Saraha's Images and Symbols

An Excerpt from Saraha
Poet of Blissful Awareness
By Roger R. Jackson

About This Title

The life and works of the mysterious Indian yogin, Saraha, who has inspired Buddhist practitioners for over a thousand years.

Saraha, “the Archer,” was a mysterious but influential tenth-century Indian Buddhist tantric adept who expressed his spiritual realization in mystic songs (dohās) that are enlightening, shocking, and confounding by turns. Saraha’s poetic verses made the esoteric ideas and practices of Vajrayāna accessible to a wide audience on the Indian subcontinent and served as a basis for the exposition, in Tibet, of mahāmudrā, the great-seal meditation on the nature of mind that permeates every tradition of Buddhism on the Tibetan plateau.

This is the first book to attempt a thorough treatment of the context, life, works, poetics, and teachings of Saraha. It features a search for the “historical” Saraha through evidence provided by our knowledge of the medieval Indian context in which he likely lived, the biographical legends that grew up around him in Tibet, and the works attributed to him in Indic and Tibetan text collections; a consideration of the various guises in which Saraha appears in his writings (as poet, social and religious critic, radical gnostic thinker, and more); an overview of Saraha’s poetic and religious legacy in South Asia and beyond; and complete or partial translations, from Tibetan, of over two dozen works attributed to Saraha. These include nearly all his spiritual songs, from his well-known Dohā Trilogy to obscure but important expositions of mahāmudrā, as well as several previously untranslated works.

Saraha's Images and Symbols
From Chapter 3, "The Medium: Saraha as Poet"

One of the glories of Saraha’s verse is its evocative employment of images, symbols, similes, and metaphors. A whole book could—and should—be dedicated to the topic, but here we must content ourselves with exploring just a few selected aspects of the Great Brahmin’s use of literary devices. Saraha’s images and symbols are woven into dohās, performance songs, vajra songs, and other poetic expositions of his view of reality and tantric practice, and they are also found in those mysterious utterances known as symbol-songs. In his dohās and other “standard” songs, images and symbols may be analyzed in various ways. Here, we will divide them topically: some refer to atmospheric, aquatic, and earthy aspects of the physical cosmos, some to plants and animals, and some to human types and the things they construct.

In terms of the physical cosmos, one extremely common image is that of the sky, or space, which typically is a symbol of emptiness, the ultimate reality that must be realized by practitioners, as well as the true nature of the mind that blissfully realizes emptiness:

The sky is naturally pure from the start:
when you look and look at it, seeing will stop. (PD 36)
___

Mind is to be grasped as like the sky;
as naturally sky-like should mind be grasped. (PD 45)

___

The sky is without birth, aging, or death,
[so] wherever you look, there’s only sky. (AD 8)

Milking and milking the sky, you draw down the [moon]
drops and drink them. (AD 29)
___

Not identifying variety within the sky realm,
don’t torment yourself by strenuous efforts of body, speech, or mind. (CD 29)
___

Among celestial bodies, the sun and moon are given special prominence. The sun tends to refer to the luminous nature of mind, although it may also symbolize the red drop that resides at the navel cakra and is moved through the subtle body in tantric practice, as well as the channel to the right of the central channel in the subtle body. The moon sometimes suggests a mere reflection of true reality but more often symbolizes either the white bodhicitta drop, typically found at the crown cakra, that must be drawn down and transformed through tantric practice, or the channel to the left of the central channel in the subtle body:

By the pure light-rays of his sunlike gnosis
that supreme person turns ignorance into awareness. (QD 54)
___

Hey! The sun is free from clouds and its rays are all-pervasive,
but to the eyeless they appear as darkness;
the connate is all-pervasive,
but to fools, thatness is very far away. (MM 11)
___

[When] the drops of sun and moon [combine], there is deathless sky:
the sun in the mode of great bliss is most beautiful. (AD 26)
___

The reflection of the moon is partless and devoid of objectivity;
even if sought, it is not [there], and even if viewed, it is not seen. (BT 28)
___

Just as the jewellike moon shines
in the great, black darkness [of night],
so supreme great bliss overcomes
every evil notion in a single instant. (PD 116)
___

Where sun and moon don’t enter in:
repose there, you fools. (PD 28)
___ 

Another common image is that of water, either as a part of life or in its more impressive manifestations, in oceans, rivers, ponds, waterfalls, and so forth. Water taken on its own may be a symbol of transience but more often refers to the fundamental purity of the mind, the yogin’s experience of it, the process of purification, or all three: 

This world, which is like a water bubble,
has the self-nature of connate emptiness. (PS 4:3)
___

Direct your primordial cognition into oneness, O yogin—
know that it’s like water poured into water. (PD 34)
___

Drink up the cool, pain-removing
nectar waters of the guru’s pith instructions. (PD 67)
___

Just as salty seawater
drunk up by the clouds turns sweet,
the stable mind works for the aims of others
and turns even the poison of sense objects into nectar. (KD 11)
___

Just as ice that’s melted into water is fit for drinking,
so everything that appears is felt as nonarising great bliss. (BT 101)
___

Oceans, rivers, and other bodies of water may variously refer to turbulent worldly existence, the ultimate nature of reality and mind, or a mode of practice:

Fools must thoroughly know the limits,
and know how to part the sea of confusion. (PD 33)
___

The sound of kṣa kṣa (destruction) can dry up the oceans.
(AD 33)
___

The qualities of nonrecollection are [like] an untroubled ocean:
there is no recollection; there are no waves on the water. (BT 43)
___

[Between] the near and far shore, fierce currents flow;
Saraha says, [perform] sky concentration. (PS 3:5)
___

Though rivers may vary, in the sea they are one;
though falsehoods are many, they’re destroyed by a single truth. (KD 4)
___

The mind, like a river, submerges dualistic views,
possessing gnosis, spurning nothing, and not covered up. (QD 55)
___

Meditate on bliss as akin to an aimless river. (QD 24)
___

The boat goes downstream, and a boatman [guides it] with his pole;
let it go—and by letting it go, you’ll know the other [shore] through the connate. (PS 3:3)
___

[Suchness] is all-pervasive, like a waterfall,
like an uninterrupted waterfall. (BT 40)
___

A final set of images from the physical world worth noting is connected to precious substances found in the earth and valued by humans, especially gold and jewels. Gold is often used in an alchemical context, to show the possibility of transformation through tantric practice, while jewels serve both as grantors of wishes and as symbols of purity, especially the pure nature of mind:

All dharmas take on the same taste, as if turned to gold by an elixir. (QD 33)
___

Always serve the wheel-turning king who’s skilled in the methods
of changing all dharmas to bliss, as elixir turns [metals] to gold. (QD 55)
___

To the mind, which like a wish-fulfilling gem
brings about [all] desired results, I prostrate. (PD 43)
___

Suppressing the evil of self-view, you suppress all evils,
so sanctify this jewel that is your mind. (QD 70)
___

Hey, friends! The mind, like a jewel in the ocean, is thatness—ah!
Lion’s milk poured into the horn of a water buffalo:
by that blazing jewel, you will obtain [freedom]. (CD 47)
___

Within the biological realm, Saraha deploys both vegetative and animal imagery. Of plants, unspecified flowers appear often, typically with reference to their fragrant scent and delectable nectar, which may symbolize tantric enjoyment of the senses. Of named flowers, the most common, by far, is the lotus, which may refer to an offering material or a quality of the feet of a guru or buddha, but most commonly is a symbol of the pure nature of mind or, in a more tantric register, either the cakras in the subtle body or the female sex-organ:

Using the senses, don’t be occluded by the senses:
[be] like lotus petals untouched by water. (PD 78)
___

The mind, which is like a lotus born from the mud of existence,
is never covered by any fault. (MM 36)
___

The amulet box of the heart, the lotus flower at the center:
someone possessing methods applies them, and it opens. (MT 24)
___

[When the vajra] resides within the mother’s lotus,
the bodies are bound [together] and nectar drips. (AD 1)
___

Another vegetative symbol is the tree, which is the focus of a brilliant extended metaphor toward the end of the People Dohā, worth quoting in full:

The sublime tree of nondual mind
grows over everything in the triple world;
flowers of compassion bear the fruit of benefiting others,
and its name is Supreme Benefit to Others.

The sublime tree of emptiness sends forth flowers,
which are the many varieties of sublime compassion;
its eventual fruit is spontaneously accomplished:
this bliss is not just another mind state.

The sublime tree of emptiness lacks compassion:
it has no roots or flowers or leaves,
[but] anyone who turns [emptiness] into a referent
will fall down and break their limbs.

Two trees are within a single seed,
and that’s why the fruit is one;
anyone who thinks them indivisible
is free from saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. (PD 129–32)

Many denizens of the animal kingdom appear in Saraha’s songs, of which the most common are the lion, which symbolizes the yogin’s power and confidence, and the elephant, which suggests spiritual power, grace, and spontaneity, though it can also symbolize the “wild” mind that must be trained:

The yogin is without concepts.....
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
like a lion roaming in and out of the forest. (VM 11)
___

Just as the lion’s roar in the forest
frightens all the tiny deer
but moves the lion cubs to rejoice,
so when this great bliss, nonarising from the start, is taught,
wrongheaded fools are frightened,
but the hairs of the fortunate bristle with joy. (MM 17)
___

Let the elephant of mind wander free,
let it inquire into its own nature,
let it drink from the mountain lake
[reflecting] the sky and rest on the shore, enjoying itself. (PD 119)
___

Like an elephant tamed when prodded by a goad,
when [mind] is left inactive, it’s like an elephant that’s been [tamed]. (BT 106)
___

Three other animals often encountered are the bee, symbolizing yogins’ delight in whatever they encounter; the deer, which is prone to delusion or fear; and the snake, which is often suggestive of the poisons that are our defilements:

Just as honey dwells within a flower
and the bees come to know this,
[the wise] do not reject existence or nirvāṇa—
how will fools ever understand? (KD 14)
___

Reality has an equal taste, like flowers for bees. (BT 22)
___

Just as deer tormented by error
run toward the water in a mirage,
so [when] fools are tormented by desire for something,
regardless of how they strive for it, it grows ever more distant. (MM 41) 

Improper [gurus], who are like venomous snakes,
are stained by their flaws. (PD 1)
___

Don’t examine primordial nature in every aspect;
if you examine [thus], you’re snakebit—enough said. (QD 4)
___

Other animals mentioned by Saraha include the cow, dog, tiger, camel, rhinoceros, raven, and swan, whose symbolic import we cannot explore here.

In the human realm—which is, after all, Saraha’s true concern—various representative “types” and abodes are mentioned. Types include the guru, who is perfection itself; brahmins and ascetics, who symbolize empty ritualism and religious charlatanism; the yoginī, who embodies the mysteries of Transgressive Tantra and transcendent gnosis; and the mad, children, and drunkards, who may be regarded either as pitiable or as exemplifying the nonconceptual freedom of the accomplished practitioner:

If the guru’s sayings have entered your heart,
it’s like seeing treasure in the palm of your hand. (PD 21)
___

Brahmins don’t know thatness:
pointlessly, they recite the four Vedas. (PD 2)
___

Seated in lotus posture with eyes closed,
[ascetics] whisper in people’s ears and deceive them;
teaching others, such as widows and nuns,
they bestow consecration and collect their guru fees. (PD 6)
___

Mind-itself is the yoginī, who has accomplished thatness:
know her as pledged to the connate. (PD 106)
___

Live like a crazy person [acting] freely without calculation,
like a small child engaged in doing nothing. (MM 35)
___

Release the essence of mind to do what it will:
mind like that of a drunkard who’s free from deeds. (QD 25)
___

Finally, also noteworthy is Saraha’s mention of human abodes, including palaces, houses (which may symbolize both the body and interiority), and—in a typically Indian move—the forest:

The unconventional yogin whose mind [roams] the town
enters the royal palace and flirts with the women. (QD 39)
___

Because the vital winds move in the empty house [of the body],
[people] contrive in multiple ways. (KD 22)
___

Some fools, bound by the categories of thought,
seek the owner elsewhere, even though he’s at home. (MM 14)
___

Not going to the forest, not sitting at home,
when cognition knows [thatness] wherever you are,
then everything abides forever in eternal awakening. (PD 124)
___

Two of the works surveyed in the last chapter, the Vajra Secret Song (VS) and Key Instructions (KI), are themselves classifiable as symbol-songs, consisting as they do of a series of apparently unrelated one-line sayings that implicitly evoke experiences of the connate, the great seal, or some other index of ultimate reality but seldom mention them explicitly, and because these texts were almost completely ignored by Tibetan traditions, most of the “translation” work is left up to the reader. Like those in the dohās, performance songs, and vajra songs, the images in symbol-songs range widely among natural phenomena, denizens of the animal realm, various types of humans, and human edifices and products, such as foods, drinks, and medicines, as well as common human experiences and activities. Religious ideas and practices, both Buddhist and Hindu, are mentioned, but infrequently, and again, the link between any given saying and the ultimate attainment of Buddhism is almost never made explicit. Nevertheless, guided by the symbolic associations we have detected in Saraha’s dohās and other song forms, we may hazard guesses as to the symbolism of several sayings in the Vajra Secret Song:

• VS 123—“Through kalpas of fear and desire, the sky is unmoved”—exploits the common Buddhist association between a clear and empty sky and the pure nature of mind, which may in fact be realized through entering a sky-like or space-like meditative state.
   
• VS 350—“Don’t look at sea foam after it’s disappeared”—suggests that when distracted by the superficial, “frothy” emanations of reality, we should return our focus to the groundless depths out of which they arise: the unchanging “oceanic” mind.
• VS 134—“The sun’s rays destroy the mass of darkness”—may be read as an allusion to the natural luminosity of mind, which always shines and, when realization dawns, dispels the dark night of delusion.
• VS 462—“The lotus remains free from the flaws of mud”—evokes a classic Buddhist and Indic image of the process whereby a bodhisattva rises above the muck of saṃsāra without abandoning concern for those mired in it.
• VS 465—“Gold that enters an alloy is still pure”—makes it clear that the dualistic distinction between “pure” realization and “impure” saṃsāra is arbitrary and false, for in the end, there is only a single, indivisible, pure reality.
• VS 174—“The supreme jewel should not be hidden”—can be read as a reference to such supreme virtues as altruistic bodhicitta or such fundamental qualities as the pure nature of mind—both of which should be manifest rather than concealed.
• VS 241—“Don’t follow a lion [hoping] to rein it in”—seems to refer to the power and independence of a spiritually advanced adept, who cannot be controlled, or even imitated, by ordinary beings.
• VS 491—“The way of the elephant is without limits”—similarly evokes the ease, grace, and power with which an awakened being moves through the world.
• VS 51—“The solitary rhinoceros is free from suffering”—will connote for a Buddhist the path of the solitary buddha (pratyekabuddha) but implies more generally the impermeability and confidence enjoyed by those who are spiritually advanced.
• VS 141—“Observe the bee that fetches nectar”—may be read as referring to the Vajrayāna adept who, broadly speaking, “enjoys” sense pleasures while transmuting them for spiritual purposes or, more specifically, tastes various forbidden sexual fluids in the context of a tantric consecration or ritual feast.
• VS 87—“The words spoken by the king cannot be changed”—may easily be interpreted as referring to the word of the tantric guru, which never can be transgressed.
• VS 160—“Place at the crown of your head the captain who has taken you to the island”—can be interpreted as advising us to value someone—the guru—who leads us across the stormy ocean of saṃsāra to the tranquil island of realization, or nirvāṇa.

Not all the sayings in the Vajra Secret Song (or the Key Instructions) are so amenable to religious interpretation, however. Some seem to be commonplace observations, on the order of “A person who leaves home and lives in the forest is happy” (VS 52), or “A brahmin drunk on liquor changes for the worse” (VS 207), or “A mother rejoices when her child comes to her lap” (VS 510). Other sayings involve unusual images or ideas, such as “The burden carried on the elephant’s back ends up in the stomach of an ant” (VS 42), or “The cemetery guards relax in the treetops” (VS 296), or “A blanket of frog hair is neither new nor old” (VS 522). If the former examples do not immediately yield up a religious or mahāmudrā interpretation because of their ordinariness, the latter are problematic because of their obscurity. However, the interpretive genius of religious scholars never should be underestimated, and no doubt every one of the 540 lines in the Vajra Secret Song could be plumbed for deeper meanings—although I have neither the ingenuity nor the space to attempt such analysis here.

One other text in which such one-line sayings occur is the Twelve Verses of Instruction, a short exhortation to realize the nondual, nonconceptual, unchanging supreme reality, which in its middle portion gives one-line descriptions of the natural behavior of various animals—but here, the intent is not so much to indicate the ultimate as to convey what it means to live and practice based on habit rather than discernment; in this sense, animal behavior (like that of unreflective humans, like brahmins) is to be avoided by those intent on spiritual freedom. 

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