Marpa Lotsāwa Series

With great courage, you travelled many times to the noble land.

With great wisdom, you realized the nature of all phenomena.

With great diligence, you raised the victory banner of accomplishment.

Great lotsāwa, at your feet I pray.

Texts by and about the great Marpa Chökyi Lodrö (mar pa chos kyi blo gros, c.1012–1097), renowned as the founder of the Marpa Kagyü tradition and teacher of Milarepa:

Advice

The Nail of Taking Death as a Friend

This brief instruction on using death as an opportunity to recognize luminosity and attain the dharmakāya is part of a collection of instructions known as the five nails that dispel hindrances (gegs sel gzer lnga), a teaching that derives from Nāropa.

Advice Dying & the Bardos 21 Sep 2023

Guru Yoga

A Combined Guru Yoga for Marpa, Mila, and Gampopa

by Situ Pema Nyinjé Wangpo

A simple practice of guru yoga focussing on three central figures of the Kagyü tradition: Marpa Lotsāwa, Milarepa and Gampopa.

Guru Yoga Kagyü 25 Oct 2021

A Drop of Sunshine: A Guru Yoga for Lord Marpa

by Jokyab Pema Trinlé Nyingpo

This guru yoga for Lord Marpa Chökyi Lodrö (c.1012–1097), together with his four main disciples (Tsurtön Wanggi Dorje, Ngok Chöku Dorje, Metön Tsönpo and Milarepa), is part of a series of three guru yoga practices focussing on Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa.

Guru Yoga 1 Nov 2021

Guru Yoga of Lord Marpa Lotsāwa

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

Jamyang Khyentse composed this guru yoga practice focusing on Marpa Lotsāwa during a visit to the great translator's former residence at Sekhar in Lhodrak.

Guru Yoga 17 Nov 2019

Vajra Net: The Ancillary Preliminary and Concluding Practices for the Three Drops, the Guru Yogas for Venerable Marpa, Mila, and Gampopa

by Jokyab Pema Trinlé Nyingpo

Additional liturgies to accompany the same author's three guru yoga practices dedicated to Marpa Lotsāwa, Milarepa and Gampopa—A Drop of Sunshine, A Drop of Moonlight, and A Drop of Jewels.

Guru Yoga Kagyü 1 Nov 2021

Prayers

Prayer to Lord Marpa, Consort and Heirs

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

This prayer invokes the great translator Marpa Chökyi Lodrö, together with his wife Dakmema, his physical heir Darma Dodé and his foremost spiritual heir Milarepa. Jamyang Khyentse composed the text while on a visit to the site of Marpa's estate in Lhodrak, most likely in 1956.

Prayers 27 Jan 2021

Song of Devotion: A Prayer to Lord Marpa Lotsāwa

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

This prayer was composed in 1940, following a visionary encounter with the great translator and forefather of the Kagyü tradition and the surge of devotion that this vision inspired.

Prayers 25 Feb 2020

The Melody of Complete Accomplishment: A Prayer to Those Praised as Ornaments of the Practice Lineage

by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo

Jamyang Khyentse says that he wrote this four-verse prayer to the founders of the practice lineage, i.e., Marpa Lotsāwa, Milarepa and Gampopa, in the first month of the Wood Ox year (1865) following a dream.

Prayers Kagyü 1 Nov 2021

Songs

A Spiritual Song on the Eight Supreme Difficulties

by Nāropa

A song about eight supreme difficulties on the spiritual path, said to have been inscribed on the handle of Nāropa's parasol, followed by two verses that Nāropa sang during a gaṇacakra feast.

Songs and Poems 23 Apr 2024

Marpa Lotsāwa Series

Advice

Guru Yoga

Prayers

Songs

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