Rechungpa biography definition in literature

Peter Alan Roberts

This book traces the lifestory of Rechungpa () &#; the student of the famous teacher Milarepa &#; using rare and little-known manuscripts, and discovers how the image of both Milarepa and Rechungpa underwent fundamental transformations over a period of over three centuries.

Peter Alan Roberts compares significant episodes in the life of Rechungpa as portrayed in a succession of texts, and thus demonstrates the evolution of Rechungpa’s biography. This is the first survey of the surviving literature which includes a detailed analysis of their dates, authorship and interrelationships. It shows how Rechungpa was increasingly portrayed as a rebellious, volatile and difficult pupil, as a lineage from a fellow-pupil prospered to become dominant in Tibet.

Written in a style that makes it accessible to broad readership, Roberts&#; book will be of great value to anyone with an interest in the fields of Tibetan literature, history or religion.

Rechungpa (ras chung pa, ras chung rdo rje grags pa, Vajrakirti), (/)

Patriarch of the Kagyu lineage. The so-called "moon-like“ disciple and foremost heart son of Milarepa. He met Milarepa at the age of eleven and spent many years studying and practising under the guidance of his master. He was a Repa (ras pa) like Milarepa, unlike Gampopa, who was a fully ordained monk. At one time he even was married to a local princess for a while, before taking to the homeless life of a wandering yogin again. Rechungpa travelled to India three times and obtained teachings and transmissions which Marpa had not managed to receive in his time. In fact he was prophecied by Naropa, who said to Marpa that a descendant of his lineage would eventually come to receive more instructions on certain teachings. In particular he received the entire “nine-fold cycle of the formless Dakinis”, the lus med mkha' 'gro skor dgu, of which Marpa had received only five parts, from Tiphupa. Upon Rechungpa's return to Tibet, he presented these teachings to Milarepa. Milarepa transmitted the entire cylce to Ngendzong Repa (ngan dzo

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