Songs of Milarepa (Part 14)

Milarepa was an 11th Century Buddhist poet and saint, a cotton-clad yogi who avoided the secular institutions of his time and wandered from village to village, teaching enlightenment and the path to Awakening through his spontaneously composed songs. Wherever he went, crowds of people gathered to hear his sweet sounding voice “singing the Dharma.” Milarepa […]

Milarepa was an 11th Century Buddhist poet and saint, a cotton-clad yogi who avoided the secular institutions of his time and wandered from village to village, teaching enlightenment and the path to Awakening through his spontaneously composed songs. Wherever he went, crowds of people gathered to hear his sweet sounding voice “singing the Dharma.” Milarepa exchanged a life of sin and maliciousness for one of contemplation and love, eventually reaching the ultimate state of Awakening. His thousands of extemporaneously composed songs communicate profound visions in a lyrical, simple, and lucid style.

Dorje Lopon Dr. Hun Lye offers this series on these profound vajra-songs by integrating the teachings with a vajrayāna sadhana (meditation liturgy) – The Guruyoga of Milarepa – arranged by His Holiness Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang, the supreme-head of Drikung Kagyu Lineage. Instead of the usual way of practicing the sadhana – which often emphasizes the chanting (or reading, if done in English) – Dr. Lye introduces a more contemplative and experience-based approach to practicing this sadhana.