Tao Te Ching
Marpa Lotsawa
1012 – 1097 CE
Founder of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, teacher to the great Milarepa, businessman, farmer, family man and exemplar of enlightenment in everyday life; Marpa made many, perilous journeys to India and Nepal where he studied Vajrayana teachings, translating and bringing them back to Tibet. Wild, uncompromising, and outrageous; he flourished on physical dangers, psychological and spiritual challenge bringing “tasting the flavor of realization” into his translations that went to the depth of understanding rather than staying on the surface of the words.
Lineages
Business Tibetan Vajrayana Translators
Eras
Chinese
5 Kingdom of Dali 大理国 (937 – 1253 CE)Northern Song (960 – 1127 CE)
Liao dynasty (907 – 1125 CE)
Western Xia 西夏 (1038 – 1227 CE)
Unlisted Sources
Quotes by Marpa Lotsawa (17 quotes)
“Does the outer world distract you with disturbing thoughts? Do fear and longing sap your strength?”
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“Do not cling to one side or one direction.
Look into the midst of the space of simplicity.”
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“Knowing the phenomenal world is the nature of mind,
Meditation requires no further antidote.”
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“Just like a fearless lion,
Let your elephant mind wander free.”
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“The three worlds are primordially pure,
Ultimately, there is nothing more to understand.”
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“Mind shines as bodhicitta... the innate essence is naturally luminous.”
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“These days people are extremely jealous. If this is repeated to anyone other than you, friends, virtue will not flourish and defilement will increase. Therefore, keep this secret from ordinary people.”
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“With the realization that appearance is mind,
There is no difference between friends and enemies.”
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“Wealth is ownerless, like undiscovered riches underground.”
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“death is characteristic of all composite things... grieving cannot bring our son any benefit and only causes you pain... O Dagmema, clear away your grief for our son.”
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“Tilopa is no other than the buddha.”
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“Naropa is a torch of dharma.”
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“Mind is like the sky
Don't corrupt it with a mist of conceptualizations.”
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“Through an authentic consort,
One's ability becomes developed.”
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“Though I enjoy sense pleasures, I have these confidences that I am not fettered by them.”
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“Even when passion and aggression arise, I have no anxiety. I have confidence in knowing them as self-liberated.”
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Quotes about Marpa Lotsawa (2 quotes)
“A flower blooming in the sky,
The son of a barren woman rides a horse...
He kills his enemy in the space of dharmata...
The sun and moon dance, blowing trumpets.”
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“Marpa is an example of someone who was on his way to becoming a successful self-made man... It was Marpa's intention to study and collect texts unknown in Tibet, bring them home, and translate them, thus establishing himself as a great scholar-translator [but meeting his teacher Naropa,] he had to give up everything he had, not just his material possessions, but whatever he was holding back in his mind had to go. It was a continual process of opening and surrender.”
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