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

The evolution of Milarepa’s biography 73
4 When Milarepa meets Marpa, Marpa refuses at first to give him the teachings. In order
to receive them, Milarepa has first to practise sorcery against Marpa’s enemies and
then single-handedly erect and demolish a succession of buildings. But he is still
refused the teachings.
5 On Marpa’s wife’s suggestion, and having requested permission from Marpa, Milarepa
goes to study with Ngoktön for a year. On his return to Marpa, Marpa is very pleased
that Ngoktön has given him all the instruction, even though Milarepa has made no
spiritual progress.
The Gampopa/Lama Shang/Donmo Ripa version was to be eclipsed by narrative
traditions that continue the dramatic ingredients found in Gyadangpa. Though as yet the
visit to Ngoktön has not developed into a secret escape.
Gyadangpa does not reproduce textual material from Gampopa and Lama Shang; but
employs details that place the biography in a distinct line of narrative transmission, which
also produced The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje.
There is one textual coincidence between Gyadangpa and Gampopa/Lama Shang. In
the opening passage of Gampopa/Lama Shang’s life of Mila there is the line: ‘There were
only the father and son.’ 89 This phrase recurs in Gyadangpa within the context of a long
description of the low quality of the ancestry of Milarepa’s father, in which each family
had but one son. This may be an indication of a remote common ancestry, but is more
probably merely a textual coincidence as the result of the use of a stock phrase.
Though Gampopa, Lama Shang and Donmo Ripa made references to songs, and
quoted a few lines, Gyadangpa is the first to provide us with entire songs by Milarepa and
Rechungpa, and so is particularly relevant in tracing the history of the development of
these songs.
The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje
The Life and Songs of Glorious Shepay Dorje is of the same branch of narrative tradition
as Gyadangpa, for it shares with it the same principal differences from the Gampopa and
Lama Shang texts. The earliest part of Milarepa’s life is very brief in The Life and Songs
of Glorious Shepay Dorje, but it has details not found in Gyadangpa, which were to be
influential on Tsangnyön Heruka: a paternal uncle is responsible for Milarepa’s miseries;
an aunt survives Milarepa’s sorcery; Marpa does not know that Milarepa has gone to
Ngoktön, because his wife had made him drunk with strong beer, so that Milarepa could
escape.
The Gampopa/Lama Shang version of Milarepa being snowed in at Lachi (La-phyi)
Mountain has Milarepa mistaking the cries of a search party for animals. In Gyadangpa
he does not make that mistake, and as they cannot reach him because of the snow, he flies
down to them, and then, carrying the search party, flies further down the mountain. In
The Life and Songs of Glorious Shepay Dorje, the miraculous powers are even more
dramatic, but interestingly had already appeared in the Donmo Ripa version: Milarepa
transforms into a snow leopard that watches the search party as they look for him. They
follow the leopard tracks, which turn into human footprints that lead to Milarepa’s cave.
These few examples reveal that Gyadangpa and The Life and Songs of Glorious
Shepay Dorje are independent variants of the same narrative tradition. Although the