MILAREPA (Mi-la ras-pa)

Milarepa (1040-1123), the ‘cotton-clad’ yogin, is Tibet’s most famous and beloved poet-saint. His intense determination and perseverance under the torturous guidance of his Tibetan guru Marpa, and his spontaneous outpouring of a hundred thousand songs, serve as the most poignant biographical inspiration of spiritual endeavor. He is depicted sitting upon a black antelope skin in his meditation cave on the eastern side of Mt Kailash. He wears the single white cotton robe of a Tibetan yogin or repa (ras-pa) – symbolizing his attainment of the yogic practice of ‘inner heat’ or tummo. His long hair hangs freely down his back, and he wears the earrings of a tantric yogin and a red meditation belt across his right shoulder. With his right hand he cups his ear in the gesture of singing, and with his left hand resting upon his lap in meditation gesture he holds a skull cup of nectar.

Hanging from the roof of his cave is a small bundle of provisions and a scroll of ‘emergency instructions’ that Marpa gave him for a future time of dire necessity. In the background of his cave is a boiling clay pot of nettle soup, and in the bottom corners are the nettles that still grow in front his cave - which for many years served as his only sustenance.

©Painting by Robert Beer and Jai Shanker Sharma of Jaipur, India.

Size: 6 x 4 inches