Songs Of Milarepa Pdf

[Saurabh Cloudas]

Originallyreleased on Lovely Music in 1998. Double CD of all five of Elaine Radigue's songs in tribute to the Tibetan saint and poet from the 11th century. Two of the tracks dates from Radigue's first release in 1983, two are previously unreleased and the final 62-minute track was previously issued as a sole CD in 1987. The material is performed by Radigue (synthesizer and recording), Robert Ashley (English voice), and Lama Kunga Rinpoche (Tibetan voice). Radigue was born in France and has studied under Pierre Shaeffer and Pierre Henry; her musical has an extremely organic and mystical electronics vibe, and has been previously documented on Phill Niblock's XI label, as well as Metamkine and Lovely. Milarepa is a great saint and poet of Tibet who lived in the 11th century. Through years dedicated to meditation and related practices in the solitude of the mountains, Milarepa achieved the highest attainable illumination and the mental power that enabled him to guide innumerable disciples. His ability to present complex teachings in a simple, lucid style is astonishing. He had a fine voice and loved to sing. When his patrons and disciples made a request or asked him a question, he answered in spontaneously composed free-flowing poems or lyric songs. It is said that he composed 100,000 songs to communicate his ideas in his teachings and conversations.

According to the sutras, the disciples of the Buddha would sometimes compose spontaneous verses during his teaching sessions. Since then, the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition in particular has valued the spontaneous composition of devotional songs, called gur in Tibetan, a translation of the Bengali term doha.

Beloved wish-fulfilling jewel and emanation body

Supreme of lamps that take the darkness of ignorance away

Oh precious Chakravartin king, the one behind the wheel

At your feet, oh Marpa the translator, I bow in trusting homage!

You see that everything in samsara and nirvana

Is merely dependently arisen

You see the dharmata, the true being

That is the essence of all dependent arising

The power of your great insight

Fills the universe with auspicious light

Oh mighty Shepa Dorje

Please rise up now from within my heart.

The vision of your wisdom is amazing

You see just how things are, you see everything

As parents lovetheir children, so you love all beings

You bring us benefit and happiness

Your power makes disciples out of your enemies

May your auspiciousness light up the universe!

The ways of ordinary beings, you have left behind

Noble ones who realize reality, the true nature of mind

May you lead all ordinary beings

Who have not yet entered to the path of peace

And by this may auspiciousness

Light up the whole universe!

May the noble path of nonviolence

Flourish in all the worlds there are

When beings meet and interact

May the connections they make be filled with love

And by this may auspiciousness

Light up the whole universe!

[i] Marpa from Lhodrak: great Tibetan teacher and translator who made three trips to India and brought back the Mahamudra teachings. He was a student of the great Indian pandita Naropa and principal teacher of Milarepa.

Milarepa is a great saint and poet of Tibet who lived in the 11th Century. Through years dedicated to meditation and related practices in the solitude of the mountains, Milarepa achieved the highest attainable enlightenment and the mental power that enabled him to guide innumerable disciples. His ability to present complex teachings in a simple, lucid style was astonishing. He had a fine voice and loved to sing. When his patrons and disciples made a request or asked him a question, he answered in spontaneously composed free-flowing poems or lyric songs. It is said that he composed 100,000 songs to communicate his ideas in his teachings and conversations.

Born in Paris, Eliane Radigue studied electroacoustic music techniques at the Studio d'essai at the RTF, under the direction of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry (1957-58). She was married to the artist Arman and devoted ten years to the education of three children, deepening classical music studies and instrumental practice on the harp and piano at the same time. In 1967-68 she worked again with Pierre Henry, as his assistant at the Studio Apsome.

Radigue worked for a year at the New York University School of the Arts in 1970-71. Her music, sourced from an Arp synthesizer and recorded on tape, attracted considerable attention for its sensitive, dappled purity. She was in residence at the electronic music studios of the University of Iowa and California Institute of the Arts in 1973. Becoming a Tibetan Buddhist in 1975, Radigue went into retreat, and stopped composing for a time. When she took up her career again in 1979, she continued to work with the Arp synthesizer which has become her signature. She composed Triptych for the Ballet Thtre de Nancy (choreography by Douglas Dunn), Adnos II & Adnos III, and began the large-scale cycle of works based on the life of the Tibetan master, Milarepa.

In 1984 Radigue received a "bourse la creation" from the French Government to compose Songs of Milarepa, and a "commande de l'tat" in 1986 for the continuation of the Milarepa cycle with Jetsun Mila. Notoriously slow and painstaking in her work, Radigue has produced in the last decade or so on average one major work every three years. Very recently, in response to the demands of musicians worldwide, she has begun creating works for specific performers and instruments together with electronics. The first of these was for bass player Kaspar Toeplitz, and more recently the American cellist Charles Curtis.

The Propensity of Sound festival is presented, in part, through generous support from The Barbara Lee Family Foundation and from CHORA, a project of the Metabolic Studio, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation led by Artist and Foundation Director Lauren Bon. CHORA aims to support the intangibles that precede creativity.

Through extended engagement with new forms of electronic technology, the works of Oliveros, Radigue and Spiegel exhibit innovative and intuitive processes that rethink concepts of musical perception and redefine the traditionally hierarchical roles of performer/listener, professional/amateur, and musician/non-musician.

Buddhist teachings and spiritual experiences are often communicated through experiential songs. Khenpo Rinpoche teaches from the songs of Milarepa, Gtsangpa, and other lineage masters. Recordings of these songs are available from Melissa Kaufold at melt...@burlingtontelecom.net.

Although many of the songs of realization date from the mahasiddha of India, the tradition of composing mystical songs continued to be practiced by tantric adepts in later times and examples of spontaneously composed verses by Tibetan lamas exist up to the present day, an example being Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche.[3] The most famous Tibetan composer of songs of realization is Milarepa, the 11th century Tibetan yogi whose mgur bum, or 'The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa' remains a source of instruction and inspiration for Tibetan Buddhists, particularly those of the kagyu school.

A renowned collection of Buddhist caryagiti, or mystical songs, is the Charyapada, a palm-leaf manuscript of the 8th-12th century text having been found in the early 20th century in Nepal. Another copy of the Charyapada was preserved in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. Miranda Shaw describes how caryagiti were an element of the ritual gathering of practitioners in a tantric feast:

The feast culminates in the performance of tantric dances and music that must never be disclosed to outsiders. The revelers may also improvise "songs of realization" (caryagiti) to express their heightened clarity and blissful raptures in spontaneous verse.[4]

the doha, a song of realization that acknowledges an encounter with a master teacher, traditionally a guru or lama, and explores a particular wisdom or teaching transmitted through a kind of call-and-response duet format.[5]

In the early days of my connection with Shambhala Buddhism, I happened to drop by the local center in Seattle on what turned out to be Milarepa Day, the first full moon of the Tibetan New Year. Something was going on in the main shrine room, and it drew me in. Practitioners were taking turns reading aloud from The Rain of Wisdom, and invited me to join them. I can still feel the magic of that long-ago afternoon, encountering for the first time these now-familiar lineage stories, poems, and songs, spoken in many different voices accompanied by the gentle sound of falling rain outside. The cool and misty weather made the shrine room feel even more welcoming: warm, bright, filled with rich texture and vibrant color. The perfect time, place, and companions to meet with these teachings.

This was certainly true for me on that long-ago day in Seattle. I had just been through months of political turbulence in my workplace, and had recently resigned from a position that had defined my identity for many years. I found myself unable to land another job, struggling with the sudden loss of income and confused about what to do. Uncertainty and disruption were my daily companions, along with their good friends sleeplessness and anxiety. The Milarepa Day practice had an almost magical effect; attuned to its larger view, I was able to appreciate the humor and openness of my situation, rather than being stuck in fear and apprehension.

Once again this year, Shambhalians will gather to practice the Milarepa sadhana, and to read aloud from The Rain of Wisdom. The first full moon comes on March 1st, with some centers celebrating on the day itself, and others over the following weekend to allow more of their members to attend. From Boston to Boulder, Portland to Philadelphia, and all over the world, practitioners will once again encounter the magic of Milarepa Day. And here in my little shrine room, I will be joining in too.

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