Milarepa (Primary Title)
Unknown (Artist)
Tibet’s first native-born Buddhist adept and founder of the Kagyu order, Milarepa (possibly 1040–1123) preached through folk songs and poems, making complex Buddhist ideas accessible to ordinary people. He is instantly recognizable by his hand-to-ear gesture, referencing both his devotional singing and the oral transmission of tantric teachings. Like Padmasambhava, Virupa, and other Vajrayana Buddhist masters, he was something of a mystic wild man and possessed extraordinary powers. Seated on an antelope skin, he holds a human-skull cup. This sculpture once contained printed scrolls and other consecration items—including a symbolic spine of wood with an attached rock-crystal heart—intended to infuse the image with Milarepa’s virtual presence.
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