Solitude in Buddhism and in Psychoanalysis: The Case of the Great Tibetan Yogi Milarepa

A consideration of the life of the medieval Tibetan yogi, poet, and saint Milarepa leads to a psychoanalytic understanding of the Buddhist prescription to abandon all attachments in order to achieve genuine happiness. The vicissitudes of attachment, loss, mourning, rage, absolution, and guilt are explored to show how the achievement of the Buddhist ideal of sainthood is won through a fierce inner struggle that leaves someone such as Milarepa, a victim of traumatic childhood loss, best suited for a hermit's life.