The Master’s Final Teaching

~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

One of my favourite stories of the great Tibetan master Milarepa concerns the last words he spoke to his student and Dhamma-heir, Gampopa. When Gampopa finally took leave of his master after many years of hard practice, he requested the blessing of a final teaching. To his dismay, Milerapa refused, saying only, ‘What you need is more effort, not more teachings.’ But as Gampopa crossed the narrow stream in front of his master’s cave, knowing that it would be the last time, he heard Milarepa shouting out to him, ‘Wait! I do have one last very profound secret instruction’. Gampopa turned around joyfully. At that moment Milarepa bent over and pulled up his ragged robe, exposing buttocks as calloused and pockmarked as a horse’s hoof, evidence of a lifetime of seated meditation on bare rock. ‘Son of my heart!’, he shouted, ‘this is my final instruction. Just do it!’

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"Food for the Heart", a series of Dhamma teachings handwritten weekly is posted on the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives page with Ajahn's kind permission.

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For other teachings by Ven. Ajahn Jayasāro, please visit the Panyaprateep Foundation website.