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Rechungpa (ras chung pa, ras chung rdo rje grags pa), (1083/4-1161)
Heart son of Milarepa and patriarch of the Kagyu lineage. The so-called „moon-like“ disciple 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 to Marpa. 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. Upon Rechungpa's return to Tibet, he presented these teachings to Milarepa. Milarepa transmitted the entire cylce to Ngendzong Repa (ngan dzong ras pa byang chub rgyal po 12th cent.), another of his "Eight Great Sons", who composed arrangements and commentaries on it. His lineage became known as the bde mchog snyan brgyud. Rechungpa's lineage of this cycle, focussing on the practice of Chakrasamvara, is preserved in a corpus of teachings known as the “hearing lineage of Rechungpa”, the ras chung snyan brgyud, which nowadays is practiced mainly within the Drukpa Kagyu ('brug pa bka' brgyud) school, and by a subsect of the Karma Kagyu, the Surmang Kagyu. Both streams were later re-united by Tsang Nyon Heruka (gtsang smyon he ru ka 1452-1507). Rechungpa’s main teacher in India were the Mahasiddhas Tiphupa and Walacandra.
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Literary Works
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Other Reference Sources
- Biographies of Rechungpa, Peter Roberts, Routledge, ISBN 9780415769952
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Routledge [1]