Summary: Comparing Milarepa And Morinaga

Throughout buddhist practice, there have been various buddhist figures. However, two buddhist figures, which set themselves apart from other buddhist figures are, respectfully, Soko Morinaga and Milarepa. Although there are differences between Soko Morinaga and Milarepa, there are similarities between them. They both learned and discovered different meanings of what it means to practice buddhism. Therefore, an in depth discussion of these two buddhist figures from differing buddhist traditions (i.e., Morinaga, Zen Buddhism; Milarepa, Vajrayana Buddhism) will aid in comparing their spiritual paths, which both Milarepa and Morinaga underwent in order to attain enlightenment. These two buddhist figures sought out buddhism for their own, different,

At first Soko Morinaga did not understand what the roshi was trying to teach him because of how the roshi contradicted his teachings. For example, when Zuigan Roshi told Miss Okamoto that due to Morinaga not having kensho, he could not speak to anyone; Morinaga did not understand. Later, Morinaga found that he had kensho all along; kensho being the “verification of one’s own essential nature” in Zen. In comparison, Milarepa came to Marpa whilst in a major state of remorse and regret, which stemmed from negative karma. By putting Milarepa through maltreatment, it taught him a valuable lesson that to rid oneself of negative karma, one must not surrender to the rigorous ordeals which one is given. Milarepa had been spiritually lost in trying to get rid of his accumulated ‘bad’ karma, yet he found his rightful path through enduring Marpa’s ordeals and having a persistent thirst for Marpa’s teaching. Milarepa would have been liberated from cyclic existence if it were not for the false pretenses given to him by Dagmema. Therefore, Morinaga and Milarepa learned and grew spiritually through indirect lessons given to them by their spiritual

Both of those buddhist figures found it difficult to adjust to the life, which their spiritual leader put in place; yet they remained persistent until they reached enlightenment. The thirst for religion fueled Morinaga’s persistence, and the thirst for liberation provided Milarepa with the energy to continue his path to enlightenment. Morinaga may have seemingly experienced a less negative and enduring experience on the path to enlightenment, as opposed to Milarepa; nonetheless, they both pursued buddhist knowledge and practice. Therefore, having followed the same spiritual path differed for them both, yet it allowed them to spiritually and personally grow, which is the goal of