MILAREPA'S LIFE
(La vita di Milarepa)
Carla Gianotti

RIGHTS AVAILABLE 2001

The author

Carla Gianotti is a scholar of Buddhism and an expert in Tibetan culture. She hold courses on Buddhism and Tibetan language and literature in various Italian institutions.

The publication

Milarepa (1040-1123) is the best loved Tibetan yogin and one of the greatest spiritual leaders of all time. A spirit free from convention and alien to all religious conformity, his greatness as a mystic is founded, as sometimes happens, on his being outside of the religious structures of his time. His manner, his happiness and his role as a poetic bard arouse in those who encounter him amazement and wonder, or even perplexity and derision. Even so, Milarepa never leaves anyone indifferent since his very image is in itself a provocation aimed at challenging the ordinary vision of the world and the presumed truth that such a vision implies. This biography of Milarepa is the first complete and comprehensive translation in Italian of the XII chapter, from the Tibetan text of gTsang smyong Heruka.