Milarepa - His Teachings

Milarepa

Family and Possessions

A married couple of the village Mang Yul, had no children and invited Milarepa to their house when he came that way for alms. They sought to adopt him into their family and said: "We have a good strip of land which we can give you; you can then marry an attractive woman, and soon you will have relatives."

Milarepa replied, "I have no need of these things and I will tell you why:"

Home and land at first seem pleasant;
But they are like a rasp filing away
one's body, word and mind!
How toilsome ploughing and digging can become!
And when the seeds you planted never sprout,
You have worked nought!
In the end it becomes a land of misery-
Desolate and unprotected-
A place for hungry spirits, and of haunting ghosts!
When I think of the warehouse
For storing sinful deeds,
It gnaws at my heart,
In such a prison of transiency I will not stay,
I have no wish to join your family!