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

Sorcery, logic and angry monks 143
Götsang Repa (sixteenth century)
In this extensive work, which has become the standard biography of Rechungpa, Götsang
Repa bases this episode 57 upon the version in The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa,
which was written by his teacher. He even assumes the reader’s familiarity with that
work, for in summarizing this episode he merely lists the songs by their titles as they
occur in The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, without reproducing them in his own
text. However, as Lhatsun did, he somewhat diminishes the negative details that
Tsangnyön heaped so liberally upon Rechungpa. He omits certain portions or phrases in
The Hundred Thousand Songs that reflect unfavourably upon Rechungpa, such as, for
example, Rechungpa’s brusque refusal to allow the scholar-monks to meet Milarepa. 58
Otherwise, he remains faithful to The Hundred Thousand Songs narrative, including such
new details as exposing Darlo’s (Dar-lo as it is spelt here) gift of a bangle to a girl.
The Third Drukchen, Jamyang Chökyi Drakpa
(‘Jams-dbyangs Chos-kyi Grags-pa) (1478–1523)
Like some earlier authors, he simply states that Rechungpa was sent to India for
instruction, with no background narrative. 59
Changchub Zangpo (Byang-chub bZang-po)
This passage 60 is a summary based on Gyadangpa, as the biography is much older than
the date of its compilation. Therefore it has the primary elements that we find in
Gyadangpa and that disappeared from later texts. The patrons erroneously suspect that
Rechungpa is going to India to learn logic. Milarepa has Rechungpa seated upon a high
throne and offers him the gold so that he may obtain the five (as in Gyadangpa) dharmas.
The story of Darlo (Dar-lo as it is spelt here) appears in the Milarepa biography in this
collection, not in the Rechungpa biography, and it is also a summary of the corresponding
Gyadangpa text, with fewer songs included. 61
Pawo Tsukla Trengwa and Pema Karpo
Both authors merely mention that Rechungpa was sent to India for the
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