Despite the many sectarian differences among Tibetan Buddhists, they all unite in holding the Great Yogi Milarepa in the highest reverence and esteem, considering him the prototype of a great saint. However, a disciple of Milarepa, suspecting that his teacher may have been a fully enlightened buddha, once asked the religious leader his true identity. Not flattered, Milarepa explained that there could be no greater insult than to suggest that he was an emanation of a buddha. To do so was to deprecate the excruciating suffering he had to undergo in order to expunge from him the sins of his youth; to do so was to minimize the remarkable efforts he made living in solitary caves and eating only nettles; to do so was to create a barrier to one's own practice. In this extraordinary biography of Milarepa, readers gain a rich and vivid perspective of the celebrated man's struggles, work and insight. Moreover, W.Y. Evans-Wentz offers-through the lens of Milarepa's experiences and teachings-an unprecedented amount of knowledge that accompanies the ancient and universal wisdom that is Buddhism. But the story of Milarepa is not solely about religion; it also addresses the legacy that followed the death of one of the greatest religious gurus, exploring of lineage and legitimacy that were important in the centuries after Milarepa died. Although the second volume in the highly acclaimed tetralogy by Evan-Wentz, this work is undoubtedly the most successful. For this new edition, Donald S. Lopez, Jr., a renowned author, editor, and translator of some twenty books on Buddhism, presents an illuminating and critical foreword. He deftly explores the many aspects of Milarepa's life-and death-updating and contextualizing this crucial part of Evan-Wentz's scholarship within the yoga tradition.
