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

The evolution of Milarepa’s biography 61
Tsangnyön also told his pupils that he decided to write his Milarepa texts after having
a vision of Nāropa while on retreat in one of Milarepa’s caves. The vision of Nāropa
recited a verse of praise to Milarepa, speaking in a mixture of Sanskrit and Tibetan. In
Tsangnyön’s biography of Marpa, Marpa goes to India as an old man and tells Nāropa
about Milarepa. Tsangnyön then describes how not only Nāropa, but also the trees and
hills all bow in the direction of Tibet as Nāropa recites the very verse that Tsangnyön had
received in his vision. That passage has caused some authors to interpret Nāropa’s dates
so as to make him a contemporary of Milarepa. However, Nāropa had died in 1040, the
year that Atiśa left India for Tibet, bringing relics from Nāropa’s cremation with him and
this was probably the year of Milarepa’s birth.
In Tsangnyön’s vision, Nāropa instructed him to compose the life and songs of
Milarepa and make blockprints of them. Tsangnyön simultaneously saw a translator
wearing clothes and carving block-prints. This is an important detail, as making
blockprints would break the code of secrecy concerning Milarepa literature. Nāropa told
Tsangnyön that he would find sponsors for the project in the area of Gungthang (Gungthang),
which had been the homeland of both Milarepa and Rechungpa. Nāropa also told
Tsangnyön of five young women that he should start relationships with, for somehow this
would guarantee the completion of what would be a difficult task for a wandering
practitioner without any wealth.
Lhatsun’s biography states that there was already a standard collection of Milarepa
songs in existence. This must be The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje (bZhad-pa’i rDorje’i
rNam-thar mGur-mchings dang bcas-pa). 33 However, Tsangnyön took on the
difficult task of tracking down additional songs over a wide geographical area. He found
sponsors and brought together skilled craftsmen who carved the xylographic blocks for
The Life of Milarepa. His sponsors asked him to postpone his plan to make blocks for the
second volume, The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, as they could not afford it.
Tsangnyön refused, telling them that success was guaranteed because of the vision’s
prophecy and the presence of his five young girlfriends. Two years later, the task was
completed and copies of his work began their wide circulation throughout the regions of
Tibet. 34
The contemporary king of Gungthang was Namgyal De (rNam-rgyal lDe, 1422–1502;
reigned 1436–1502), 35 a devout Buddhist who had been a pupil of Bodong Panchen (Bodong
Pan-chen, 1376–1451), 36 the founder of the Bodongpa school, who still holds the
record for the greatest number of authored volumes in Tibetan. King Namgyal De’s sister
Adrol Chökyi Drönme (A-grol Chos-kyi sGron-me) became the first in the series of the
famous Yamdrok Jetsunma (Ya-’brog rje-btsun-ma) incarnations within the Bodongpa
tradition. 37
King Namgyal De became a devotee and patron of Tsangnyön 38 and had printing
blocks carved for a set of important texts, such as the Medical Tantra (rGyud-bzhi) and
The Mani Kambum and a text entitled The Teachings of Milarepa
(Mi-la’i bKa’-‘bum). 40 Tsangnyön had already, between 1488 and 1490, produced his
first edition without royal patronage. 41 There appears to be no surviving copy of the
King’s edition.
King Namgyal De was the father of Lhatsun Rinchen Namgyal, who became
Tsangnyön’s principal pupil during his father’s reign. Therefore, Tsangnyön had a close
connection with both the Gungthang dynasty and the kingdom of Mangyul Gungthang.