Milarepa is Tibet's most famous yogi and poet, and one of the founding masters of the Kagyu school. His name means "Mila the cotton-clad", for the single cotton cloth he wore while meditating in the snow mountains. His life, from sorcerer to saint, is one of the best-loved stories in Tibet: for Tibetan Buddhists it shows that even someone who has done great harm can reach awakening in a single life.
How he is shown
- White cotton, a single robe of white cloth, sometimes leaving one shoulder bare, and sometimes with a red meditation belt across his chest.
- His right hand raised to his ear, slightly cupped: the gesture of a singer, because he taught in spontaneous songs. In some paintings the hand rests on his knee instead.
- His left hand resting in his lap, often holding a skull cup or a bowl.
- Greenish skin in some paintings, from the years he lived on nettles in retreat.
- A cave or mountain setting, often with Milarepa seated on an animal skin, with deer or other animals nearby.
- Disciples and scenes from his life in fuller paintings, especially his disciples Gampopa and Rechungpa.
His story
In the classic biography, written in the 15th century by Tsangnyön Heruka, Mila lost his father as a child, and an uncle and aunt seized the family's property, leaving him, his mother and his sister to work as their servants. At his mother's urging he learned black magic: he brought down a house during a wedding feast, killing thirty-five people, and destroyed the villagers' crops with hail. Overcome by remorse, he went to Marpa the Translator, who for years refused to teach him and made him build stone towers and pull them down again, the last of them nine storeys high. Only then did Marpa give him the teachings. Milarepa spent the rest of his life meditating in caves in the mountains of Tibet and Nepal, teaching through songs later collected as the Hundred Thousand Songs.
One story often painted is that of the hunter Gönpo Dorje. Chasing a deer with his dog, he came upon Milarepa, who sang in turn to the deer, the dog and the hunter; the hunter gave up hunting and became his disciple. Some of our paintings tell this story, with the deer and dog lying quiet at Milarepa's feet.
The Kagyu lineage traces its teachings from the Buddha Vajradhara through the Indian masters Tilopa and Naropa to Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa. Tradition dates Milarepa's life to 1052–1135; many modern scholars prefer 1040–1123.
His mantra
A common short form is Om Ah Guru Hasa Vajra Hum. Hasa Vajra, "Laughing Vajra", is the Sanskrit form of Zhepa Dorje, one of his names.
In a painting
Look at the white robe first: white cloth with soft shading and natural folds, so that it reads as thin cotton rather than a flat shape, is hard to paint well. His face should be lively and attentive, and the cupped hand at his ear relaxed rather than stiff. In a narrative painting, the small scenes should be clear enough to follow. To recognise him at a glance: a yogi in white cotton, his right hand raised to his ear.
