The Method in Tibetan Buddhism In studying
the life of Milarepa, the Holy One of Tibet, who lived in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, A.D., we find it claimed for him that he attained union through the
method of discipline, meditation and practice, and, ultimately, Illumination. We read as
follows:
"He was one, who, having mastered the mystic and occult sciences, had communicated
to him... continuously the four blissful states of ecstatic communion..."
"He was one, who having attained to omniscience, all-pervading goodwill, and
glowing love, together with the acquisition of transcendental powers and virtues, became a
self-developed Buddha who towered above all conflicting opinions and arguments of the
various sects and creeds..."
"He was a being most diligent and persevering in meditation upon the Rare Path...
Having acquired full power over the mental states and faculties within, he overcame all
dangers from the elements without..."
"He was a being perfect in the practice of the four stages of meditation
(analysis, reflection, fondness, bliss. These are the four progressive mental states,
leading to complete concentration of mind, producing ecstatic illumination)..."
"He was a most learned professor in the Science of the Mind, having proved the
Mind to be, beyond dispute, the Beginning and End of all visible phenomena, both material
and spiritual, the Rays whereof, being allowed to shine unobstructedly, develop
themselves, as he knew, into the threefold [186] manifestation of the Universal Divine
Being, through their own free, inherent power."
- Evans-Wentz, W. Y., Tibet's Great Yogi, Milarepa, pages 32, 33, 35, 38.
Thus we have the same procedure - mental activity, contemplation, union and
illumination. |