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

The biographies of Rechungpa 126
and Songs of Shepay Dorje encounters the wish-fulfilling cow, is said to be Tipupa’s
paternal uncle, that is, Ghayadhara’s [sic] brother. Amoghavajra is said to be
Tipupa’s maternal uncle and Līlāvajra (sGegs-pa’i rDo-rje), a prolific author from earlier
in the century, is said to be his paternal grandfather. This may, however, all be a later
accretion of family to enhance Tipupa’s standing.
Pema Karpo, though relying on Tsangnyön Heruka and Götsang Repa, appears to balk
at associating Tipupa with the pigeon story. He states that Darma Dodé died of a riding
accident in his twenty-first year, and that Marpa told him to fly to east India, where he
should enter a young brahmin’s corpse. Pema Karpo then tersely adds, ‘Nothing more
was subsequently heard of him.’ 102
When he comes to describe Tipupa, Pema Karpo repeats only Götsang Repa’s
identification of Ghayadhara as his father. Pema Karpo identifies Tipupa himself
as Candrabhadra (not to be confused with Candragarbha, who encounters the
wish-fulfilling cow), but with no intimation as to where this name came from.
The accounts of Tipupa being a child towards the end of the life of Nāropa (who died
1040) imply that he would be in his forties when Ma Lotsawa (rMa Lo-tsā-ba) was in
India. Rechungpa’s pupilage under Tipupa must have taken place no later than the first
two decades of the twelfth century, when Tipupa would have been in his seventies and
eighties. According to The Lhorong Dharma History, Rechungpa came to India in AD
1110, when he would have reached the age of 26 and Milarepa was 70. If this is correct,
Tipupa would have been in his mid-seventies at least when Rechungpa studied under
him.
Ma Lotsawa’s (rMa Lo-tsā-ba) stay in India took place before his adoption of the 16year
old Machik Shama (Ma-gcig Zha-ma), who was Khönpuwa’s (Khon-pu-ba) sister,
as a consort in 1085. This accords with Tipupa being famous in the 1080s, 103 being a
pupil of Maitripa (born 983/6–1063 or 995/8–1075), 104 and living long enough to be
Rechungpa’s teacher in the beginning of the eleventh century.
After visiting Tipupa, Rechungpa returns to (Ta-ba-sa-ta) and
Varacandra sends him back to Tibet. A new detail here is that he first receives
instructions (on ) from a guru named Miti Khyungsho (rMi-rti Khyungshog),
a name composed perhaps of a corruption of conjoined with the Tibetan for
which is itself a corruption of supplement’ (khyung-shams).
Rechungpa receives from him the instructions for ‘swift feet’ (rkang-mgyogs) one of the
legendary eight siddhis, and after a month of meditation gains the power of being able to
travel swiftly, so that he makes it back to Milarepa, on foot, in seven days.
Before meeting Milarepa, Rechungpa receives Mahāmudrā and other teachings from
three masters, and Dzogchen (rDzogs-chen) teachings from a Nyingma master, none of
whom are attested to elsewhere. Dzogchen is described as ‘the view that there are no
deities or demons’. This simplistic and misleading definition is in fact just setting
Dzogchen up for a blow that will be delivered against it further on in the text, during his
principal journey to India. This is a residue of an antipathy to Dzogchen that is found in
early Kagyu material such as Gyadangpa. The earliest example is in Gampopa’s
biography of Milarepa, in which (unlike later versions in which this passage is toned
down) Milarepa’s Dzogchen teacher confesses that these teachings are useless and he
himself has gained no benefit from them. 105 Nevertheless, it would be wrong to conclude