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Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa
The Appendix
Then there were one hundred Anāgāmis, including Dziwo-Repa (the Cow-herd Disciple), who had realized the Truth, and one hundred and eight Great Ones who had obtained excellent experience and knowledge from meditation.
Again, there were a thousand sādhus and sādhunīs and yogīs and yoginīs who had renounced the worldly life and lived exemplary lives of piety.
Besides these, there were innumerable lay-disciples of both sexes, who, having heard and seen Jetsün, had established a religious relationship with him, and thus closed for ever the gate on the pathway to the lower states of existence. So much for the human disciples.
Among the non-human disciples, of orders higher and of orders lower than mankind, there were the Five Sister Goddesses [or Fairies] known as the Five Sisters of Durgā, and the Rock-Ogress of Lingwa. Countless other spiritual beings there were who had dedicated themselves to the protection of the Buddhist Faith.1
All the human disciples who attended the funeral ceremonies of their Lord Jetsün retired immediately afterward, each to his or her particular cave or retreat, and passed their life in meditation and devotion, as Jetsün had commanded.
Rechung set out to take the articles [or reliques which Jetsün had bequeathed on his death-bed] to Dvagpo-Rinpoch'e [the chief of all the disciples]; and, as he was proceeding with them towards the Province of Ü, he met Dvagpo-Rinpoch'e at Yarlung-Phushar. The latter, although late, had remembered Jetsün's command; and there Rechung handed over to him Maitri's hat and the Agaru-staff, and narrated to him all the latest news, on hearing which Gampopa [or Dvagpo-Rinpoch'e] fell into a swoon for a while.
On reviving, Gampopa addressed many mournful prayers to the Guru [Jetsün]; and these are to be found recorded in Gampopa's own biographical history [of Jetsün].2 Then he invited Rechung to his own place of abode, and received from him the complete Karṇa Tantra3 of Dēmchog.
When Rechung had transmitted to Gampopa that portion of the reliques to which Gampopa was entitled, and had imparted to him all the religious teachings which it was necessary to impart, he departed, and went on towards the Loro-Döl Monastery; and therein he sat in deep meditation for the remainder of his life. And Rechung was translated bodily to the Divine Realm, [his physical body being rendered ethereal, so that he left no corpse behind him on earth].
In like manner did Shiwa-Wöd-Repa, Khyira-Repa, and the four female disciples who were sisters, and Paldar-Bum, and Sale-Wöd, transmute their physical body into the ethereal body, and entered the Higher Realms.
The other disciples all passed away in the normal manner, leaving their corpses behind for the benefit of the world and of all sentient creatures.
Thus did the saintly Jetsün Milarepa perform three worldly acts and nine acts of religious devotion, making in all twelve acts, each replete with marvellous events. And with the last act came the greatest of all great successes that can ever fall to the lot of mortal man, namely, the attaining in one lifetime of the Fourfold Body and the Fivefold Wisdom of the All-pervading Holder of the Sceptre of Spiritual Power (Vajra-Dhara); and, with it, the power to traverse all the Holy Buddha Realms, and to develop, and thus save, all sentient beings, countless in number and inhabiting worlds as infinite as heavenly space.4
Thus endeth the history of the Great Yogī named Mila- Zhadpa-Dorje, the Guide to Deliverance and Omniscience, and the Bestower of the Bliss of Nirvāṇa upon all saṃsāric beings alike, for ever and ever, in the blissful feast of the auspicious gift of eternally increasing blessings.
The Colophon
The beneficent effulgence of the Gem of History,
Of that Lord among men, Jetsün-Mila,
Hath made the Faith of the Buddha like the sun,
And hath fulfilled the hopes and expectations of all sentient beings;
May it thus be the best of offerings in veneration of all Buddhas and Saints.
This History [or Biography] hath been made beautiful at the beginning and end with ornate language;
May it thus be a feast of delight to all scholars and lovers of literature.
Its words stir the very hairs of the body, in faith and humility;
May it thus be a feast of delight to all devotees who are sincerely attached to religion.
The mere hearing of this History moveth to faith despite one's self;
May it thus be a feast of delight to all who are of high destiny and endowed with good karma.
The mere thinking of this History cutteth off one's attachment to the world;
May it thus be a feast of delight to those striving to obtain omniscience in one lifetime.
By the mere touching of this History, the twofold aims5 are fulfilled;
May it thus be a feast of delight to them who uphold the Faith and serve others.
Through one's study and practice of this History, the Dynasty of Gurus will be fully satisfied;
May it thus be a feast of delight to them who uphold the glory of the Dynasty of Gurus by living according to their commandments.
In virtue of the Grace of this History, every sentient creature shall find relief from all sorrow;
May it thus be a feast of delight to all sentient creatures of the Three Planes [or universe].
[Signed and dated]: Durṭöd-ñyul-vai-naljor-rüpahi-gyen-chan [or 'The Yogī having ornaments of bone who frequenteth cemeteries'].6
The year of Phurbu, the middle autumn month, and the eighth day, at the sacred Pilgrimage of Lapchi-Kang.7
Footnotes
1. Literally, 'the White Side' , in opposition to the Black Side (or Black Magic) of non-emancipating religions.
2. Our version is by Rechung, the second of the disciples.
3. That is, the esoteric teachings which are always transmitted orally, called ‘the Ear-whispered Truths'. It is prohibited by the Gurus, who are the custodians of these secret doctrines, to set them down in writing, lest the uninitiated and the unworthy gain access to them.
4. The conception of a plurality of inhabited worlds has been held by Oriental peoples for thousands of years; yet, even when this passage was written - a little more than eight centuries ago - the theory that the Earth is the centre of the universe and the-only world, or at least the only inhabited world, was still believed in by the learned of Europe, as by the Christian Church.
5. That is, one's own aims and the aims of others seeking freedom from saṃsāric existence, or from the interminable round of death and birth in worlds of suffering.
6. This designation is that of a devotee [or yogī) who has renounced the world. The frequenting of cemeteries is a part of the yogīc practice, and intended to impress upon the devotee the transient nature of saṃsāric existence. The ornaments, too, being of the bones of the dead, serve the same end, besides being symbolic. The author's real name is that of the second of Jetsün's disciples, namely, Rechung-Dorje-Tagpa.
7. From this place-name it appears that the History was either written or completed while Rechung was on Pilgrimage to Lapchi-Kang (Mt. Everest), the place sanctified by Jetsün's meditation, or else while he was in hermitage there.
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