Beautiful and Inspiring Milarepa Quotes
Milarepa (1052-1135) is considered by many to be the greatest saint in the Tibetan tradition. There are some parallels between him and the Apostle Paul. Before coming to Buddhist practice, he had committed grievous acts of revenge against those who had left his widowed mother, sister, and he in destitution.
Having gained his revenge, he realized he needed to atone for his deeds. He began studying under the teaching of Marpa the Translator - one of the greatest teachers of the time.
Eventually, with determined effort, Milarepa attained the highest teachings and retired to a life of meditation in the mountains.
We know of him through this autobiographical writings which detail his life from criminal to saint and from this poetry.
Here are some of his most powerful quotes. They are infused with the power of his personality and his fervent commitment to his path.
My religion is to live and die without regret.
Comprehending beyond good and evil opens the way to perfect skill. Experiencing the dissolution of duality, you embrace the highest view.
If you realize the Emptiness of All Things, Compassion will raise within your heart;
If you lose all differentiation between yourselves and others, fit to serve others you will be;
And when in serving others you shall win success, then shall you meet with me;
And finding me, you shall attain to Buddhahood.In the gap between thoughts, nonconceptual wisdom shines continuously.
Life is short and the time of death is uncertain; so apply yourself to meditation. Avoid doing evil, and acquire merit, to the best of your ability, even at the cost of life itself. In short: Act so that you have no cause to be ashamed of yourselves and hold fast to this rule.
In the monastery of your heart, you have a temple where all Buddhas unite.
All meditation must begin with arousing deep compassion. Whatever one does must emerge from an attitude of love and benefitting others.
All worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end, which is sorrow; acquisitions end in dispersion; buildings in destruction; meetings in separation; births in death. Knowing this, one should, from the very first, renounce acquisitions and storing-up, and building, and meeting; and, faithful to the commands of an eminent Guru, set about realizing the Truth. That alone is the best of religious observances.
Take the lowest place, and you shall reach the highest.
Just as fog is dispelled by the strength of the sun and is dispelled no other way, preconception is cleared by the strength of realization. There’s no other way of clearing preconceptions. Experience them as baseless dreams. Experience them as ephemeral bubbles. Experience them as insubstantial rainbows. Experience them as indivisible space.
The affairs of the world will go on forever, do not delay the practice of meditation. Once you have met with the profound instructions from a meditation master, with single pointed determination, set about realizing the Truth.
One should see that all appearance is like mist and fog.
I need nothing. I seek nothing, I desire nothing.
Hasten slowly and you shall soon arrive.
He who knows that all things are his mind, That all with which he meets are friendly, Is ever joyful.
You menace others with your deadly fangs. But in tormenting them, you are only tormenting yourselves.
To attain Buddhahood ... we must scatter this life's aims and objects to the wind.
When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick.
The best seeing is the way of “nonseeing” the radiance of the mind itself. The best prize is what cannot be looked for the priceless treasure of the mind itself.
My fear and doubts have vanished like mist into the distance, never to disturb me again. I will die content and free from regrets. This is the fruit of dharma practice.
When one comes to the essence of being, The shining wisdom of reality Illumines all like the cloudless sky.