Saraha

Saraha’s Origins

Saraha was the son of a dakini. Most likely he was born in Eastern India, in the region that is today called Orissa. Along with his four brothers, he was descended from the highest Brahmin caste. They were all well-versed in Brahmin knowledge. One day, after all five brothers had paid a visit to their king, they stopped on their return for a rest in a grove of trees. There they met four young Brahmin women and one from a lower caste. They were dakinis who revealed a mandala. Saraha and his brothers thus received a Diamond Way Buddhist empowerment from these dakinis. With that, the four brothers immediately achieved full realization and went with the four Brahmin young women to a pure land. Saraha stayed back with the young woman from a lower caste. He was disappointed, because at this point in time he was not capable of reaching this level of realization.

Meeting Red Wisdom

As a Brahmin, Saraha was very learned in the Vedas and their adjoining fields of knowledge, such as astrology and grammar. After he had given a reading of secret vedic texts in front of roughly 500 young Brahmins, the dakini Red Wisdom appeared in the form of a bargirl. She invited him to drink of the nectar of Highest Wisdom in the form of strong alcohol. He drank the intoxicating drink without hesitation. He did not get drunk, but rather experienced inwardly deep meditative states and he had the experience of Highest Joy.

Overcoming Caste Thinking

After he drank the alcohol, it was impossible for Saraha to associate any longer with the caste that he belonged to from birth. Therefore, his Brahmin colleagues planned to discredit him publicly. I will recount what happened according to the “Stories of the 84 Mahasiddhas.”¹

The Brahmins teamed up to drive Saraha away. They turned to King Ratnapala: “Can it be all right that under your reign Saraha takes actions that debase our religion? Saraha rules over 15,000 villages in Roli and because he drinks honey wine and damages our caste, he must be banned!” The king answered that he did not want to simply ban someone who had benefited so many people, and he went to visit Saraha. The king said to Saraha, “You are a Brahmin, and it is not right for you to drink wine.” Saraha responded that he had not drunk wine and, if the king would not believe him, then he would prove it in front of all the Brahmins and the entire people.

When they had all gathered together, Saraha said, “If I have drunk wine, my hand will burn, and if I have not drunk wine, it will not burn.” Then he put his hand in boiling butter, and it did not burn. But the Brahmins were not satisfied with that and repeated their accusation. So then Saraha showed further examples of his magical powers and his control of the elements. He drank melted copper without any harm. He was the only one who stayed above water, whereas all the Brahmins sank. And when he stepped on a scale, he was heavier than three ferrous boulders, each one of which had the weight of a man. When Saraha was heavier than six such boulders, the king said to him, “If a person with such capabilities as you wants to drink wine, then he should drink wine.”

Saraha Becomes a Buddhist

In the course of his life Saraha received many transmissions of Buddhist teachings and methods. It is difficult to establish the chronological sequence of these transmissions, because in this regard the sources are often unclear and the information that they give varies. It is said that already while he was a Brahmin, he simultaneously practiced Diamond Way Buddhism. Saraha is said to have practiced the Brahmin teachings during the day and then at night used the Buddhist practices that he had received from pre-eminent Diamond Way teachers. At a certain point in his life he officially became a Buddhist. He became a monk, then a scholar, and later even the abbot of Nalanda, the biggest Buddhist monastic university in ancient India.

The Transmissions of the Diamond Way and Mahamudra²

Saraha was very active as a Brahmin teacher. But he repeatedly encountered the weak points in the Brahmin teachings. Most notably, he found that they were lacking in explanations and methods for reaching a state of mind beyond death. The dakini Red Wisdom (Tib. Dorje Naljorma) was aware of Saraha’s dilemma. She recognized him as someone who had special qualifications and a strong motivation for further development. For this reason she appeared to him in a human form as a young woman and made a prediction: “You are looking for a teaching that will free you from death. Go to Oddiyana (Tib. Urgyen), and there you will receive this kind of transmission.”

Saraha traveled there and met King Indrabodhi. Indrabodhi was a student of Buddha’s who had received Diamond Way transmission from him. Saraha received essential explanations about the nature of mind from Indrabodhi as well as from one of his daughters, Lakshminkara.

It is also said that Saraha received the Great Seal as well as the Chakrasamvara-tantra from Ratnamati and Sukhanata—two of Buddha’s main students. With Ratnamati it was the emanation of Wisdom Buddha, whereas with Sukhanata it was Loving Eyes. Buddha Shakyamuni gave the transmission of the Great Seal in the form of Diamond Holder.

Saraha Becomes a Monk, Scholar and Abbot of Nalanda

At one point in his life Saraha decided to quit his work as a Brahmin and dedicate himself entirely to Buddhist practice. He moved to Magadha in Northern India and made his monk’s vows at the Buddhist Nalanda University. As a monk, he was very learned in the three baskets—Vinaya, Sutra and Abhidharma—and the three ways of Buddhism. Because of his influence, the Great Vehicle, Mahayana, gained importance in the region. He spent many years as scholar and abbot in Nalanda. During this time, Nagarjuna became his student, and Saraha gave him the various Theravada and Mahayana teachings as well as the entire tantric transmissions. After that, he asked Nagarjuna to take over his role as the abbot of Nalanda.

Saraha then went into retreat for twelve years. Taranatha reports that during this time of withdrawing, a famine devastated the region around Magadha and many people perished. Saraha and Nagarjuna worked with their siddhis (powers) to mitigate this famine.

This motif of his twelve years of meditation—in connection with an experience of hunger—can be found in one of the best-known histories of Saraha’s life. I will recount this Radish-Curry story from the previously cited “Stories of the 84 Mahasiddhas” text.

Saraha took a young woman with him, and together they went to a remote place. While he meditated, she took care of him. One day Saraha said, “I would like radishes.” The young woman then prepared a curry dish from buffalo milk and radishes and brought it to him. But while she was preparing this dish, Saraha had retreated into deep meditation—and stayed there for twelve years. When, after twelve years, he asked for the radish curry, the woman said, “You were in deep meditation for so long, where should one find radishes now? The summer is already over, and there are no more radishes.” Saraha said, “Okay, let us go into the mountains for the highest realization.” But the woman answered, “A body that goes into retreat in seclusion is by far not in seclusion. Being free from false ideas and assessments is the highest form of withdrawal. Even after you have dwelled in deep meditation for twelve years, you could still not free yourself of the idea of radishes. So what do you think will be the result when you go up into the mountains?” As she said that, Saraha released himself from all conceptual veils and understood the ultimate realization.

We can recognize the young woman here as a wisdom dakini, on the same level of liberation as Saraha himself. With her words she shows that Mahamudra underlies all forms of meditation. And she offers decisive impetus for Saraha’s realization, prompting him to let go of the last clouds of conceptual images and to dissolve them into their truth nature.

Saraha Becomes Yogi and Arrow Maker

Saraha then gave up his life as monk and scholar in Nalanda and dedicated himself to the practice of Diamond Way Buddhism, becoming an itinerant accomplisher (Skt. Yogi). He learned the art of making arrows from his new companion, who was an arrow maker. This provided him with both a living and a daily Buddhist practice. The young woman became his lover, and together they practiced the union meditations of the Diamond Way.

The following story comes from Karma Trinlepa—a teacher of the 8th Karmapa Mikyö Dorje—and tells of their first meeting:

One day while the Great Brahmin was wandering in a region of southern India, he came to a village. In the middle of the market place sat an arrow maker, and he went up to her. The young woman was deeply absorbed in making arrows. She looked neither left nor right. She skillfully straightened a tube of bamboo into an arrow with three joints and then cut off both ends. On one end she fastened an arrow tip that she had cut fourfold, and then tied the end together with a string.

She decorated the other end of the arrow-shaft with four feathers, which were divided in two for the nock. With one eye open and the other closed, she made the gesture of aiming. When the Great Brahmin saw that, he asked her whether she was an arrow maker. She said, “The buddha state can be understood through symbols and actions, not through words and texts.” With that, the insight into the symbol of the dakini was born in his mind, and he comprehended the real meaning of what she did.

The bamboo tube is a symbol of what is not yet brought forth: the unborn nature of mind. Its three divisions are a sign that it is necessary to realize the three buddha states. Straightening the arrow shaft has to do with developing a directness on the way to enlightenment. Cutting the bamboo at the base indicates the necessity of severing the foundation of cyclical existence—ignorance—at its root. Cutting the tip has to do with overcoming belief in a real and lasting self. The four notches made on the tip of the arrow at the shaft illustrate the four symbols of “attentiveness,” “non-concern,” “without origin,” and “beyond the intellect.”³ Mounting the tip of the arrow reminds one to fasten the tip of the arrow of discriminating wisdom (Tib. Sherab) in one’s own mind. Fastening the tip of the arrow with the string expresses the ability to experience everything as inseparable from one another. Both sides of the nock, where the arrow sits on the bowstring, are the mutual play of wisdom and compassion on the path of the bodhisattvas. The four feathers symbolize view, meditation, behavior and achieving the goal of enlightenment. Keeping one eye open and one closed is a sign for letting ordinary consciousness (Tib. Namshe) come to rest and for letting ultimate truth (Tib. Yeshe) arise in one’s own mind. Lifting the arrow to one’s eye and taking the aiming position expresses shooting the arrow of non-duality through the heart of persistent duality.

As soon as the Great Brahmin understood this, he was instantly liberated and his name became Saraha. In the language of southern India, “sara” (also sa sa ra) and “ha” (also ha ha ta) meant “to have shot.” He became known as the arrow maker, because he had shot through the heart of dualistic perception with the arrow of the non-dual experience of space and joy inseparable.

He then said to the woman, “You are not an arrow maker, you are the teacher of symbols.”⁴ They stayed together, in order to meditate together and to do the union practices of Diamond Way. “Until yesterday I was not a Brahmin, but from today on I am one.” With such words he expressed that he had conquered all conceptual ideas with regard to pure and impure. Together with his companion he went to the places where they burned human corpses. There they celebrated tantric feasts and sang diamond songs (Tib. vajra-doha).

Saraha Gives the Mahamudra Transmission in The Form of The Three Vajra Dohas

Word got around about Saraha’s lifestyle. The people who had previously known him recognized that his heritage was Brahmanism, that he had taught in Nalanda for many years as a very high Buddhist teacher, and that he had also been a monk. Thus there were many people in Southern India who ridiculed him and belittled him with words like: “The Brahmin Rahula did not keep the ascetic rigor of his monk vows and defected from celibacy. He lives with an immodest woman of lower origins, engages in corrupt practices and roams around in all directions like a dog.”

When King Mahapala heard this, he instructed the inhabitants of this region to get the great Brahmin to abandon his lifestyle and to ask him to practice with a pure view for the benefit of all. When Saraha was asked to change his behavior, he sang three songs of realization—for the king, for the queen, and for the people. He floated in the air and danced in the sky with his companion.

These diamond songs (called vajra-dohas) give a live and powerful transmission into the foundation, way, and fruit of the Great Seal. Inspired by Saraha’s songs, the king, queen, and people entered the path to experiencing reality.

Saraha achieved immeasurable benefit for beings. He attained the rainbow body, and even today those with a good karmic connection can still encounter him.

Saraha’s Most Important Students

Saraha gave the lineage of the Great Seal to Nagarjuna, and from him those practices were transmitted to Marpa via Shavaripa and Maitripa. The transmission lineage of “highest joy” and “red wisdom” in union (Skt. Chakrasamvara-Tantra) came—via the madasiddhas Luipa, Tengipa, Darikapa and Sukhasiddhi—to Tilopa, Naropa, and finally to Marpa, and thus became part of the transmission of the Karma Kagyu lineage.

Saraha’s Significance

In connection with the transmission of Mahamudra, Saraha is very much alive for practitioners of Diamond Way Buddhism. In this case, it is not so much a matter of historically provable facts from his life, but rather of the inspiration and the blessing for realizing the nature of mind. “The great Brahmin,” as Saraha was called, is “mind itself; and to go looking for it anywhere else would be a mistake,” wrote the 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje.

Marpa’s Dream of Saraha

Great historical masters, like Marpa and the 3rd Karmapa, met Saraha in their dreams. In this way they received his transmission of Mahamudra. Marpa’s life story tells of this experience of highest inspiration.

Returning to Tibet from his Indian teacher, Marpa was held against his will in a border town between Nepal and Tibet. While there, he had a dream about Saraha during the night. Two dakinis invited him to go to the mountain Sri Parvata in the south. When he said that he had never been there and did not know the way, they assured him that it was not difficult, and that they would carry him on their shoulders. They put him in a sedan chair and lifted him into the sky as they would an umbrella. Marpa explains:⁵

Like lightning, in a single moment,
I traveled in the dream to the mountain Sri Parvata⁶ in the south.
In the cool shadows of fig trees,
On an antelope hide,⁷
Sat the great Brahmin Saraha.

I had never before seen such a radiant appearance.
Two noble women stood by him, one on either side.
His body was decorated with bone ornaments.
His joy-filled face shone.

“Welcome, my son,” he said.
Meeting him, I was overcome with joy,
The hair on my body stood up, I had tears in my eyes.
I circled around him seven times and bowed before him.
I welcomed the soles of his feet on my head.
“Father, accept me in friendliness,” I pled.

He blessed my body with his.
In the moment when his hands touched my forehead,
I was intoxicated by pure, unconditioned joy.
Like an elephant who is drunk with alcohol,
So arose an experience of unshakeability.

He blessed my speech with his.
Through the lion’s roar of the space nature,
He expressed the meaning without words.
Like a dream that was dreamt by a mute,
So arose an indescribable experience beyond all words.

He blessed my mind with his.
I recognized the truth state that resides in everything,
That neither comes nor goes.
Like a corpse that is brought to the cemetery,
So arose an experience of not-thinking.

In a diamond song in the same dream, Saraha also transmitted the experience of the Mahamudra to Marpa. Overcome by this experience, Marpa finished his report of the dream with the words, “Even if I would meet the Buddhas of the three times, I would have nothing more to ask about.”

Many thanks to Manfred Seegers for his suggestions and feedback, for making me aware of the important sources about Saraha, and for encouraging me to write a coherent life story of Saraha. Thanks also to Gabi Coura for her careful comparisons of the English translations to the original Tibetan sources, and for her valuable suggestions for precise ways of expressing things.

I take full responsibility for any inaccuracies or mistakes that may have occurred, in spite of most careful and conscientious work with the sources.

1. My rendition of specific sections of the episodes of Saraha’s life is not a literal translation from the corresponding English translations, such as I found them in Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Dreaming the Great Brahmin: Tibetan Traditions of the Buddhist Poet-Saint Saraha (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). They explain the essential elements of the story as they can be understood by contemporary readers and on the basis of a Diamond Way Buddhist practice. ↩︎
2. In this regard there are various statements in various sources. I have used primarily oral explanations of Saraha’s life that were given by Khenpo Chödrak in 1996 in Vienna; Takpo Tashi Namgyal: Mahamudra. The Quintessence of Mind and Meditation. Translated and annotated by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa (Boston and London, 1986), p. 116-120; and Kurtis R. Schaeffer Dreaming the Great Brahmin (see above), especially 24f. ↩︎
3. Working with these four symbols, we get closer and closer to the realization of Mahamudra. Attentiveness has to do with overcoming attachment to the world of appearances (samsara). All appearances are composite, mutually conditioned, and constantly changing. The world as well as we ourselves are therefore empty of an own nature. In meditation we train to go beyond that, to experience the radiant, limitless space nature of mind (non-concern). We dwell in the timeless “awareness beyond center and limit,” just as it says in the melting phase in the meditation on the 16th Karmapa. When we connect this experience from the meditation more and more with our everyday life, we grasp that all appearances are without origin. They are without substance and unborn. They are the playful manifestations of mind. Thus samsara and nirvana are recognized as one. And we behave like a buddha, until we have become one, as Lama Ole Nydahl often expresses it. If we are capable of dwelling effortlessly in the experience of mind and appearance inseparable, in everything that is, then we have reached the level of highest joy (beyond the intellect). ↩︎
4. In Tibetan, a word-play is at play here. The same word is used for “arrow maker” and for “a woman who knows about symbols.” ↩︎
5. Compare: Tsang Nyön Heruka: The Life of Marpa the Translator. Seeing accomplishes all. Translated from the Tibetan by the N¯aland¯a Translation Committee under the direction of Chögyam Trungpa. (Boston and London 1995), p. 42-49. ↩︎
6. Sri Parvata is a sacred mountain in southern India (in what is today the state of Andhra Pradesh), near to where Nagarjuna’s monastery was located. The place, together with the foothills of the mountain, is known as Nagarjunakonda. It is possible that it also means the power place Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh. But in any case the dream makes it clear that one does not need to physically go to India to get to one of these places, in order to meet Saraha on his mountain. ↩︎
7. According to Jamgon Kongtrul, Saraha is depicted sitting on an antelope hide. In the Tibetan original the word here is “ti ra”—translated into English as “antelope corpse.” ↩︎