Milarepa's Reflections
One of Tibet's most honored poet-sages, Milarepa is known for his long periods of meditation in mountain caves, spurring a depth of realization with regard to the human mind. His life spanned the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, at the peak of Buddhism's re-introduction to Tibet, a period known in some circles as the Tibetan Renaissance.
The stories that surround Milarepa's contemplative career are preserved in The Life of Milarepa, a biography written by Tsangnyön Heruka in the fifteenth century of the common era, as well as The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa by the same author.
Criminal turned convert, Milarepa underwent a significant shift in perspective during his life. Although born into a wealthy household, his family lost their means to other relatives, leaving them in a state of desperation. Milarepa was called to pursue sorcery and violence as a means to restore his family's wealth, leading to a murderous saga.
Although exceedingly cruel in conduct at one point, Milarepa later expressed remorse for his actions and became a student of the Buddhist translator Marpa. Under Marpa's guidance, Milarepa underwent arduous training in meditation and other austerities, experiencing a complete change of heart.
Interestingly, much of Milarepa's reflections in his later life, after reforming his conduct and perceiving the intricate inner mechanics of the mind, draw on ecological themes and imagery in order to convey the details of mental cultivation. While the body of work left behind by Milarepa is quite vast, we here examine one of his many poems, a particularly striking set of inspired verses he spontaneous sang in response to a dream.
Plowing the Mind's Field
Milarepa's contemplative poetry depicts his insights during a particularly challenging period of his life. At this stage, he has already retreated into the mountains, but runs out of provisions and cannot find a generous donor who is willing to support him. His home is still in utter shambles and his family questions why he no longer farms the fields in order to make ends meet. Both his aunt and uncle treat him with hostility, deeming him a disgrace to the family. They set dogs after him to chase him away and bombard him with stones and arrows. Eventually, his aunt agrees to provide for him so he may continue to meditate.
Although hoping for some stillness and clarity, ideally even a blissful reprieve through meditation, Milarepa's efforts prove fruitless. Too much remains unsettled in his mind.
At this point, Milarepa appears to enter a state of delirium, in which he dreams of plowing a field whose ground is too firm to dig. Despite his best efforts, he cannot till the soil. As Milarepa is about to give up, suddenly, the renowned meditation master Marpa appears to encourage Milarepa and rouse his will. Under Marpa's guidance, Milarepa successfully plows the field and procures an abundant harvest. Upon waking from the dream, he finds inspiration to persevere in his meditation and exclaims several verses in song.
I beg you. Compassionate Master,
Bless the mendicant that in solitude he may live.
I cultivate the field of fundamentally non-discriminatory mind
With the manure and water of faith,
And sow the seed of a pure heart.
The powerful thunder of my invocations reverberates,
And the rain of your blessings falls effortlessly.
In these verses, Milarepa likens contemplative practice to farming or horticulture. One's field, the terrain inside which all of one's cultivation transpires, is the mind itself. Most saliently, this mind is fundamentally without discrimination, its soil rich in health. Drawing upon this imagery, Milarepa's meditation entails plowing the mind's field.
Faith, comments Milarepa, serves as fertilizer, the field's source of moisture and nutrition, ensuring the flourishing of one's contemplative practice. In this field, in this fundamentally non-discriminatory awareness, one sows the seeds of a pure heart. Only under such supporting conditions can seeds of compassion sprout.
Upon this field rains the blessings of the Buddhas, summoned by the thunder of one's invocations. If understood in metaphorical terms, then these invocations need not be to any external beings, but may instead represent inward affirmations and aspirations. Contemplative practice relies immensely on the power of mind to redirect one's default mode away from excessive outward preoccupation and external influence and back to a conscientious, inwardly reflecting, yet all the while intersubjectively attuned mode of being. Through one's affirmations and aspirations, one plants the seeds of wholesome intention, shifting the quality of the entire framework, the entire field, in which one operates.
Two Oxen
Reflecting further upon his method of cultivation, Milarepa recites these additional verses upon emerging from his dream-state, perhaps a trance through which he was able to achieve a break-through, restoring his confidence and obliterating all doubt from his mind.
Upon the oxen of a mind free from doubt
I put the yoke and plow of skillful means and wisdom.
Steadfastly I hold the reins without distraction.
Cracking the whip of effort, I break up the clods of the five poisons.
I cast away the stones of a defiled heart,
And weed out all hypocrisy.
In this case, skillful means and wisdom are the methods by which Milarepa is able to guide the "oxen" over the by-now softened terrain of the field, his mind imbued with confidence and free of doubt.
While the exact nature and identity of these oxen is not specified, they appear in other Buddhist contexts as the meditative practices of śamatha and vipaśyanā, calming and contemplation, or tranquility and insight, stabilizing the mind and cultivating clarity, respectively.
These two oxen are often depicted as yoked together by a harness, cooperating seamlessly in the process of plowing the field, with neither going astray. Tranquility and insight are mutually supportive in cultivating the field of awareness. Skillful means and wisdom, the ability to adapt to the constantly shifting terrain while at the same time discerning the proper means of doing so that will ultimately accord with the mind's originally undefiled nature, are the tools that assist in this process, enabling forward progress on the contemplative path.
The whip of effort is invoked by Milarepa to ensure that the mind, otherwise prone to distraction, stays on track. One must remain disciplined through even the most challenging of conditions. Through dedicated practice, whatever obstacles appear to obstruct one's progress are pulverized, like clods of dirt disintegrating into soft soil or rocks tossed out of the way so the path may be cleared. Any hypocrisy is weeded out so that the foundation of the mind-ground remains pristine. One must keep a watchful eye on the field in order to weed out unwelcome qualities of mind and ensure the flourishing of the seeds one plants intentionally.
Fruits of Harvest
As his cultivation of the mind's field progresses, Milarepa finds himself ready for the harvest. His next verses convey this stage of farming, reaping the fruits of his efforts.
I cut the stalks and reap the fruit of action
Leading to liberation.
I fill the granary with the fruit of excellent instructions,
Without the support of mental concepts.
This excellent grain, roasted and ground by the dakinis,
Is the hermit's food for inner growth.
This is the meaning of my dream.
Here, Milarepa's cutting of stalks and reaping the fruit of action is an allusion to karmic processes. Karma (कर्म), a Sanskrit term meaning "action," is of a particularly volitional sort in Buddhist contexts. Volitional activity directly alters how one experiences the vicissitudes of life.
In other words, volitional activity (anything that one intends through body, speech, or mind) plants a seed in the field of experience which, under proper conditions, ripens into fruit. The quality of that fruit depends on myriad factors, ranging from the quality of the seed (the initial action) to the conditions of the field (mind) in which it is planted to the nutrients (such as faith or confidence) supporting its growth. In Milarepa's case, this fruit is liberation from the suffering and stress he had previously encountered among his family and in his previous career in the realm of magic and murder. He succeeds in completely transforming the field, his own mind.
Milarepa accumulates his harvest with no need for conceptual plotting. The fruit of liberation arises on the basis of the appropriate balance and combination of causes and conditions while cultivating the field, not through meticulous calculation, but through the unfolding of natural processes in accord with his reformed conduct in the transformed field of his mind and meditation.
In handling the fruits of his labor, Milarepa alludes to the assistance of the dakinis, goddesses of high spiritual status in the Indo-Tibetan cosmology. With their help, he is able to accumulate instructions for cultivating the field. Such cultivation procures liberation, enabling all to experience an abundant harvest, feeding off of the fruits of their efforts.
Practice Diligently
Upon reflecting thus, Milarepa utters a final set of verses, emphasizing the experiential over the intellectual, planting the final seeds of inspiration for potential future aspirants of enlightenment who may have struggled like himself.
Realization does not arise out of words.
Understanding does not come from mere suggestions.
I urge all those who work for Enlightenment
To meditate with perseverance and effort.
Endurance and effort overcome the greatest of difficulties.
May there be no obstacles for those who seek Enlightenment.'
Here, Milarepa acknowledges that even the verses he speaks cannot produce realization while the advice he offers cannot produce understanding. He nonetheless conveys his insights through words and suggestions, as they may still set the process in motion for others, perhaps as a spark of inspiration. Much like the Buddha's final words upon his deathbed, Milarepa likewise encourages all who aspire to awakening to practice diligently.
Contemplative Horticulture
With salient analogies embedded throughout, the contemplative poetry of Milarepa provides us with a foundation for additional inquiry into the ecological processes underlying cultivation, both of the mind-ground and the earth on which we live with myriads of other forms of life. Contemplative horticulture may take on both metaphorical and ecologically viable meanings in the face of mental and environmental stressors from both within and without.
Indeed, the quality of the mind, the internal field of practice upon whose ground we stand psychologically, features prominently in a mutual feedback loop with the external world. Mental and environmental interact in every instant. We must sow both fields with wisdom and compassion.
Such reflections by Milarepa on contemplative horticulture help shed light on the importance of perseverance in the face of adversity. When the mind seems too hardened, when the intensity of the climate crisis or other conditions show themselves to be seemingly impenetrable, we may use the tools available to us to come up with innovative new methods, breaking through sedimented ways while finding alternative horticultural strategies for regenerating what has otherwise degenerated. Through continued efforts, we may eventually restore the field, the mind itself, to its originally uncorrupted state.
Source:
The Life of Milarepa. Translated by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1984.
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