With the reissue of this unusual biography of a great Tibetan religious leader who lived more than 800 years ago, all four volumes of the late Dr. Evans-Wentz's noted Tibetan series become available in Galaxy Books. Despite the many sectarian differences between the numerous sects of Tibetan Buddhism, they all unite in holding the Great Yogi Milarepa in the highest reverence and esteem, and consider him the prototype of everything that a great saint should be. In Milarepa's life, the teachings of all the great yogis of India, including the greatest of them known to history, Gautama the Buddha, are exemplified. Remarkable parallels, too, may be drawn between Milarepa's teachings and these given the world by another Great Master of Life in the Sermon on the Mount. And in his preface to the second edition of this work, which appeared in 1958, the editor points also to similarities between the life and teachings of Milarepa and the greatest of modern India's spiritual leaders, Mahatma Gandhi. In making this translation from the original Tibetan, the late Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup, who was Dr. Evans-Wentz's Tibetan guru for many years, wished to show to cultured Westerm eyes "one of our great teachers, as he actually lived, in a biography of him, much of which is couched in the words of his own mouth and the remainder in the words of his disciple Rechung, who knew him in the flesh." Dr. Evans-Wentz contributed a highly informative introduction, and liberal explanatory notes.
