Rechungpa
Rechungpa (ras chung pa, ras chung rdo rje grags pa, Vajrakirti), (1083/4-1161)
Heart son of Milarepa and 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. 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. Both streams were later re-united by Tsang Nyon Heruka (gtsang smyon he ru ka 1452-1507). Nowadays these teachings are practiced mainly within the Drukpa Kagyu ('brug pa bka' brgyud) school, and by a subsect of the Karma Kagyu, the Surmang Kagyu. Rechungpa’s main teachers in India were the Mahasiddhas Tiphupa and Walacandra. From Walacandra he received many Vajrapani tantras. He also studied under Sumatikirti, from whom he received transmissions and instructions on Jinasagara (rgyal ba rgya mtsho), a red form of Avalokiteshvara which was to become one of the major yidam practices in some of the Kagyu lineages. Back in Tibet he met the Nepalese master Balpo Asu, from whom he received Mahamudra transmissions. Several biographies for Rechungpa exist, the most extensive one authored by Gotsang Repa Natsog Rangdrol, a student of Tsang Nyon Heruka.
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Literary Works[edit]
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Other Reference Sources[edit]
- Biographies of Rechungpa, Peter Roberts, Routledge, ISBN 9780415769952
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External Links[edit]
Routledge [1]