Saraha
c. 8th century CE, though may be much earlier
c. 8th century CE, though may be much earlier
Indian/Nepal/Tibetan monk, mystic, poet, etc....
born into a Bengal Brahmin family
became a yogi, tantra adept
met a woman tantra partner, married her, attained
enlightenment, etc....
developed the "mahamudra" system of tantra, meaning the
"great seal".
sang songs, which became known as The Royal Song of
Saraha (Dohakasa)
Sara means "arrow"
aha means "has shot"
so, Saraha means "he who has shot the arrow".
Tantra Tibetan lineage is:
Saraha to Tilopa to Naropa to Marpa to Milarepa to the
Karmapa lineage.
Osho has books entitled The Tantra Vision, Vol. 1 and Vol.
2 (republished recently as The Tantra Experience, and
Tantric Transformation) using the life and songs of Saraha
as the central core.
Though Saraha is generally thought to have lived around
the 8th century CE, Osho places him somewhere around
300 BCE, about one thousand years earlier, even before
Nagarjuna in India. Some current scholarship may give at
least some credence to this differing view, as any solid
historical evidence seems to be vague--the Indians,
Nepalese, Tibetans, and Mongolians seem to create and
recreate Saraha on a continual basis, as their religious
climate demands and generates it.
born into a Bengal Brahmin family
became a yogi, tantra adept
met a woman tantra partner, married her, attained
enlightenment, etc....
developed the "mahamudra" system of tantra, meaning the
"great seal".
sang songs, which became known as The Royal Song of
Saraha (Dohakasa)
Sara means "arrow"
aha means "has shot"
so, Saraha means "he who has shot the arrow".
Tantra Tibetan lineage is:
Saraha to Tilopa to Naropa to Marpa to Milarepa to the
Karmapa lineage.
Osho has books entitled The Tantra Vision, Vol. 1 and Vol.
2 (republished recently as The Tantra Experience, and
Tantric Transformation) using the life and songs of Saraha
as the central core.
Though Saraha is generally thought to have lived around
the 8th century CE, Osho places him somewhere around
300 BCE, about one thousand years earlier, even before
Nagarjuna in India. Some current scholarship may give at
least some credence to this differing view, as any solid
historical evidence seems to be vague--the Indians,
Nepalese, Tibetans, and Mongolians seem to create and
recreate Saraha on a continual basis, as their religious
climate demands and generates it.
| THE ROYAL SONG OF SARAHA I bow down to noble Manjusri, I bow down to him who has Conquered the finite. As calm water lashed by wind Turns into waves and rollers, So the king thinks of Saraha In many ways, although one man. To a fool who squints, One lamp is as two, Where seen and seer are not two, Ah! the mind works On the thingness of them both. Though the house lamps Have been lit, The blind live on in the dark. Though spontaneity Is all-encompassing and close, To the deluded it remains Always far away. Though there may be many rivers, They are one in the sea. Though there may be many lies, One truth will conquer all. When one sun appears, The dark, however deep, Will vanish. ...not that the priests have not tried, not that the scholars have not tried; they have done all that they can do – but somehow Buddha’s teaching was devised in such a way that it could not be destroyed. It is still alive. Even after twenty-five centuries a few flowers come on his tree, it still blooms. Spring comes, and still it releases fragrance, it still bears fruit. Saraha is also a fruit of the same tree. Saraha was born about two centuries after Buddha; he was in the direct line of a different branch. One branch moves from Mahakashyapa to Bodhidharma, and Zen is born – and it is still full of flowers, that branch. Another branch moves from Buddha to his son, Rahul Bhadra, and from Rahul Bhadra to Sri Kirti, and from Sri Kirti to Saraha, and from Saraha to Nagarjuna – that is the Tantra branch. It is still bearing fruit in Tibet. Tantra converted Tibet, and Saraha is the founder of Tantra just as Bodhidharma is the founder of Zen. Bodhidharma conquered China, Korea, Japan; Saraha conquered Tibet. These songs of Saraha are of great beauty. They are the very foundation of Tantra... --Osho The Tantra Experience, ch. 1 |
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