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

The biographies of Rechungpa 132
Wish-fulfilling Jewels, that provide the earliest surviving account of Milarepa being
challenged to debate and physically attacked by a scholar-monk. Gyadangpa’s version is
the earliest stage of this story’s development and therefore the simplest and clearest.
Tönpa Darlo visits Milarepa, debates with him, loses his temper, strikes him on the
head and throws earth and ashes in his face. At this point, the rechungpas wish to
physically attack Darlo, but Milarepa forbids them. The plural of ‘rechungpa’ (raschung-pa),
namely, ras-chung-pa rnams, refers to the group of ‘junior repas’, that is,
Milarepa’s pupils, presumably including Rechungpa. Milarepa sings to Darlo, who is
soon converted. 5 This is followed by what appears to be a variation of the original
narrative, unknown to all other sources, added as a subsequent meeting. It is introduced
with the awkward narrative bridge of Darlo, en route home, deciding to return to
apologise to Milarepa. He then anomalously goes through the procedure of meeting
Milarepa all over again. Darlo is mystified by at first meeting multiple emanated
Milarepas and is eventually defeated in debate by who then dissolves into
Milarepa. 6
The next episode in Gyadangpa’s biography of Milarepa is his persecution by the
monks of a monastery that he visits; 7 this passage is based upon the episode in Gampopa
and Lama Shang, referred to above, but contains more miracles.
To return to Gyadangpa’s biography of Rechungpa, in order for his venture to India to
have the blessing of the and thus be successful, Milarepa seats Rechungpa on a
high throne, while he sits on a lower one. Milarepa then offers the donated gold to
Rechungpa, in a reversal of the teacher-pupil relationship. 8 Rechungpa sings a four-line
verse that asks for Milarepa’s blessing and departs.
Therefore, in the Gyadangpa version, the only connection between the Darlo
confrontation and Rechungpa’s departure to India is a misunderstanding by Milarepa’s
patrons. Rechungpa is not in any way at fault. On the contrary, Gyadangpa emphasises
Rechungpa’s pre-eminence. Gyadangapa’s Drukpa Kagyu School was an union of the
Rechungpa and Gampopa lineages, and therefore one finds both these masters portrayed
as being the primary pupil of Milarepa. Within the context of the Drukpa Kagyu,
Rechungpa is the one who will eventually be demoted to secondary status.
The portrayal of Rechungpa in this episode was transformed over the centuries, and
always to his disadvantage.
The Kagyu Garland of Wish-fulfilling Jewels (bKa’brgyud
Yid-bzhin Nor-bu yi Phreng-ba) version
This particular version of the life of Milarepa is an independent variant in the narrative
tradition that Gyadangpa appears within. It does not add an alternative account of Darlo’s
visit, and therefore is the simplest version to survive. Gyadangpa and this text used a
similar source, each omitting different details. In this brief version of the episode, 9 two
scholars, who were not mentioned by Gyadangpa, accompany Tönpa Darlo. As in
Gyadangpa, Tönpa Darlo, angered, throws earth in Milarepa’s face, but he does not strike
him, an element that is also absent in all other versions, apart from one very significant
version, probably from Shiché Ripa (Zhi-byed Ri-pa), which is contained in A River of
Blessings (Byin-brlabs gyi Chu-rgyun). Again, it is Milarepa’s followers in general who