A Biography of Milarepa, Buddhist Apostle of Tibet

TIBET, 14TH/15TH CENTURY

Details

A Biography of Milarepa, Buddhist Apostle of Tibet
Tibet, 14th/15th Century
With six lines of text in black ink on both sides of leaves of mulberry paper, each containing 80-90 characters of bold Uchen script between red margin rulings, except the first 3 leaves with five lines of slightly larger script, all between wood covers; complete
4 x 22½ in. (10 x 57 cm.)

Lot Essay

The full title of this work is: rNal 'byor gyi dbang phyug dam pa rje btsun mi la ras pa'i rnam thar thar pa dang thams cad mkhyen pa'i lam ston bzhugs so, "Biography of the Holy Venerable Milarepa, Lord of Yogins, in which is set out the path to total omniscience and liberation." Jetsun Milarepa (1040-1123), otherwise known as 'Laughing Vajra,' was the most renowned of Tibetan ascetics. As a disciple of the translator Marpa, founder of the Kagyu lineage, Milarepa was the epitome of the perfect disciple, practitioner and teacher. His 'biography' was compiled around the end of the twelfth century by Tsang Nyön Heruka, more popularly known as 'the mad yogin from Tsang,' and is one of the great classics of Tibetan literature.

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