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

The yak horn and the burning texts 179
Group 3: The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje
tradition
The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje
This version has the principal ingredients for the popular version of Rechungpa’s return
to Tibet. The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje had provided Rechungpa with a faulty
motivation for going to India: a desire to learn logic. In this passage he compounds his
error by meeting a non-Buddhist (tīrthika) after leaving Bharima. This master is very
keen to help Rechungpa spread his teachings—in exchange for a payment of gold. 18 The
Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje contradicts itself here, however, for it had earlier
portrayed him as giving all his remaining gold to Tipupa before his homeward journey.
Rechungpa learns a range of magical practices (that seem, however, particularly Tibetan)
including causing hailstorms, sickness and death, and preventing the death of children.
The implication will be that it is not logic but these sorcery teachings, clumsily
introduced into the narrative, which will form the unwelcome part of Rechungpa’s texts.
Meanwhile, Milarepa is at Dramar Chonglung (Brag-dmar mChong-lung) 19 and not
the Nyenam (sNye-nam) of Gyadangpa. He clairvoyantly sees Rechungpa within a crystal
stūpa. Rechungpa’s image becomes obscured by a dust storm as a result of his receiving
instructions from the non-Buddhist. Milarepa goes to meet him on the empty plain of
Palmo Palthang (dPal-mo dPal-thang; the Newark manuscript has the erroneous dPa’-mo
dPa’-thang).
Rechungpa bows down to Milarepa but expects Milarepa to bow to him in return,
which he does not. At this point, as in Gyadangpa, 20 Rechungpa enquires about
Milarepa’s welfare and Milarepa sings a song of his happiness that concludes by asking
Rechungpa if he has been successful. 21 This first song is entirely different and far longer
than that in Gyadangpa, but a variant of the Gyadangpa song will appear a little further
on in this text. 22 This is an example of the creation of two different songs upon the same
theme.
After Milarepa’s first song, the text returns to the theme of the prostration that was not
performed by Milarepa. Rechungpa explains that if Milarepa does not pay homage
‘stupid Tibetan villagers’ (bod blun po’i grong khyer mi) 23 will have no faith in the
Without any response from Milarepa, Rechungpa sings of his
journey to India 24 with a song that is, as with Milarepa’s, different from that found in
Gyadangpa at this point, though the first two lines of the songs are related.
At this point (probably as the result of The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje combining
two different versions of the meeting) there is a superfluous repetition of narrative:
Rechungpa enquires after Milarepa’s welfare a second time and Milarepa replies with an
extended version of the corresponding Gyadangpa song, 25 listing more practices. 26 The
Changchub Zangpo version also included more practices in its version of this song, such
as the pura-praveśa, but in contrast to Changchub Zangpo’s ‘happy in the non-duality of
pura-praveśa’ 27 for example, The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje has, ‘happy in the
pura-praveśa that is like discarding and putting on a snake-skin’ (grong jug sbrul lpags
dor len bde). 28