Week 49 · eastern

Milarepa

Milarepa's life story starts with murder. As a young man in 11th-century Tibet, he learned black magic and used it to kill 35 people who had wronged his family. Consumed by guilt, he sought out a teacher, Marpa, who put him through years of brutal physical labor before teaching him anything. Milarepa then spent decades meditating alone in freezing Himalayan caves, eating nettles until his skin turned green. He emerged as one of the most beloved poet-saints in Tibetan Buddhism.

“"Accustomed long to contemplating compassion, I have forgotten all difference between myself and others." He sang that alone in a cave, green-skinned and starving. A murderer who meditated until the boundary between himself and everyone he'd harmed dissolved.”