The Biographies of Rechungpa: The Evolution of a Tibetan ...
The Biographies of Rechungpa: The Evolution of a Tibetan ...
The Biographies of Rechungpa: The Evolution of a Tibetan ...
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<strong>Rechungpa</strong>’s strange illness and cure 111<br />
Changchub Zangpo’s<br />
<strong>The</strong> biography in Changchub Zangpo’s text 57 is a crude summary related to Gyadangpa,<br />
<strong>The</strong> Lhorong Dharma History, Möntsepa, and <strong>The</strong> Wish-fulfilling Jewel (Yid-bzhin Norbu),<br />
though the latter does not have this part <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Rechungpa</strong> story.<br />
As in Möntsepa, the day after <strong>Rechungpa</strong>’s first meeting with Milarepa, he brings him<br />
a leg <strong>of</strong> meat, but here the uncle comes searching for it and beats both <strong>Rechungpa</strong> and<br />
Milarepa. This peculiar addition appears to be the mutation <strong>of</strong> the Möntsepa phrase<br />
‘[<strong>Rechungpa</strong>] brought it to the venerable one so that they both ate it (rje btsun la drangs<br />
pas/gnyis kas gsol lo)’, 58 which in Changchub Zangpo becomes ‘[<strong>Rechungpa</strong>] brought it<br />
to the lama so that [the uncle] beat the lama and both’ (bla ma la drangs pas/bla ma dang<br />
gnyis ka brdungs), 59 where the second ‘lama’ appears as an addition causing poor<br />
grammar.<br />
It is not until this point in Changchub Zangpo that <strong>Rechungpa</strong> tells Milarepa his story<br />
and Milarepa says that their childhood is the same (and not a little worse, as in<br />
Möntsepa). <strong>Rechungpa</strong> learns ‘the path <strong>of</strong> method’ (a phrase that covers all deity<br />
visualisation and yoga practices) from Milarepa, and is then taken by the mother and<br />
uncle to plough. When he becomes ill, without the mother and uncle telling him to go to<br />
Milarepa, there is an abrupt transition to Milarepa declaring that he cannot help<br />
<strong>Rechungpa</strong>. 60<br />
<strong>Rechungpa</strong> then learns the wrathful from an unspecified lama (which in<br />
Möntsepa he received from Milarepa). Thus, the Changchub Zangpo version retains the<br />
other master found in Gyadangpa but omitted by Möntsepa, though as in Möntsepa he<br />
receives the practice before going to India. <strong>The</strong> practised by<br />
<strong>Rechungpa</strong> is said to be with wings (gshog), rather than Möntsepa’s ‘<br />
supplement’ (gsham). In umay script gsham could easily be misread as gshog. This<br />
variation will also appear in Tsangnyön and Götsang Repa, although otherwise there<br />
seems to be no other influence. Changchub Zangpo, though using the same phrasing as<br />
Möntsepa, adds that the practice did not help, while <strong>The</strong> Lhorong Dharma History had<br />
said that it did. 61<br />
<strong>Rechungpa</strong>’s mother and uncle send him a small final provision with the message,<br />
‘<strong>The</strong>re is nothing else. Go to your yogin’ (khyod rang gi rnal ‘byor pa’i sar song zer). 62<br />
This is transposed to an illogical place from its earlier position in the other narratives.<br />
Three yogins (as in Gyadangpa, <strong>The</strong> Lhorong Dharma History, Möntsepa and <strong>The</strong><br />
Blue Annals) appear and their leader says, ‘Tsitsi dzola (Tsi-tsi dzo-la)!’ 63 in which tsi-ti<br />
has been corrupted to tsi-tsi (the <strong>Tibetan</strong> for mouse!) and dzwa-la, as in <strong>The</strong> Lhorong<br />
Dharma History and the Demchog Nyengyu <strong>Biographies</strong>, corrupted to dzo-la. <strong>The</strong>re<br />
follows a unique variation: the leading yogin’s statement that they are on the way to Wut’ai-shan<br />
is slightly changed so that they are coming back from there, so that<br />
<strong>Rechungpa</strong>’s troubles do not interrupt their pilgrimage. <strong>Rechungpa</strong>’s journey to India and<br />
his practice under Varacandra are mentioned briefly; simply stating that<br />
<strong>Rechungpa</strong> was cured in twenty-five days (as in Möntsepa and <strong>The</strong> Lhorong Dharma<br />
History).