The
Promise
One day, long ago
in the far away land of Tibet, a man named Milarepa decided he wanted to go and visit his master. He knew
that his teacher would be speaking to a large congregation the next evening at a place that was about fifteen miles from here
he lived. As he was going to make the journey by foot, he planned to start off early in the morning.
He knew he would have to travel all day in order to reach the place in time.
But there was another man in the village who was a very cruel and sinister fellow. He was very envious
of Milarepa. He wanted to try and stop him from going to visit his teacher. So he came
to Milarepa’s house late that night when everyone was sleeping. He snuck up behind him and hit him
so hard with a big stick that he broke one of Milarepa’s legs. Normally, travelling fifteen miles by foot in one day would be a difficult task.
After all, this was Tibet and there were not a lot of highways or good roads. And on top of it,
Milarepa now had a broken leg!
But he had made a
promise.
It wasn’t that Milarepa had promised his teacher
that he would come that evening. No. He had made a promise to himself
that he would.
Somebody
asked Milarepa, “What are you going to do?”
He replied, “My
leg is broken, true, but I am not broken. My heart is not broken. My head is not giving
in. So why don’t you help me out? Why don’t you wrap up my leg for
me?”
His friend was quite an expert at wrapping up broken legs.
He brought some oil and some herbs, and made a poultice which he then applied to the injured part of the leg.
Then using bamboo sticks, he set the leg in a type of cast. He said, “Milarepa, your leg is
all set, but you won’t be able to put any weight on it.”
Milarepa said, “I won’t.”
His friend said,
“What will you do with that?”
Milarepa said, “Just help me make the tube and you’ll see.”
So his friend set
about putting two wooden wheels together, and constructed a large round cylindrical type of structure out of them.
He formed a kind of rolling tube.Milarepa said, “Okay, now attach a couple of handles to the inside.
"His friend
said, “Okay.” And he attached two very sturdy handles inside of that structure.
Milarepa said, “Now
set me inside.”
His friend said, “My God, what are you going to do?”
Milarepa said, “I
am going to start rolling in this thing. Thank God my leg is broken. Now I’ll
be able to cover the fifteen miles in just a couple of hours. Otherwise, by foot, it would have taken me
all day. Don’t you worry.”
His friend was very concerned. He
looked Milarepa straight in the eye and said, “Are you sure you can make it safely?”
Very few people can do this, you know.
”Milarepa said, “Well, one of those few is me.
Put me inside, and strap me in.”
So Milarepa was tied into the large wheel structure.
He said, “Okay, now start me rolling.”
His friend gave the
tube a big push, and it began rolling down the hill. Within seconds, that cylinder had worked up into such
a great speed! And that’s the last anyone saw of him.A few hours later, the tubular
structure containing Milarepa came barreling into the town where his spiritual teacher was to speak that night.
One thing he had forgotten to consider was how he was going to stop the wheel when he got there. He
had to hit a tree to stop and he immediately fainted because the impact was so hard.
Some people found
him and brought him into the master’s presence. They told the master the whole story of how Milarepa
had arrived in the town, of how this wheel-type thing had come flying through the air, leaping over everything and finally
how it had hit a tree. And they told him of how they had looked inside, only to find Milarepa totally unconscious.
For the next seven
days, Milarepa remained completely unconscious. He didn’t even once open his eyes. And
during those seven days, his teacher gave lectures every day.
At the end of the week, when the talks were all
complete, a disciple arrived in town and came to see the teacher. He said, “Master, I have taken
such a long time to get here just to be in your presence, but I am sad to say that I have missed all of your lectures.
Is there anyone who could summarize what you have spoken about these last few days?”
Milarepa was lying
nearby on a cot. He had just opened his eyes for the first time in a week. The teacher
pointed to him and said, “He will.”
Everyone was totally surprised because they knew
that Milarepa had been unconscious during all of the lectures. But it is said that Milarepa was able to
recount the contents of all of those lectures within a matter of minutes, and that the man picked all of that knowledge instantly.
And it is also said
that at the end of those seven days, Milarepa’s leg was completely healed and he was able to get up and walk with no
pain.
Just as God has no limit, so the consciousness and the desire
to be with the higher mind has no limit.
