Moral transformation requires grinding away the old self first.
Evidence
Marpa saw the murder in Milarepa’s past and the greatness in his future, and he set him a brutal penance. He ordered Milarepa to build a stone tower with his own hands — then, when it was nearly done, to tear it down and carry every stone back. Again Milarepa built; again Marpa ordered it demolished. Over and over, until Milarepa’s back was one great open sore and he wept with despair. Only when his pride and his old self had been ground completely away did Marpa finally teach him. — , A Year of World Stories, 11611
Categorization
- QUESTION: Is the build-and-demolish penance a genuine Tibetan technique or purely legendary? Worth chasing how Milarepa’s hagiography functions as a psychology of repentance.
- XREF: connects to: Achieving morality requires the Negro to erase his own image from consciousness — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 674; Socialism requires a transforming revolution because human experience is material.; Survival under extremity can require moral transformation — Alexis Okeowo, A Moonless, Starless Sky, 15 (+5 more)
Related
- Survival under extremity can require moral transformation (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Ethical merit requires the conquest of contrary impulses
#corroborates(0.82) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 243 - Real change requires discarding rather than reforming the old religion
#corroborates(0.70) - Survival under extremity can require moral transformation
#expands(0.60) — Alexis Okeowo, A Moonless, Starless Sky, 15 - Positive change requires repeated attempts and sacrifices.
#corroborates(0.60) — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life An Antidote to Chaos, 648 - Extreme circumstances can force survivors to abandon their former morals
#exemplifies(0.50)