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

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Sorcery, logic and angry monks 141<br />

each name), than that Dar-blo would be changed to a comparatively peculiar Dar-lo.<br />

<strong>The</strong>refore, the name Dar-blo may have suggested Tsangnyön’s Darma Lodrö (Dar-ma<br />

Blo-gros) so that the abbreviation, in a reverse process, created the full name.<br />

<strong>The</strong> first significant innovation appears when the narrative reaches the festival, where<br />

Lotön and Darlo see the three scholar-monks they sent dressed as repas (with the added<br />

detail <strong>of</strong> their drinking alcohol from skull-bowls). In a surprising exchange <strong>of</strong> roles,<br />

perhaps echoing the Gyadangpa version, it is Darlo, not Latön, who throws earth at<br />

Milarepa. <strong>Rechungpa</strong>’s response is stronger than in earlier versions, for he believes it will<br />

be a ‘root-downfall’ (rtsa-ltung) <strong>of</strong> the mantrayāna vows if he does not slay this sinner,<br />

and an accumulation <strong>of</strong> merit if he does. <strong>The</strong> word used for ‘slay’ is a specific<br />

mantrayāna term for killing those who deserve to be killed—bsgral 52 (though Chang<br />

translated this as ‘punished’, 53 presumably loath to believe that <strong>Rechungpa</strong> had murder in<br />

mind). <strong>Rechungpa</strong> thinks <strong>of</strong> Darlo as ‘one who has the sin <strong>of</strong> working against the [guru’s]<br />

body’ (sku la bsdo ba’i sdig can), a peculiar phrase, but it uses the very term that appears<br />

in the standard Tantric list <strong>of</strong> the ten attributes <strong>of</strong> one who deserves to be slain. His<br />

response is in fact quite orthodox from a mantrayāna point <strong>of</strong> view. This is not simply a<br />

heated barroom (or festival) brawl.<br />

Although <strong>The</strong> Hundred Thousand Songs <strong>of</strong> Milarepa and A River <strong>of</strong> Blessings appear<br />

to be quite independent variations based on <strong>The</strong> Life and Songs <strong>of</strong> Shepay Dorje, yet they<br />

both have somewhat similar, minor additions to this passage, which appear to indicate<br />

either an alternative as yet unidentified common source or a very marginal influence <strong>of</strong><br />

one text upon the other. In A River <strong>of</strong> Blessings, the populace were said to consider<br />

<strong>Rechungpa</strong> blameless in his action, while in <strong>The</strong> Hunfred Thousand Songs <strong>of</strong> Milarepa<br />

the patrons not only fault the monk, but also criticise <strong>Rechungpa</strong> ‘a little’. This less<br />

favourable description <strong>of</strong> <strong>Rechungpa</strong> corresponds to Tsangnyön’s portrayal <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Rechungpa</strong> as more flawed than in the works <strong>of</strong> his predecessors.<br />

This is followed by the indication <strong>of</strong> a narrative suture, for the festival episode ends<br />

unresolved and is followed by Darlo and Lotön visiting Milarepa, bringing an <strong>of</strong>fering <strong>of</strong><br />

meat and debating with him in yet another variation that is presented as an additional<br />

encounter.<br />

In response to their debate, Milarepa sings and performs a sequence <strong>of</strong> miracles such<br />

as riding rocks, wading in the ground, solidifying space, etc. with the result that Lotön<br />

develops faith in him.<br />

Darlo, being marked out in Tsangnyön’s version to play the role <strong>of</strong> villain, remains<br />

furious and an even more embarrassing and complete downfall is provided for him than<br />

befell Lotön in <strong>The</strong> Life and Songs <strong>of</strong> Shepay Dorje. Milarepa hints at a guilty secret,<br />

which prompts <strong>Rechungpa</strong>, in spite <strong>of</strong> Milarepa’s attempts to prevent him, to expose<br />

Darlo. This awkward sleight <strong>of</strong> narrative hand transfers the responsibility for exposing<br />

Darlo to an uncontrollable <strong>Rechungpa</strong>, who reveals that Darlo had given a bracelet to a<br />

pretty girl, who happened to have faith in <strong>Rechungpa</strong> (but only a little in Milarepa).<br />

<strong>Rechungpa</strong>, whom one has to assume she confided in, unless the clairvoyant Milarepa<br />

had informed him, even goes to her home to bring the mantra-beads that Darlo had given<br />

to her. This accords with Tsangnyön’s portrayal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Rechungpa</strong> as handsome and having<br />

his own following distinct from Milarepa’s.<br />

<strong>The</strong> disgraced Darlo, having in this version swapped fates with Lotön (or alternatively<br />

one could say that the characters have swapped their names), dies and becomes a

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