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

The biographies of Rechungpa 78
Passage of time within Milarepa’s life
In Tsangnyön’s version it seems as if little time passes between Milarepa’s departure
from his teacher of sorcery and his meeting with Marpa. He becomes a pupil of only one
other master in-between. This gives the impression of Milarepa being young when with
Marpa, which enhances the poignancy of the narrative. However, this is contradicted in
the sixteenth chapter of The Hundred Thousand Songs itself, where Milarepa lists ten
teachers that he studied with before going to Marpa, with Rongtön Lhaga (Rong-ston
lHa-dga’) being only the last of the ten. This in itself reduces the number as given in the
earlier version of the song in The Life and Songs of Shepay Dorje, where they are said to
be 100! The Blue Annals specifies that Milarepa was in his thirty-eighth year when he
came to Marpa and left him in his forty-fifth year (a period of time which may
correspond with 1078 to 1084). 97 Pema Karpo believed that Milarepa went to study
sorcery in his eighteenth year and afterwards studied with nine teachers, one or two years
with each, over a period of fifteen years before he met Marpa. For example, Milarepa
studies under a teacher named Nub (sNub) in Tsang, and then receives from Gyertön
Wang-ngé (sGyer-ston dBang-nge) his entire Dzogchen teachings. Then from Changchub
Gyalpo (Byang-chub rGyal-po) he received Nyingma yidam deity practices such as
Gyutrul Drawa (sGyu-‘phrul Drwa-ba) Yangdak (Yang-dag) and Dutsi Yonten (bDudrtsi
Yon-tan). He then studied another of the eight principal Nyingma deity practices—
Mamo Bötong (Ma-mo rBod-gtong)—under another Marpa, a Marpa Wang-ngé (Mar-pa
dBang-nge). 98 A History of Drakar Taso follows Pema Karpo’s version fairly closely,
with a fifteen-year period of studying with ten lamas, although it has Milarepa already in
his twenty-third year before he leaves home for central Tibet. 99 It relates that he went to
see Marpa because although he had mastered the ‘generation phase’ practice, he was still
unsatisfied. All these texts say that his nine years of solitary retreat ended in his fifty-fifth
year (which could be 1093), one year after Marpa’s death, however the dates of Milarepa,
and even more so of Marpa, are problematic.
The Dates of Milarepa
Ngendzong Tönpa, writing during Milarepa’s lifetime, describes Milarepa’s encounter
with demons as having taken place in the water-dragon year of 1112 and his encounter
with the Tseringma goddesses as taking place in the summer of the fire-bird year of
1117. 100
Neither Gampopa nor Lama Shang provide life-span or dates for Milarepa. The only
time frame that Gampopa provides is his statement that he remained with Milarepa for
thirteen months. According to Lama Shang, Gampopa was in his thirty-second year when
he met Milarepa. Although Lama Shang does not provide dates for Gampopa, all
available sources agree that he was born in 1079. Therefore, the year of the first meeting
would be 1110. He then leaves Milarepa in his thirty-third year, which would be 1111,
which would be the year before the encounter with the demons according to Ngendzong