Kundalini Splendor

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The Song of Perfect Assurance (to the Demons)

By Milarepa
(1052 - 1135)

(Milarepa was one of the greatest of the yogi saints of ancient Tibet. He is known to us today primarily for his poems, known as the "Songs of Milarepa.")


English version by Garma C. C. Chang



Obeisance to the perfect Marpa.

I am the Yogi who perceives the Ultimate Truth.
In the Origin of the Unborn, I first gain assurance;
On the Path of Non-extinction, slowly
I perfect my power;
With meaningful symbols and words
Flowing from my great compassion,
I now sing this song
From the absolute realm of Dharma Essence.

Because your sinful Karma has created
Dense blindness and impenetrable obstruction,
You cannot understand the meaning
Of Ultimate Truth.
Listen, therefore, to the Expedient Truth.

In their spotless, ancient Sutras,
All the Buddhas in the past, repeatedly
Admonished with the eternal Truth of Karma --
That every sentient being is one's kinsman.
This is eternal Truth which never fails.
Listen closely to the teaching of Compassion.

I, the Yogi who developed by his practices,
Know that outer hindrances are but a shadow-show,
And the phantasmal world
A magic play of mind unborn.

By looking inward into the mind is seen
Mind-nature -- without substance, intrinsically void.
Through meditation in solitude, the grace
Of the Succession Gurus and the teaching
Of the great Naropa are attained.
The inner truth of the Buddha
Should be the object of meditation.

By the gracious instruction of my Guru,
Is the abstruse inner meaning of Tantra understood.
Through the practice of Arising and
Perfecting Yoga,
Is the Vital Power engendered
And the inner reason for the microcosm realized.
Thus in the outer world I do not fear
The illusory obstacles.

To the Great Divine Lineage I belong,
With innumerable yogis great as all Space.

When in one's own mind one ponders
On the original state of Mind,
Illusory thoughts of themselves dissolve
Into the Realm of Dharmadhatu.
Neither afflicter nor afflicted can be seen.
Exhaustive study of the Sutras
Teaches us no more than this.


"Neither afflicter nor afficted can be seen."

In this line we encounter a great puzzle. Many traditions (particularly those of the East) posit such oneness of perpetrator and victim, yet they also present us with a clear moral code as a basis for individual and group action. I personally believe that it is essential to make distinctions as to right and wrong action (though realizing that truth is never simple, and that light and shadow are always intermingled), though accepting that--ultimately--we are all one being. It is almost as though we are asked to hold two contrary views at once--the ultimate and the provisional, one a final perspective, the other a code for daily conduct.


{poem from the Poetry Chaikhana)