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

The yak horn and the burning texts 185
deviation from The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje comes after the hailstorm and
Milarepa’s denial of responsibility for it, and is an alternative narrative to the yak horn
story. This and parts of the subsequent narrative seem to be from the colourful, untitled
biography of Milarepa that is the lost third source listed by A River of Blessings, which
may be by Shiché Ripa (Zhi-byed Ri-pa) and was called A Dark Treasury. Milarepa sits
with his back to the stem of a yellow flower, sheltering under its blossom as if it were a
parasol. He asks Rechungpa to join him there, saying, ‘If there is room for the mind,
there’s room for the body; we, father and son, should sing together under this flower
parasol.’ 73
There is then an abrupt jump to the point where Milarepa and Rechungpa sing the
song and counter-song concerning abandoning all material concerns, which in The Life
and Songs of Shepay Dorje was sung after the death of the old lady. 74 No further mention
is made of the flower. It is not even stated whether Rechungpa joined him there or not. It
is clearly a pleasant fragment that the compiler could not resist from crudely introducing.
Their approach to the tents is probably also derived from the same lost source, for it
contains a unique description of the environs, including sheep and cattle around the tents
and children playing on the bank of a river. Unlike The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje,
it is Milarepa who wishes to go begging, and Rechungpa who disagrees, because night is
falling. Milarepa insists that the encampment might leave before morning so it is best to
go there immediately. The rest is as in The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje, apart from
the detail of the old lady having a bamboo cane and stones in both hands. 75 After her
death, there is a song on impermanence that is not found in The Life and Songs of Shepay
Dorje; it uses many natural examples, and is probably derived from the lost source. 76
Milarepa, to Rechungpa’s exasperation, says that it’s an old man’s job to eat the food of
the dead and a young man’s job to carry the body. 77
After the body has been carried onto the plain, Milarepa states that the dead woman
had the same selfish viewpoint as a dog, and sings the same song on impermanence as is
found in The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje. 78 A River of Blessings, however, adds that
on the conclusion of the song, rainbow light touched her body as her consciousness was
transferred.
The rest of the episode continues as in The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje until their
arrival in the cave, 79 where we discover yet another variation on the text-burning episode.
Rechungpa had not given all his texts to Milarepa but had secretly kept one for
himself, which he keeps under his pillow. Milarepa becomes aware of it and thinks there
must be a reason why Rechungpa is hiding it, so one morning, ‘when enough snow to
whiten the earth had fallen’, 80 Mila asks Rechungpa whether he would prefer to light the
fire or get the water. Rechungpa says he will get the water and takes two horns to use as
vessels. Milarepa meditates and snaps is fingers, which causes the spring to dry up. When
Rechungpa returns with this news, Milarepa says that as Rechungpa has promised to
perform this task, he will have to go to the river, which is far away. This version,
probably from Shiché Ripa, has thus taken the place of the motif of nearby water causing
Milarepa health problems, as found in Gyadangpa and The Life and Songs of Shepay
Dorje.
Milarepa manifests the animals that Rechungpa sees and their number is greater: 100
kyang give birth to 100 young, and then 100 wolves give birth to 100 wolf cubs; the
kyang and their new-born run away, chased by the wolves. Then the mother-wolves sit