num_pages: 301
description: Tibetans accord The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa a classic status comparable to that of the Mahabharata &amp; the Bible, &amp; revere its author as probably the best single exemplar of the religious life. Milarepa was an 11th-century Buddhist poet &amp; saint, a cotton-clad yogi who avoided the scholarly institutions of his time &amp; wandered from village to village, teaching enlightenment &amp; the path to Buddhahood thru his spontaneously composed songs. Wherever he went, crowds of people gathered to hear his sweet sounding voice "singing the Dharma." The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa says the book's translator, "has been read as the biography of a saint, a guide book for devotions, a manual of Buddhist yoga, a volume of songs &amp; poems, &amp; even a collection of Tibetan folklore, &amp; fairy tales." With titles like "The Salvation of the Dead," "A Woman's Role in the Dharma" &amp; "Challenge from a Wise Demoness", Milrepa's poems are filled with fascinating tales of miraculous encounters &amp; colorful imagery, &amp; present a valuable insight into the living quality of Tibetan Buddhism. Central as this book is to Tibetan culture, the arcane dialect &amp; obscurity of many original passages daunted translators for centuries; this was the 1st complete version of the classic to appear in the West.
language: English
title: The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa
titlecomplete: The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa
genres: Religion, Poetry, Philosophy, Buddhism, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Classics, Mythology
ratings_count: 211
publisher: Harper Colophon Books