your bridge home
True Valor
He has just killed a houseful of his own relatives, and he wants to know if there is any way back.
Marpa made him build the tower, and then made him take it down.
Then build it again. And take it down again. And again.
Carrying the stones up himself. Until the sores on his back opened, and would not close.
And every time it was finished, the teacher found a reason it was wrong. And it came down.
Because of what the student had already done.
This is the part of the story that gives the ordeal its weight.
Milarepa, c. 1028 to 1111, in Tibet, was born into a prosperous family. His father died, and his uncle and aunt took everything: the property, the house, the standing. His mother and sister and he were left as dependents in a place where they had been people of substance, and they were treated accordingly.
The rest of this story, read aloud, and a new one every day.