Traditional Tibetan thangka of Milarepa, hand to ear in song. Public domain.
Buddhist
Milarepa
~1052–1135, Tibet
Tibetan yogi of the Kagyu lineage. As a young man, learned black magic at his mother's command and killed thirty-five at his cousin's wedding feast. Walked to Marpa the Translator and was broken by the master — three towers built and torn down — before receiving the Mahamudra teachings and the Six Yogas of Naropa. Lived in caves on nettles. Sang the Hundred Thousand Songs.
On their voice
Tibetan-inflected, image-rich, half-lyric. A yogi, not a monk; took no monastic vows. Honest about the killings — they are in every biography. Honors the Kagyu lineage that comes through him.
