The Dark Past

Milarepa (1052-1135) was born into a prominent and wealthy family in Northern Tibet, but his life took a turn after his father's death. Sadly, his uncle and aunt seized his family property, leaving Milarepa and his mother penniless, putting them to work as their servants. While Milarepa was familiar with wealth and power, he also experienced the taste of poverty and powerlessness. As a result, Milarepa’s mother became angry and demanded revenge.  She encouraged Milarepa to learn the practice of black magic as a means of revenge against her relatives.   

 Milarepa studied the black magic practice rigorously and eventually managed to murder his aunt’s entire family using the magic. But what started as a desire to seek revenge and please his mother transformed into regret and guilt once he accomplished the task. Eventually, he began seeking a genuine master, feeling at home and finally found a teacher in Marpa, the translator.   

Struggles From Darkness To Light

When Marpa met Milarepa, he sawgreat potentialin the latter but was also aware of Milarepa’s negative qualities and accumulated bad karma. Hence, Marpa made Milarepa go through a harsh physical and mental regimen that helped the latter build, unbuild, rebuild, learn, unlearn, and relearn many times. He pushedMilerapahard enough to purify the negativity of his past actions so that Milarepa could begin his studies with fewer challenges. Marpa’s style of compassion was anything but soothing, pushing Milarepa to his limits, yet by these skillful means, Milarepa was being tamed and formed into the great practitioner and teacher he would become. It is said that Milarepa was almost driven to the point of suicide before Marpa relented and agreed to take him as a disciple.