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

The evolution of Milarepa’s biography 75
Mi nges mi nges snying po med/
Gyadangpa’s next two lines, which are grounded in the narrative, are:
Though there are land, mother and sister,
[Though there are] all three, there is no essence.
Yul dang ma dang sring mo gsum/
gSum kar yod kyang snying po med/
This is expanded in The Life and Songs of Glorious Shepay Dorje into four almost
identical verses, ringing the changes on the subject of land and master, father and son,
father and mother, and man and wealth, which are examples of a much smoother literary
composition, though slightly distanced from its narrative context. The first of these is:
If there is land and no owner, there is no essence
If there is an owner but no land, there is no essence
Though owner and land come together, there is no essence,
The phenomena of have no essence.
Yul yod bdag med snying po med/
bDag yod yul med snying po med/
bDag dang yul gnyis ‘dzom yang snying po med/
‘Khor ba’i chos la snying po med/
Milarepa as an emanation
We have seen that Milarepa is portrayed as an emanation by all our earliest authors.
Donmo Ripa rewords the passage in Gampopa and Lama Shang in a more specific form:
He was a (tulku) [who] saw and made manifest the final
truth of the dharmatā. 90
The Kagyu Garland of Wish-fulfilling Jewels (bKa′-brgyud Yid-bzhin Nor-bu yi ′Phrengba),
which could be as early as the thirteenth century, is closely related to Gyadangpa.
However, the presentation of Milarepa’s emanation status differs in its details to a degree