpa:

“… [their relationship] was incredibly challenging and harsh and, at the same time, infused with love and respect. Trungpa Rinpoche talked about how the way in which Marpa ruthlessly cut through Milarepa’s materialism and delusions before accepting him as a student was an example of the duty of the teacher to help a student to enter the dharma cleanly and to overcome the obstacles of fixed views, preconceptions, and expectations.”

Through the story of Milarepa, Trungpa Rinpoche explores timeless topics including honesty, discipline, devotion, heroism, finding a teacher, and the importance of unmasking one’s neurosis in practice. He also emphasizes the importance of discipline and celebration as the path to basic sanity.

Milarepa: His Life and Example Playlist(Audio):

Click here to watch the full talk, Talk 4: “Heroism and Celebration”

More Milarepa Seminars in the Library:

100,000 Songs of Milarepa (Karmê Chöling, 1970. Audio)

Chögyam Trungpa teaching the 100,000 Songs of Milarepa seminar, 1970.

In the very first of his seminars on Jetsun Milarepa, Chögyam Trungpa gives commentary on a selection of songs from The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, referencing the Tibetan text with some translating and paraphrasing on the spot. Notably, this was the second seminar Trungpa Rinpoche ever taught in North America, only a few months after his arrival in 1970.

The Message of Milarepa (Karmê Chöling, 1973. Video)

This seminar presents Milarepa’s journey with its challenges and breakthroughs as evergreen teachings. Themes include devotion, karma, renunciation, meditation, spiritual and psychological materialism, loneliness, retreat practice, the evolution of Milarepa’s poetry, mahamudra practice, and compassion. The video captures the beauty of summertime in Vermont and the intimacy of hearing these talks under the tent at Karmê Chöling.

Yogic Songs of Milarepa (Naropa University, 1976. Audio)

Painting of Milarepa by The 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje

This seminar covers a wide range of topics, including the need for exertion, discipline, intelligence, and meditation for cutting through our own neurosis. Chögyam Trungpa contrasts spiritual materialism with a genuine, nontheistic approach to spirituality. He also introduces the core Kagyu practice of mahamudra.