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Milaräpa
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The most famous Tibetan saint and poet Milaräpa lived in
the years 1040-1123. His biography in the form of a
novel is most probably known by every Tibetan and
throughout centuries, it preserved its liveliness. It
remains “a bottomless treasure house for the human
spirit and a bouquet of precepts which can be only
understood by those who try them in practice“.
W.Y.Evans-Wentz has first published the biography of
Milaräpa in English translation in 1928. Květoslav
Minařík acquainted himself with it in mid 1950’s in form
of a Samizdat translation of one of his disciples.
Květoslav Minařík has included Milaräpa into the
editorial series of his basic books The Direct Path,
because this astonishing life story complements the
teaching of his other writings.
Only now, after decades, we for the first time
officially publish the translation of Wentz’es Milaräpa.
It is enriched not only by the comments of Květoslav
Minařík, but also by a study of Josef Kolmaš on Wentz,
by the Milaräpa-related bibliography and a list of
hundreds of Tibetan words including their Czech
transcription and transliteration.
Excerpt from the introduction:
The reason why I have included the book into the
editorial series The Direct Path is that it complements
the teaching that I present to the readers in my other
books. Therefore everyone could accept it as a part of
this teaching, although it doesn’t seem that it contains
an acceptable system of teaching. However, one thing is
sure: there are people who might in their heart live for
a desire for liberation much more intensely than it
possibly can appear on the surface; for these people the
biography of Milaräpa can mean a lot. As a matter of
fact, the mystic effort is not supposed to make a person
cry over themself. This biography can dry the tears of
those who cry over their suffering which occurred in
their life, due to the fact that they have applied the
moral discipline according to the directions of yoga.
They will see that an expression „the greatest
suffering“ is indeed only an expression, and this is
what I had in mind when I decided to accept this book
into our editorial series. |
