“Kailash”
This journey of Kailash taught us a great deal and revealed much to us. It gave us an experience that awakens within us the feeling of transformation that arises when one has divine दर्शन (vision) and stands in the presence of the Divine. Today, we read what lessons we can learn from the life of Milarepa.
Around 1135 CE, Milarepa attained Mahasamadhi. He was such a great practitioner that after his nirvana, his body dissolved into light—only his nails and hair remained. Milarepa’s life itself is a teaching. His life is a message. What did we learn from his story?
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The Message of Milarepa’s Life
No matter how sinful a person may be, if one repents with a sincere heart and takes refuge in a Guru, practicing under the Guru’s guidance, one can attain Buddhahood and be freed from all sins.
Milarepa’s practices have a profound philosophical meaning: the purification of karma.
Why external austerities? Milarepa lived an extremely harsh life—hunger, cold, and solitude. Philosophically, this means that karmas remain within the body as deep impressions. Merely changing thoughts is not enough; one must subject one’s entire existence to inner discipline.
Through the severe tests imposed by Marpa, Milarepa exhausted the negative karmas of his past and present lives. Marpa’s harshness was, in fact, a hidden form of compassion.
> “Without the breaking of ego, wisdom does not descend.”
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Cave Practice = Inward Turning
The Symbolic Meaning of the Cave
A cave is not a physical place, but the depth of the mind. It was not distance from society, but distance from attachment. Not freedom from outer noise, but inner silence. Self-knowledge arises from within.
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The Meaning of Remaining Naked
This was not a dramatic display of renunciation, but rather:
> “I have nothing to hide.”
The body, clothing, identity—all were renounced.
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Eating Nettles
Tasteless and painful
> “The end of desire is the end of suffering.”
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Were Fear, Ghosts, and Demons Real?
Ghosts = suppressed fears
Demons = desires
Monsters = ego
Milarepa did not fight them; he accepted them with compassion.
> “That which is accepted is liberated.”
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Mahamudra Practice
Mahamudra = the direct experience of the mind’s true nature.
The meaning of Mahamudra: Do not improve the mind.
Do not suppress the mind.
Simply observe the mind.
The observer and the observed—both dissolve.
An experience of emptiness.
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The Experience of Emptiness
Emptiness = nothingness?
The true meaning of emptiness: The absence of independent existence; everything exists in interdependence.
Milarepa realized:
> “I am nothing, therefore I am everything.”
Philosophy descends not through intellect, but through the heart.
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The Philosophical Meaning of the Kailash Story
Sunlight = awareness
Mountain = ego
Ascent = effort
> “For one who has grasped awareness, no summit remains.”
> “Do not correct, do not suppress, do not escape—just become aware.”
> “Kailash is not a domain of humans, but a field of consciousness.”
There, one performs circumambulation (kora), not conquest.
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> “Milarepa did not conquer Kailash.
He showed that for one who has conquered oneself,
Kailash no longer remains.”
Read each word carefully, because these are not merely stories, but teachings. Who knows which teaching may lead your mind toward transformation.
To be continued…
Victory to the Universe!
Glory to Bhole Baba!