Milarepa: Attachment, Renunciation, and the Transmission of Secret Teachings

Commentary on the text “The Great Yogi of Tibet Milarepa”

Then Rechung asked: “Teacher, what made you leave Marpa? Lama Marpa asked you to stay with him for several years, but how long did you remain with him?” 

The Teacher replied: 

“I did not stay there for very many years, and the following circumstances prompted me to return to my native village. Usually in solitude I remained awake, but one day toward morning I dozed off, and I dreamed that I had returned to my village. My house, Four Columns and Eight Pillars, looked like the ears of an old donkey. Rain was leaking through the roof and had flooded the collection of sacred books of Precious Treasures. My field, the Fertile Triangle, was overgrown with weeds. My mother and relatives had died, and my only sister had left the house and was begging. I was suffering greatly over my mother’s death, since I had not seen her even once since we parted many years earlier in that difficult time for us, when our relatives rose up against us. I called for my mother and sister and wept bitterly. When I awoke, I saw that my pillow was wet with tears. Reflecting on this dream, I remembered my mother. I shed many tears and decided that I would do everything possible to see her once more. At dawn I broke open the door of my retreat and went to see the lama. He was asleep. I approached him and, humbly sitting down by his pillow, sang this song:

“O Teacher, unchanging Buddha, allow me, a beggar, to go home once more.
Mother and children, hated by their relatives, have been separated for many years.
My love can no longer endure the separation,
Allow me to see my mother at least once, and I will return without delay,” – thus I pleaded.

The lama awoke; at that moment the sun rose, and its rays shone through the window and illuminated the lama’s head. The lama’s wife entered the room, carrying breakfast. The lama said: 

“My son, why have you so unexpectedly interrupted your solitude? This may give rise to inner obstacles and open the way for Mara; return at once. But I again told him of my dream, imploringly:

“O compassionate Teacher, unchanging Buddha,
allow me, a beggar, to go home once more.
I have no property left at all, yet there is something that frightens me.
I would like to see my house, Four Columns and Eight Pillars,
whether it still stands or lies in ruins.
I would like to see whether the rain is not falling drop by drop onto the sacred texts of the Palace of Treasures.
Has the field, the Fertile Triangle, not become overgrown with weeds?
Is the mortal body of my old mother in good health?
Is my sister Peta—the ‘happy protector’—not begging?
Has Zesay, bound to me by the force of karma, married someone else?
Is Yung the Victorious, my maternal uncle, alive?
Has my aunt, the demoness Tigress, died, or is she alive?
Where is the Teacher of my family, Kunchog-Lhabume?
But most of all I am anxious about my mother, to whom I owe my body and mind,
and toward whom I yearn with all my heart.
Allow me to go home just once, and I will return to you without delay.”

Thus I pleaded, and the lama replied: 

“What are you saying, my son? When you first came to me, you declared that you were no longer attached either to home or to neighbors, and now you want something quite different. Even if you return to your village, that does not mean you will be able to see your mother, and as for the others, I doubt that they are still alive. You lived for several years in Ü and Tsang and spent several years with me. If you wish to go, I do not object, but if you expect to return here, know that since you found me sleeping when you came to me with your request, we shall not meet again in this life. However, the rays of the rising sun that illuminated my house indicate that you will make the teaching of the Buddha shine like the sun. Most important are the sun’s rays that illuminated my head. This is a sign that the Kagyu Teaching will spread everywhere. The fact that my wife brought breakfast means that you will be nourished with spiritual food. Now I permit you to leave. Damema, prepare a special offering.” 

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p style="text-align:justify;">The lama began to prepare the mandala, while Mother meanwhile prepared the donation. Then the lama, with the help of secret symbolism, bestowed upon me the empowerment of the path of awakening in accordance with the most secret oral transmission of the dakini and granted the complete instruction on the path of awakening. These instructions are transmitted by the Teacher to only one disciple and are therefore unknown to others.

 

In some traditions there are instructions that may be transmitted at one time to only one disciple (or no more than five), for example instructions from the section on jyoti yoga. But some teachings are not guarded so strictly, and therefore they may be transmitted to large masses of people.

Principles of Transmitting Secret Teachings

Then the lama said: “These instructions were given to me by the Teacher Naropa, who commanded me to transmit them to you.”

Why do such rules for transmitting teachings exist? This is connected with the fact that their powers are limited. In the absolute sense, there are no secrets at all; the primordial nature of the Mind is wide open, and every living being possesses it. There is no artificial secrecy in it, yet the means of attaining it may be limited. For example, a method may liberate a certain number of people. If there are more, however, it loses its power. This is connected with a specific lineage or transmission from a specific deity, dakini, or saint. Since the method has limitations, when it is transmitted, those who are its source say that this method has such-and-such limitations. If they are not observed, it will not work. Such a context is called “samaya in relation to the teaching.”

“You, in turn, must communicate them to one of your closest disciples, whom the dakinis will indicate to you. He must be charged with preserving the lineage of transmission from one Guru to one disciple for thirteen generations. If you exchange these instructions for food or treasures, or transmit them to someone simply to please him, you will incur the wrath of the dakinis. Keep them in your heart and practice them yourself. But if the foretold disciple comes to you, bind him to yourself through initiations and instructions for the sake of preserving the teaching, even if he has nothing with which to pay.”

Interaction with Beings of the Higher Worlds

When you practice and enter the spiritual path, many living beings observe you—not only from the world of humans, but, of course, also from the world of spirits. As for spirits, there is no place where they are not present, even in the forest, in a field, or in an abandoned house. These are the souls of beings who are in the bardo and of beings karmically connected with you. They are also holier souls, siddhas, mahasiddhas, and gods who dwell very high, and therefore descend into the human world only when they detect a kindred vibration in the channels, when the corresponding karmic vision opens in you.

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p>As a rule, mahasiddhas and saintly souls of a very high level do not descend into the human world, because the vibrations of the human world are coarse, harsh, and not very pleasant for them. It takes a great deal of energy for them to maintain their presence in the human world. Such beings can be seen with spiritual vision, or they may appear literally—that is, they can be seen with physical sight.

When they observe the growth of living beings, they help practitioners if they see their perseverance and sincerity. Conversely, if they see manifestations of impure consciousness, they turn away. It is said that if a person practiced the path of purity and purification, and then defilement occurs in him—for example, he begins to eat meat and use foul language—then pure and holy spirits leave the channels of his body, because this is unpleasant for them. In such a case, it is said that inspiration leaves the person, and his soul becomes coarser.

On the contrary, the radiance of your awareness attracts more and more deities and holy beings, who begin to visit you. This is invisible to the eye if spiritual vision is closed, yet it is felt as a subtle inspiration: when a vision unexpectedly comes to you, you hear a divine melody, clarity arises, a special harmony appears, or you may hear a subtle sound similar to nada that appeared from nowhere. These are beings of the higher worlds visiting you.

As in the world of humans, there is a hierarchy in the higher worlds. Above a certain class of deities, devas, or angels, there exist very great holy spirits, such as Dattatreya, Adinatha, and the mahasiddhas. They are leaders, kings: some of gods, some of dakinis, some of practitioners, and some of spirits in the worlds of form or in the worlds of passion. Their descent is an extremely rare phenomenon, since they abide very high in terms of nonduality.

When they descend, it feels as though the space from horizon to horizon is filled with blazing light. Ordinary saints have an aura around their body; the light of more exalted saints spreads over a vast distance. For example, the light of the world of the gods in the bardo spreads over a great distance. But when great saints appear, their light fills everything up to the horizon, and their very appearance is a direct introduction for everyone else. All those who surround them in this space immediately enter natural samadhi.

It is also said that if a saint lives somewhere, then around him spirits and souls also involuntarily enter samadhi, and that place gradually begins to prosper. Therefore, if you are in a deep meditative state, you bend the karmic space around you, and it gradually begins to resemble a pure land. Such souls can observe how you observe samaya, how you follow the principles of the teaching, if there has been a transmission of the teaching connected with some particular deity.

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h2 style="text-align:center;">Instructions on the transmission of the teaching

“The trials to which Tilopa subjected Naropa, or I subjected you, will be useless for immature beings. Be discerning when giving the teaching.

In India there are nine more forms of oral transmission from invisible dakinis, the requirements for which are not as strict as for transmission from one Teacher to one disciple. I have already given you four of them; as for the remaining five, someone from our lineage must go to India and receive them from a disciple of Naropa. This will benefit living beings. Learn them as soon as the opportunity arises. If you think that you have not received something from my teaching because you have almost nothing to offer, know that gifts do not concern me. Your offering to me is your aspiration for liberation and the diligence that gladdens me. Be diligent and carry high the banner of perfection. Among the instructions of the honorable Naropa there is a secret oral transmission of a dakini that none of the other great disciples received.”

Marpa gave instructions to Milarepa before he set off for his village.

Renunciation of Attachments and a Glimpse into Eternity

When you become monks, you must know that you are entering the path of Eternity, and therefore it is necessary to cast off attachments when they arise, because they will bring benefit neither to you nor to others.

In order to renounce attachments, it is useful to reflect in this way: you imagine what the surroundings here will be like in fifty years, then you imagine what the surroundings will be like in a hundred years, then in two hundred years. You sketch out two hundred, five hundred years at a time and imagine what the surroundings will be like in several thousand years. If visualization is developed, then one can see grasses rising and withering, leaves unfolding and falling from the trees, rivers overflowing and drying up, houses being built and destroyed, and all of this repeating itself many times.

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p>Next you imagine what the surroundings here will be like in five thousand years, in twenty thousand years. You visualize how tectonic plates move, how glaciers melt and freeze again. And what will the surroundings here be like in a hundred thousand years, in a billion years, in five billion years?

When you reflect in this way, a cosmic cold begins to blow through the soul. You understand that this life is a drop, an instant, a flash. In five billion years, perhaps there will be no one on earth in the physical world to remember that anything ever existed here at all; and after an even greater span of time, changes will be taking place throughout the entire Universe.

When you reason in this way, you see that practicing the path of liberation means being face to face with Eternity, and attachments are simply out of place here. Therefore, a monk is one who has chosen the path of great courage: to look Eternity in the eyes and live with it. However, when we become established in the primordial nature of the Mind, we discover the point that time cannot reach. This is the point where there is no duality.