Feeling the weight of heavy negative karma and overwhelmed by remorse, he considered suicide more than once. What initially drove him to mountain retreats was an intense desire to overcome his devastating past, which included his participation in black magic, revenge, and murder. Milarepa was a roving Tibetan yogi who devoted himself to meditation and tantric practice in caves across southern Tibet.
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The beloved eleventh-century Tibetan saint went on to realize his cherished aim and then taught many others how to do the same.
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Having renounced this life, I am meditating alone in the mountains and devoting myself to achieving this enduring aim." The game hunters then left him alone to meditate.įortunately for Milarepa and the spiritual legacy he left behind, he did not die of starvation, and the green pallor of his skin disappeared when he stopped eating nettles and finally took some nourishing food. Milarepa told them: "I have received the oral instructions for attaining Buddhahood in one lifetime and one body. They saw the value of his devotion to practice and offered him food. Their cruelty filled Milarepa with compassion, and he wept for them.Ī year later, a second group of game hunters showed up at his cave, but their attitude toward Milarepa was much different. He assured them he wasn't, as they ransacked his cave looking for money. When a group of hapless game hunters stumbled onto his cave looking for something to eat, they screamed in horror, believing Milarepa was a ghost. So fierce was his meditation discipline that he refused to let even severe hunger interrupt his goal. He had eaten so many nettles that his sagging skin had a greenish hue.ĭeath seemed imminent, but Milarepa's physical austerities had a clear and deliberate aim: he wanted to attain enlightenment or die in the attempt. His only source of nourishment for over a year had come from an abundant supply of nettles he found growing near his cave. Because of his strict adherence to a vow of continual meditation practice, his body had shrunken to a skeleton, and his eyes were sunken and hollow.
Weak and emaciated, he had been meditating in remote mountain caves for many years, leaving only to beg for food. Seated in a barren and frigid cave high in the Himalayas, Milarepa meditated day and night, staying warm with the advanced yogic practice known as tummo, the ability to generate body heat by manipulating channels of energies within the body. "Milarepa from Sinner to Saint" Quest 102. Printed in the Spring 2014 issue of Quest magazine.Ĭitation: Overweg, Cynthia.
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