Gyalwang Karmapa’s teaching on The Songs of Milarepa

January 06, 2009, report by Karma Palmo, photos taken by Karma Lekcho, Karma Norbu, Pema Orser Dorje

His Holiness gave the transmission of Chapter 5 on meditation.

When the chapter opens, Milarepa was in retreat meditating, however he had a terrible dream in which he saw his home village: the fields were neglected, the house was dilapidated, his mother was dead, and his sister had wandered off. Disturbed by this dream, particularly concerned for his mother, Milarepa decided he had to go to see for himself, so he broke down the wall in front of his cave and went to ask his teacher Marpa for permission. This was to be his final meeting with Marpa.

When Milarepa reached his teacher’s house, Marpa lay asleep, sunlight was falling on his head, and his wife was bringing him his morning tea. After Milarepa asked for permission to leave, Marpa reminded him that previously he had claimed to have no attachments and had said that he wanted to commit his life to the practice of dharma. He warned Milarepa that after so many years it was doubtful whether he would find his mother or other relatives alive. Then he interpreted the omens at Milarepa’s arrival: I was sleeping when you arrived, so if you go, you won’t see me again; the sun was falling on my head, which means that the Dharma will spread like the rays of the sun; white tea arrived at that time, so your lineage will spread.

Marpa then gave Milarepa the dakini’s secret teachings and instructed him to restrict the transmission to only person. After thirteen transmissions, it could be spread further. There were nine secret teachings in all, of which Marpa held six. At this point, he gave Milarepa four of the teachings and told him that in the future he should send one of his students to bring the others from India.

Marpa said, “Impermanence is the mark of all composite things.” Then, in miraculous psycho-physical transformations, he manifested as various meditation deities. Milarepa expressed his wish to be able to do the same through meditation. Marpa instructed him to take refuge in the solitude of the mountains, and gave him the names of all the mountains and caves where he should practice. He also gave Milarepa a set of scrolls sealed with wax, and predicted that, as they would never meet again, these scrolls would be of use when Milarepa encountered a major obstacle. They were not to be unsealed before that time.

Like father and son, on the eve of his departure, they shared a room. Marpa’s wife wept inconsolably, but Marpa scolded her and told her to weep for those who died without dharma, not for the one who was going to meditate in the mountains. There followed a tearful farewell, after which Marpa accompanied Mila for a half day’s journey. Before parting, they shared a ritual feast and Marpa warned Milarepa of the danger of bandits on the way to U Tsang province. Having invoked the yidam deities to protect Milarepa, Marpa told him to stay no more than seven days in his home area before going into solitude, for his own safety.

The chapter concluded when Milarepa, aided by yogic powers, reached his home village in only three days.

During the transmission, people had been enjoying tea and buns, so, before beginning his commentary, the Gyalwang Karmapa asked everyone to keep their seating area clean and tidy. He noted that the nuns’ seating area was pristine, but where the monks sat was not!

The relationship between Marpa and Milarepa was unlike an ordinary lama-student relationship. Some lamas threatened their students that if they didn’t follow through instructions they would be breaking samaya, and so would go to a hell realm. In contrast, Marpa treated Milarepa like a son. Nor was he motivated by gain. A lama should skillfully nurture his students and always be compassionate.

His Holiness went on to discuss tsultrim – ethical conduct. He explained that rules of good conduct such as not stealing or not killing should be understood not as a codex, a set of laws to be observed, but rather as a description of the behaviour which was necessary if we wanted to be happy. Ethical conduct was also essential for the well-being of the society in which we live. He reminded everyone once more of the interdependent nature of our existence. Throughout life we are dependent on others. We were born because of the love our parents had for each other. They cared for us and did their best for us. At every stage of our life, when we were born, as a baby, at school, when looking for work, when we were ill, we relied on others to help us. It was impossible to live completely independently. Given this interdependence, we should never ever look down on other people or show them disrespect. We should never intentionally harm others. It was very difficult to live in a society where people disrespected and harmed each other.

His Holiness cited two reasons for engaging in ethical behaviour.

The first was our responsibility to transform the society in which we lived because we were dependent on all the other members of that society. If it were full of negativity, non-virtuous actions and a general lack of compassion, there would be so much suffering and so many difficulties that we would find it very hard to live in a peaceful and positive way.

The second was that if we did not guard our own values, we might be ousted from society. Therefore we had to maintain ethical discipline, which meant practising the ten virtues of body, speech and mind. [The three related to the body are to abstain from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; the four related to speech are to abstain from lying, from slander, from harsh speech, and from gossip or meaningless talk; the three related to the mind to be avoided are covetousness, malice and wrong view. ] However, His Holiness commented, it was self-evident that a good person would not kill or rape. When society had to make laws to control behaviour it was as a last resort.

Living by these ten virtues we could transform both our own lives and society. As a matter of fact, we didn’t have much choice in the matter, because positive deeds produced positive results. Those people who do great things for the good of others – such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama – are highly respected by other people and seen as indispensible to society. On the other hand, those who always engaged in negative actions were not respected, were viewed as bad people to be avoided, and ostracized. By engaging in good behaviour we could bring peace and smiles to the faces of other people.

Many people had a tendency towards negative actions. People were often very selfish and believed that through negative actions they would fulfill their wishes very quickly. In contrast, those who did positive deeds were considering the well-being of lots of people; they were concerned for the welfare of the world and society. As dharma practitioners we should want to bring peace and well-being to all sentient beings. If things weren’t going well, we should remember the first line of the four immeasureables: “May all sentient beings be happy and have the causes of happiness”

This was not just a great aspiration, it was also something which was achievable. But we had to take action. In which case, what should we do? Basically we had to practice virtue, work on transforming our minds, and change our behaviour. There were many types of of virtuous actions described in the Dharma, but some were culturally dependent or archaic. The baseline was to be somebody who refrained from non-virtuous actions.

HI Holiness went on to say that he thought people who committed suicide sometimes did so because, without help and support and with no one to love us, it was too difficult to live in such a gloomy world. He expressed some amazement that in some countries there are now self-help books on committing suicide. This was indicative of society’s failure. In the past, life used to be viewed as the most precious thing, but now knowing how to commit suicide had become a necessity.

Our responsibility, however, remained the same. Even if the whole world was filled with negative people and actions, still we had to do good. We had to make the aspiration to live truthfully and act ethically, showing love and respect to all other sentient beings. These days society was very difficult and full of falsehood, but without good people the world would lose all hope. Whether we were male or female, lay or ordained, we needed courage, sincerity and the commitment to be a good person. It wouldn’t be easy. Yet, however dark the world might be, we had to be a small lamp in that dark. From now, everybody had to take on that responsibility from today.

After singing another doha His Holiness instructed everybody in a short meditation focused on rooting out the three poisons. When you practised Dharma, he told everyone, it was important to aim the arrow in the direction you wanted to go, and reminded the assembly that they were the lineage holders of Panchen Naropa and should not disgrace his name. If you did nothing about the three poisons, he advised, your dharma practice would not be Dharma. These three poisons could not be destroyed in one go; you had to work on them day by day. He gave the following visualization of the three poisons.

At the navel is a blue pool or lake which represents attachment, because it is as if we drown in it. At the heart is a red fire representing hatred and aggression. At the forehead is blackness and darkness in the form of smoke or a cloud. This represents ignorance.

In the sky above is Buddha Shakyamuni or your own root guru. You request blessings from his body that all 3 mind poisons be eliminated. From his forehead a pure white light radiates, from his heart centre a red light radiates, and from his navel a blue light. Visualise the blue light entering your navel, the red light entering your heart, and the white light entering your forehead, thus eliminating all three poisons.

“Don’t go to sleep!” he cautioned everyone.

So once more, in front of the bodhi tree, in the shadow of the Mahabodhi temple, the Gyalwang Karmapa led the Kagyu Monlam assembly in five minutes of meditation, before concluding the morning session with The Great Aspiration Prayer.