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

The biographies of Rechungpa 72
a point where the narrative is no longer clear, but the text has some details that are absent
in Gyadangpa. The old lady who is the sole survivor is specified to be an old paternal
aunt, 84 which is an important ingredient in the development of the Milrepa story. Also, it
is said that the villagers hold a secret meeting and decide to send someone to murder
Milarepa. The wife of the principal conspirator, who had previously been a servant to
Milarepa’s family, hears him talk about their plans in his sleep and she informs
Milarepa’s mother of the danger, which explains her asking Milarepa not to return home,
but to cause a hailstorm to punish the village. 85
It is noteworthy that Gyadangpa, The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje, The Blue
Annals, Möntsepa and other texts spell the Mila part of Milarepa’s family name as Midla,
and not Mi-la, which can be phonologically very similar. Mid-la appears to be the
older spelling, though it does not correspond with the fanciful origin for the name Mi-la
that was given by Tsangnyön, who says it means ‘Oh man!’ as the cry of a demon
defeated by the founder of the family-line. 86
Gyadangpa is more specific concerning Milarepa as an emanation:
This king of the venerable ones, named Milarepa, was generally nothing
other than a buddha emanation who came in an ordinary form in this time
of the five kinds of degeneracy. 87
Gyadangpa, in particular describes the following conversation that contrasts markedly
with Tsangnyön’s later version of the same passage:
The venerable one asked Lama Rechungpa and Shiwa-ö, ‘Who do you
think I am?’ Shiwa-ö answered, ‘In my perception, I think you are a
buddha.’ The guru answered, ‘You say this out of devotion, but I am the
emanated rebirth of master Nāgārjunagarbha who was an emanation of the
Buddha himself as prophesied by the Buddha.’ Therefore he truly was
Nāgārjunagarbha, the emanation of the Buddha. 88
Nāgārjunagarbha seems a relatively obscure figure to be identified with, unless he was
identified with Nāgārjuna. There are four texts in the canon by a Nāgārjunagarbha, one of
which was translated by Ma Lotsawa (1044–89). This text is Understanding the Four
Seals (Sanskrit: Caturmudrā-niścaya; Tibetan: Phyag-rgya bzhi gtan la dbab pa), a short
text of just two folios. However this identification of Milarepa will be eclipsed by the
later terma version of his being an emanation of Mañjuśrīmitra, a principal figure in the
Nyingma tradition.
Gyadangpa’s version of Milarepa’s life, when compared to earlier works, contains
some additional material that will be central for Tsangnyön Heruka’s fifteenth-century
version of Milarepa’s life story:
1 Milarepa’s father dies early, and his mother features strongly in his life.
2 The troubles experienced by Mi-la’s family are specified to be caused by relatives and
neighbours.
3 Milarepa, on his mother’s urging, attacks the relatives and neighbours with sorcery, and
every one of them dies.