Tsangnyon Heruka – författare

The Life of Milarepa is one of the most beloved stories of the Tibetan people and a great literary example of the contemplative life. This biography, a dramatic tale from a culture now in crisis, can be read on several levels. A personal and moving introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, it is also a detailed guide to the search for liberation. It presents a quest for purification and buddhahood in a single lifetime, tracing the path of a great sinner who became a great saint. It is also a powerfully evocative narrative, full of magic, miracles, suspense, and humor, while reflecting the religious and social life of medieval Tibet.

Milarepa (1040–1123) is perhaps the best-known and most beloved religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism, celebrated throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world with the recitation of his teaching songs by monastics and laypeople alike. The archetype of the ordinary being who overcomes nearly insurmountable obstacles on the spiritual path through the sheer force of effort, faith, and perseverance, he is remembered for having achieved enlightenment "in a single lifetime."This volume, like its well-known companion volume The Life of Milarepa, was originally intended to bring the great yogin’s teachings to the ordinary people of the day. Delivered in an earthy and colloquial idiom, Milarepa’s teaching songs are woven into an engaging narrative that begins after he attains mastery over his own mind. The book recounts his most famous encounters with his students, including Gampopa, Rechungpa, and his sister Peta, and also includes the stories of his victories over the supernatural forces linked to the remote Himalayan mountains and caves where he meditated.Milarepa’s favored mode of teaching was in spontaneous verse, a colorful and memorable way to convey the import of the Buddhist teachings. Christopher Stagg’s careful translation, prepared under the guidance of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, brilliantly brings to life the Tibetan author’s original intention.

Marpa the Translator, the eleventh-century farmer, scholar, and teacher, is one of the most renowned saints in Tibetan Buddhist history. In the West, Marpa is best known through his teacher, the Indian yogin Nâropa, and through his closest disciple, Milarepa. This lucid and moving translation of a text composed by the author of The Life of Milarepa and The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa documents the fascinating life of Marpa, who, unlike many other Tibetan masters, was a layman, a skillful businessman who raised a family while training his disciples.As a youth, Marpa was inspired to travel to India to study the Buddhist teachings, for at that time in Tibet, Buddhism had waned considerably through ruthless suppression by an evil king. The author paints a vivid picture of Marpa''s three journeys to India: precarious mountain passes, desolate plains teeming with bandits, greedy customs-tax collectors. Marpa endured many hardships, but nothing to compare with the trials that ensued with his guru Nâropa and other teachers. Yet Marpa succeeded in mastering the tantric teachings, translating and bringing them to Tibet, and establishing the Practice Lineage of the Kagyüs, which continues to this day.