Yogi Milarepa

One day, Milarepa returns to his cave after going out to gather firewood. When he enters, he discovers that it is filled with demons. They are everywhere, settled in his meditation space as if they were at home.

His first reaction is anger. He immediately wants them gone and starts chasing them. The more he gets angry, struggles against them, and tries to drive them out, the more powerful the demons seem to become. They do not retreat; on the contrary, they appear even more present and harder to dislodge.

Milarepa then tries other methods. In some versions of the story, he recites formulas to make them disappear. But nothing changes. The demons remain, as if they were feeding on all the energy he spends fighting them.

He then decides to speak to them and teach them Buddhism. He explains compassion, kindness, impermanence, and the nature of existence. But even this approach fails: the demons listen without moving, and none of them leaves the cave.

Milarepa then understands that he is still trying to make them leave. Even his wisest words conceal a desire to control the situation. So he stops fighting and accepts the possibility that the demons may stay.

He looks at them one by one, bows to them, and opens himself to what they may have to teach him. From that moment on, almost all the demons disappear. Only one remains, the largest and most terrifying.

Milarepa then gives up all resistance. He approaches the demon and offers it his entire body, as if saying: “If you want to devour me, go ahead.” He places his head inside its mouth.

The demon then bows and dissolves into space. Milarepa did not defeat it by being more violent or more powerful. He stopped feeding it the fear, anger, and resistance that seemed to make it stronger and stronger.

This story can be understood as an image of our fears, our wounds, and the parts of ourselves we refuse to look at. The angrier we become with them and the more we try to push them away, the more space they can take up.

By accepting to observe them with clarity, gentleness, and compassion, we can begin to understand what they are trying to show us. What terrifies us gradually loses its power, not because we destroyed it, but because we stopped feeding it.

I admit that I asked ChatGPT to write this part based on several sources, and I find the result quite satisfying.

Sometimes I do slightly strange thought experiments, and I think: imagine if social services or psychiatrists had already existed back then and had come to meet Yogi Milarepa to offer him « help »

They would probably have arrived at his cave and seen that there was absolutely nothing inside except the remains of a guy who had let himself go a little too far. And then? They might have realized that they were clearly dealing with a serious case: someone in a terrible situation and very probably « schizophrenic ». So they would have taken him away to get help and receive treatment, with or without Mr. Milarepa's consent. And that is understandable, because with people like that, you never know what might happen.

After that, everything would have gone back to normal! Mr. Milarepa would have received support from his loved ones and regular follow-up with a psychiatrist, in the form of a 15-minute consultation once a month to decide whether or not to increase the dose of the antipsychotic that would have allowed him to correct all the trauma and the walls he had built in his mind after all the experiences he had gone through and that had made him who he was. And he could have gone back to living a normal life, like most people his age at the time.

It's wonderful! I don't know if we realize how lucky and privileged we are in 2026 to have access to this blessing that is modern psychiatry!