Who is Truly Pitiful? Who is Truly Fortunate?

Note: This excerpt from The Life of Milarepa picks up when a group of hunters encounters Milarepa meditating in a cave. Milarepa, now known as “Tibet’s Great Saint,” had been in the cave for several years subsisting on soup made from nettles, his “clothing” worn to rags which no longer covered his body.

[The hunters] said, “Definitely, with your food and clothing, you will never improve your appearance or regain your strength. This is not becoming of a man. Even a servant has a full belly and warm clothes. There is no one in the world more miserable or pitiful than you.”

“You shouldn’t say such things,” Milarepa replied. “I am the most formidable of men to have obtained a human body. I have encountered the likes of Lhodrak Marpa Lotsawa [Milarepa’s guru]. I have received the oral instructions for attaining [full enlightenment] in one life and one body. Having renounced this life, I am meditating alone in the mountains and devoting myself to achieving this enduring aim. I have sacrificed food, clothing, and conversation and in this life I shall defeat my enemies, the mental afflictions. For this reason, there is no one in the world more courageous or high-minded than me. On the other hand, although you have been born in a land where the Buddha’s teachings have spread, you have no inclination even to listen to Dharma, let alone practice meditation. There is no form of ruinous behavior graver than piling up [harmful actions] by the handful and the sackload. This is the way to land in [a lower rebirth]. In the end I will certainly gain happiness and ease, but even right now, [I am assured of great happiness].”

from The Life of Milarepa by Tsangnyon Heruka