Kunden Repa

Kunden Repa was born into the Nub (gnubs) clan, a descendent of the illustrious Nub Namkhai Nyingpo (gnubs nam mkha'i snying po) in 1148. When bringing provisions to his uncle, (or, alternately, his brother) Gyeltsa Rinchen Gon (rgyal tsha rin chen mgon, 1118-1195) who had joined the community at Pakmodru (phag mo gru), he heard Pakmodrupa Dorje Gyelpo (phag mo gru pa rdo rje rgyal po, 1110-1170) telling the life-story of Milarepa and was amazed by it. He nudged his brother and asked him, “Who was that Milarepa?” He was so inspired by Milarepa that he resolved to practice religion. He stayed on and heard the yoga teachings from Pakmodrupa, meditated on their basis, achieved realizations and became a Great Siddha. For some time he served as a supervisor for the construction of a large temple at Pagmodru.

It is said that although he never left his meditation chamber, all kinds of rare Indian fruits would appear in his hands. Once there was a famine, and Kunden Repa stuck his walking stick into a doorway of a chapel at Tropu Temple and said, “Today, oh yoginis, give some alms to the yogi.” Then he dug out enough barley from the same spot in the doorway to feed the local community for five days. Alternate accounts have it that he brought the famine to an end by causing barley to rain from the sky.

He died in his seventieth year.

Sources

Roerich, George, trans. 1996. The Blue Annals. 2nd ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, pp. 707-8.

Tshe dbang rgyal. 1994. Lho rong chos 'byung. Lhasa: Bod ljongs bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrun khang, pp. 329-330.

Grags pa 'byung gnas. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan su'u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, p. 51.

Dan Martin
August 2008