Milarepa is a famous Himalayan Yogi and teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. During his life he composed hundreds of songs and poems about the dharma and the beauty of his words are still admired today.

This thangka painting describes one of the main episodes of the life of the Buddhist poet.

Milarepa meditated for six years in a cave in the mountains of Nepal where he attained enlightenment.

Here he is depicted in an elegant and relaxed pose. His skin is pale and grey because of his diet based only on green nettles.

The legend says that one day he was disturbed during his meditation by a deer. The dear was terrified so Milarepa patted the deer to comfort it and began to sing about violence and compassion.

Suddenly a dog that was chasing the deer appears. Milarepa starts singing a song about anger to the dog and the dog laid down with her back against the deer.

The dog had a red collar so Milarepa knew that the master was about to come. In fact a man suddenly rush into the scene.

Milarepa tries to stops the hunter from killing the deer but the hunter shoots an arrow at Milarepa.

However the arrow could not hit the yogi.

Milarepa, without showing any anger, starts singing a song. In the song Milarepa asks: “What life could a hunter that kills a man expect next? Would he be a deer or a dog?”.

The hunter moved by the words became his disciple and the song of the deer, the song of the dog, and the song of the hunter became very famous.