Marpa Lotsawa

Marpa Lotsāwa (མར་པ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་, 1012–1097), sometimes known fully as Marpa Chökyi Lodrö (Wylie: mar pa chos kyi blo gros) or commonly as Marpa the Translator (Marpa Lotsāwa), was a Tibetan Buddhist teacher credited with the transmission of many Vajrayana teachings from India, including the teachings and lineages of Mahamudra.

Lotsawa Marpa Chokyi Lodro. Lotsawa is a Tibetan word used as a title to refer to the native Tibetan translators.

Quotes

• 1. To professors of Sakara, "freedom from the four extremes" means understanding that the object of cognition exists in a momentary mode, empty of thought-constructions and lacking objectification.
  2. "Middle way" is defined [by professors of Nirakara] in terms of a self-awareness that is not nil; it appears as blue, etc. objects, but characteristics do not arise in it.
  3. To professors of Mayopamadvaya, "freedom from the four extremes" is [to know that] the characteristics are false, and [in reality] clear light. The following system had evidence for its beliefs.
  4. To know the emptiness of objects is to know emptiness free of appearance and free of coverings. That is the Middle Way from which the "subsequent" or conventional has been purged.
  • The Madhyamasatka of Metri,The Tibetan and Himalayan Library, Adyar. Library Bulletin vol. 25, pp. 539-49. (1961)