Tsangnyön Heruka (Tibetan: གཙང་སྨྱོན་ཧེ་རུ་ཀ), also known as the “Madman of Tsang,” was the first person to organize and rewrite Milarepa’s life story into two separate, well-structured texts. Before him, Milarepa’s biography existed as a collection of scattered narratives. Tsangnyön Heruka selected and shaped them into two major works:
- The Life of Milarepa, later translated and published in English by Penguin Books.
- The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, translated in 1962 by Garma C. C. Chang.
Despite the title, “Hundred Thousand Songs” རྗེ་བཙུན་མི་ལ་རས་པའི་མགུར་འབུམ doesn’t mean an exact number—it simply means “many” or “all.” This work is said to include all the teachings Milarepa gave throughout his life.
By removing the repetitive and complex tales found in the song collection, Tsangnyön Heruka created a smooth and flowing narrative that traces Milarepa’s journey from birth to his spiritual training, enlightenment, and final passing into nirvana.
A Foundation for Tibetan Literature and Buddhist Studies
Milarepa’s biography has been one of the most influential texts for studying Tibetan religion and literature in the West, especially since the 19th century. It was one of the first complete Tibetan works ever translated into English, and scholars quickly recognized its deep literary value.
Today, The Life of Milarepa is not just a spiritual text—it’s often praised as a masterpiece of world literature. It also became a model for future Tibetan Buddhist biographers.
In Tibetan tradition, the most common form of biography is called “Namthar” (རྣམ་ཐར), which means “complete liberation.” These biographies focus on the life of religious masters, emphasizing their spiritual practices and awakening.
A Genre of Miracles and Teachings
Like many Tibetan biographies, Milarepa’s life story 米拉日巴传 is filled with visions, miracles, and supernatural events. This has led scholars to compare them to the hagiographies of Christian saints in medieval Europe.
However, Tibetan biographies vary widely in style and content. One popular way to categorize them is into three types:
- Outer Biography – Focuses on the person’s daily life: places visited, people met.
- Inner Biography – Focuses on their religious life: teachings received, meditation retreats.
- Secret Biography – Describes mystical visions and experiences from deep meditation.
Milarepa’s biography doesn’t fit neatly into just one of these categories—it includes elements of all three.
Turning Biography into Autobiography
One of Tsangnyön Heruka’s greatest literary innovations was writing Milarepa’s life story in the first-person voice, as if Milarepa himself were telling it. This powerful storytelling method made the biography feel more personal and real.
Interestingly, strong evidence suggests that Tsangnyön Heruka believed himself to be a reincarnation of Milarepa. His followers promoted this idea too. So, the text can be understood not just as a creative biography, but also as a genuine autobiography of Milarepa, told by his later incarnation—a form of writing deeply rooted in Buddhist traditions of past life storytelling.
Inspired by the Buddha’s Own Life Story
Tsangnyön Heruka also borrowed structure and ideas from traditional biographies of the Buddha. He divided Milarepa’s life into twelve major deeds, similar to the “Twelve Deeds of the Buddha” found in many Tibetan texts.
This idea was introduced in the story when Rechungpa, one of Milarepa’s closest disciples, asks him to recount his life for the benefit of others—just as Buddhas of the past had done.
In the text, Milarepa’s life is presented in twelve chapters, grouped as:
- 3 Ordinary Deeds
- 9 Supreme Acts of Peace and Liberation
However, these chapters are more symbolic than literal parallels to the Buddha’s deeds.
The Opening Words: “Thus I Have Heard”
Just like many Buddhist scriptures, The Life of Milarepa begins with the famous phrase, “Thus I have heard”, traditionally spoken by Ananda, the Buddha’s attendant. These words signal that what follows is not just a story, but sacred teaching—the words of an enlightened being.
In the same way, modern readers of Milarepa’s biography accept it as his true teaching. It becomes not just a life story, but a spiritual scripture, similar in form and message to the Lalitavistara Sutra, a Mahayana Buddhist text in which the Buddha tells his life story in response to requests from gods and disciples.
If the Buddha’s life became his Dharma (teaching), then Milarepa’s life also becomes Dharma—a guide for others seeking enlightenment.
Exploring the Many Dimensions of The Life of Milarepa
There are many ways to read The Life of Milarepa. One traditional approach is to see it as a guide to the Buddhist path to liberation. But for modern readers, it’s also a rich resource for learning about 11th-century Tibetan society—at least through the lens of how it was imagined 400 years later. The text offers vivid glimpses into village life, social structures, marriage customs, travel habits, architectural styles, and even how religious texts were considered family treasures.
Everyday Language, Deep Philosophy, and Satire
Throughout the story, Milarepa sometimes uses simple, everyday language to explain complex Buddhist teachings. At the same time, we find themes of anti-intellectualism—like the depiction of his enemy, a vain scholar—and a strong critique of religious hierarchies, such as when Milarepa calls a wealthy monk, Barilotsa, a fraud. These views likely reflect the outlook of Tsangnyön Heruka, the author who wrote the biography in the 15th century.
The text also showcases Tibetan culture’s love of humor and irony. For instance, after making his disciples believe they would inherit a treasure of gold, Milarepa’s final words were:
“Whoever says Milarepa has gold—stuff their mouth with dung.”
Songs of Realization: The Heart of Milarepa’s Teachings
One of the most beloved aspects of the biography, especially in The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa (Tibetan: མགུར་འབུམ), is the beautiful spiritual poetry embedded throughout the story. These are known as “Songs of Realization” (mgur), and they are spontaneous expressions of meditative insight and spiritual awakening. Milarepa used these songs as one of his main teaching methods.
This poetic form continues the oral tradition of early Tibetan verse, and was later influenced by Indian tantric poetry styles, such as:
- Doha (songs of awakening)
- Vajragiti (diamond songs)
- Caryagiti (songs of practice)
Great Indian masters like Naropa used these forms, and Milarepa and his teacher Marpa were the first to widely adopt them in Tibet.
Milarepa was known from a young age for his beautiful voice, and he blended Tibetan folk song and epic verse with profound spiritual themes. His verses became a unique form of vernacular spiritual poetry.
Poetry and Style in Later Centuries
From the 13th century onwards, Tibetan poetry evolved into a more ornate style influenced by classical Indian literature. Authors borrowed techniques from Indian poets like Dandin (7th century), especially his famous work Kavyadarsha (“Mirror of Poetry”).
Though this newer, decorative style is very different from Milarepa’s simple and raw expression, Tsangnyön Heruka acknowledged its appeal. He wrote that he included such verses at the end of the text to offer “a feast of beauty for those who love elegant writing.”
The Hidden Author: Tsangnyön Heruka
Interestingly, The Life of Milarepa doesn’t directly name its author. Instead, at the end of the story, the writer signs off using a nickname: “Drubchen Nyüpe Drenkyen”, meaning “yogi adorned with bone ornaments.” This was a title often given to Indian tantric adepts—figures who lived outside the norms of society, far from monasteries and villages.
This alias caused confusion among early translators. Some thought the first-person narration meant Milarepa had written his own autobiography, while others assumed it was authored by his disciple Rechungpa. Only in the 1960s did scholars confirm that the true author was Tsangnyön Heruka, whose name means “The Madman of Tsang.”
The Madman of Tsang: Life and Legacy
Born in 1452, Tsangnyön Heruka lived during a time of religious sectarian conflict in central and western Tibet. “Tsang” refers to the region in western Tibet, which forms part of his name.
This period, however, was also a time of spiritual experimentation and innovation. Tsangnyön Heruka was considered one of several “crazy yogis” of his era. These were highly realized practitioners who acted outside social conventions. Their behavior was seen as expressing “crazy wisdom”—a deep understanding that transcended dualistic ideas like good and evil, or sacred and mundane.
Modern scholars often interpret this behavior as a reaction to the growing institutional power of Tibetan monasteries. Instead, yogis like Tsangnyön Heruka embraced the lifestyle of wandering ascetics, much like Milarepa had done centuries earlier.
A Life of Rebellion and Spiritual Practice
Though Tsangnyön Heruka was ordained as a monk in his youth, he gave up his vows at age 21. He received teachings from masters of many Tibetan Buddhist lineages, but he was especially devoted to the oral transmission lineage of Rechungpa, which traced back from Naropa to Marpa to Milarepa.
He spent many years in solitary retreat, often displaying wild and provocative behavior. One story says that when he returned from the forests of southern Tibet, his body was smeared with ash and blood, and his hair braided with human fingers and toes. Locals called him a “madman” (smyon pa), and he later gained the title “Blood-Drinker King” (khrag ’thung rgyal po)—a translation of the term Heruka, the wrathful tantric deity.
Rebellious but Respected
Despite rejecting the authority of religious institutions, Tsangnyön Heruka built close ties with powerful political leaders in western Tibet who supported his spiritual projects.
He traveled to Nepal three times, helping to restore major Buddhist pilgrimage sites like Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu. He was even invited to mediate political conflicts between Tibet and Nepal.
But his most lasting achievement is literary: the biographies of Marpa and Milarepa. Legend says that a vision of Naropa inspired him to write Milarepa’s story. More practically, Tsangnyön Heruka may have wanted to solidify the authority of the early Kagyu masters, their teachings, and their unique yogic practices.
Publishing a Spiritual Classic
The author tells us that he finished writing The Life of Milarepa in 1488. He was the first to publish and distribute this story widely. He had it carefully carved into woodblocks, then printed on long paper scrolls—a method that was just beginning to spread in Tibet at the time.
He then sent copies to religious and political leaders across the region. This wide distribution likely helped the story gain its lasting fame.
From the beginning, it was Tsangnyön Heruka’s intention to create a text that could inspire people from all walks of life—from kings and ministers to monks and ordinary householders. His goal was to help readers gain faith, accumulate virtue, and make progress on the path to Buddhahood.
More than 500 years later, The Life of Milarepa continues to do just that.
The Life of Milarepa — A Journey Through Translation
The Life of Milarepa was first translated into a foreign language in 1618, when it appeared in Mongolian. Over the next few centuries, Milarepa and his biography became important subjects of study for scholars in Europe and North America interested in Tibetan Buddhism.
By the late 1800s, the text had become a major reference for two influential Tibetan-English dictionaries:
- H. A. Jaschke, a Moravian missionary, used it for his 1881 dictionary.
- Sarat Chandra Das, a British spy and scholar, included it in his 1902 edition.
In 1925, French Tibetologist Jacques Bacot published a broad but incomplete translation titled The Crimes, Trials, and Nirvana of the Tibetan Poet Milarepa. While he left out the final chapter describing Milarepa’s death, his work was among the first comprehensive biographies of a Tibetan figure in a European language—a remarkable achievement for its time.
First English Translation: A Spiritual Collaboration
The first English version of Milarepa’s life was published in 1928, titled Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa. It was the second book in a four-part series edited by W. Y. Evans-Wentz, an American spiritual seeker and self-taught scholar. Interestingly, Evans-Wentz didn’t know Tibetan.
Instead, he relied on Lama Kazi Dawa Samdup (1868–1922), a respected Tibetan scholar and head of the Bhutia Boarding School in Gangtok, who later taught at Calcutta University.
Dawa Samdup had been translating Milarepa’s biography on and off from 1902 to 1917, well before Bacot’s French version. However, Evans-Wentz only became interested after Dawa Samdup’s death in 1922. In 1924, he acquired the manuscript from Dawa Samdup’s family and published it four years later.
Although this version was the first full English translation (only missing the opening verses), its language was heavily influenced by Evans-Wentz’s preference for biblical, mystical prose, which he added to Dawa Samdup’s more faithful translation. This gave the book a spiritual, sometimes overly grand tone.
A New Generation: Lhalungpa and Quintman
In 1977, a new translation by Lobsang Lhalungpa (1924–2008) helped Milarepa’s story reach a wider Western audience. Lhalungpa was the son of a senior Tibetan lama and translated from a Buddhist perspective. While his work occasionally misinterpreted some Buddhist terms or took creative liberties with poetry, his version shaped how a whole generation of readers came to know Milarepa.
All these translations were based on a Tibetan text originally compiled by Tsangnyön Heruka, titled The Liberation Story and All-Knowing Path of the Great Yogi Milarepa (藏文原名见上文). Although the original woodblock printings of this version have been lost, nearly twenty different printings were known to exist in Tibet during the mid-20th century.
The Penguin Edition by Andrew Quintman
A more recent and scholarly English translation was done by Andrew Quintman, published by Penguin Books. Quintman based his work on the critical edition by J. W. de Jong, which itself drew from four regional Tibetan versions:
- Druk Spungthang
- Tenkyé Ling
- Po
- Trashi Lhünpo
Quintman also referred to what may be the oldest surviving manuscript, from Ron Ösal Phuk, as well as the famous Derge edition and several modern Chinese reprints.
To deepen his understanding, he compared these with even earlier related texts, including:
- The Twelve Great Disciples
- The River of Blessings That Dispels the Heat of Delusion
- The Life of the Yogi Milarepa: Lamp of Sun and Moon, written by Yungton Shije Rikhropa (born around 1320)
Translation as Interpretation
Many people point out that translation can never fully capture the original. The writer Jorge Luis Borges once said, “Every translation is a version—not the thing itself… but one in an endless chain of possibilities.”
In this way, each translation of Milarepa’s life is just one version—a way to bring his powerful Tibetan poetry and teachings into clear, accessible English, even if no version can ever be fully complete.