The Biographies of Rechungpa: The Evolution of a Tibetan ...

The biographies of Rechungpa 110
A lady patron (it is not clear if this is the one who escorted him home) accompanies
Rechungpa, and offers Milarepa a turquoise, which he refuses.
The uncle, as well as the mother, because of the interruption of their food supply,
come and break down Milarepa’s door, throw stones at him and take Rechungpa away.
This reflects the decreased emphasis on the mother as the leading villain in this narrative,
for in Gyadangpa it was the mother alone who came and threw stones at Milarepa. Also,
the stone throwing is no longer, as in Gyadangpa, the reason why Milarepa decides to
adopt Rechungpa, for Rechungpa is already living with him.
There is no seasonal pause and no advent of spring before they take him home to
plough the fields. Instead, Möntsepa presents the ploughing as work that Rechungpa’s
parents make him do as a substitute for supporting them through his reading.
When Rechungpa falls ill, there is a brief version of Milarepa’s criticism of
Rechungpa (in which he compares Rechungpa unfavourably to an animal) and the
declaration of his inability to help him. However, oddly, Milarepa then teaches
Rechungpa the practice, so that the Nyingma lama is omitted. This is
presumably to offset the image of Milarepa as giving no help at all, but it runs contrary to
the logic of the narrative in which Rechungpa remains sick and has to travel all the way
to India to obtain this very same instruction as a cure. A further narrative problem is that,
in conformity with the structure of the original narrative, Rechungpa goes to practise in
another place away from Milarepa, but now for no apparent reason.
In conformity with the mother not being portrayed as the leading villain, the uncle and
mother both declare they will give him no more food.
The meeting with the three yogins and the journey to Varacandra (Wa-la-tsan-tra), is
simplified from Gyadangpa but with one addition: ‘[Rechungpa] could not travel, [so] he
was sent [ahead] early in the morning.’ This appears to originate in a scribal corruption of
Gyadangpa’s sngams rus gcig dang (‘one sucking-horn and…’) to snga-du btang (‘sent
early’). gCig, the word for ‘one’ is usually written in the umay (dbu-med) script as just
the sign for the numeral one, and therefore could easily be missed.
Möntsepa relates that when Varacandra’s hermitage came into sight, the yogins
(instead of Rechungpa) proceeded by prostrating, and thus the final part of the journey
took a long time.
In Möntsepa, Milarepa has already taught the practice to Rechungpa, and
so Varacandra cures him with ‘water blessed by mantras’ in twenty-five days, with no
mention of
Varacandra’s healing visits are omitted, but his wife remains in the story, sending
Rechungpa to meet Tipupa.
After Rechungpa arrives at Tröpuk (Brod-phug) cave in Nyenam (sNye-nams), as in
Gyadangpa, Milarepa says he has enquired after Rechungpa and, in spite of the narrative
having now placed Milarepa and Rechungpa far from his home, frightens away the
mother and uncle with the threat of sorcery.
As in Gyadangpa, Rechungpa promises to stay with Milarepa for twelve years, is
given the name Dorje Drak and practises successfully.