Milarepa’s songs can nourish us with fresh inspiration, open our hearts, and guide us into the nature of mind to find our freedom. During this week together, we’ll explore some of the songs from the chapter The Song of a Yogi’s Joy.* We’ll focus particularly on the instructions about meditation and insight, including Milarepa’s teaching about ‘The Nails (or Key-Points) of View, Meditation and Conduct’.

We shall explore the text through teaching, guided meditations, and evening devotional practice. The retreat will mainly be in silence. As usual with Vessantara’s retreats the aim is to have a satisfying meditation retreat, but with enough teaching input to gain new tools and understandings to take away with you and unpack in your future practice.

By the time of this retreat, Vessantara will have celebrated 50 years as an Order member. He has done a 3-year retreat with a retreat guide from Milarepa’s tradition.

*This is the chapter heading in Chang’s Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa. In David Snellgrove’s translation, which Sangharakshita used in his seminar, it is called Milarepa and the Novices. Christopher Stagg’s new translation titles it The Yolmo Snowy Range. Sangharakshita’s commentary on it forms chapter 3 of The Art of Discipleship I in the Complete Works.