The Life of Milarepa
(Book Quiz Study Guide)
Instructions: the following are some themes that you should ponder and be able to respond to Thursday on the book quiz. In addition you should be able to identify the main characters, places, and other significant details for the matching section (ten terms).
- A central theme to The Life of Milarepa is the working out of karma (e.g. the consequences of past deeds). Like all many stories about religious saints the final conclusion is not in question, but rather the emphasis is on the process to that conclusion. Keeping the nature of the various struggles overcome by Milarepa in mind, select several scenes from his life which you think make The Life of Milarepa such a potent story while highlighting how it reveals fundamental characteristics about Tibetan life, culture and history.
- There can be little question that at its base, The Life of Milarepa is a religious text, yet the story also encodes the cultural values of Tibetan civilization by inculcating the notions of a stratified religious order, a patriarchy, and the extended family structure. Select several themes or one or two scenes which you feel typify Tibetan society, and describe why you feel they are central to Tibetan society.
- As Lobsang P. Lhalungpa indicates in the introduction to The Life of Milarepa "the fulfillment of a seeker's higher aspirations is not so much dependent on accumulating knowledge as on overcoming mental obstacles and gaining insight into the truth in oneself" (xiii). In what ways does Milarepa's lessons under Marpa reflect this?
According to a blessing Milarepa uttered towards the end of his life, anyone who but hears the name Milarepa even once attracts an instant blessing and will not take rebirth in a lower state of existence during seven consecutive lifetimes.