Tao Te Ching
Saraha
8th century CE
Earliest Mahasiddha, founding father of the Buddhist Vajrayana and Mahamudra tradition; Saraha was expelled from a monastery for drinking alcohol, found a young low caste bride, became a maker of arrows, and went on to write the main Mahamudra meditation text and become a great yogi and master song writer. Like Lao Tzu, he followed the same “Inborn Natural Way” and began the lineage which descended through time to Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milareapa and now to the Gyalwang Karmapa.
Lineages
Apostles of Doubt Artists Mahasiddha Poets Taoist
Eras
Chinese
Tang Dynasty 唐朝 (618 – 907 CE)Unlisted Sources
Doha for the People
Quotes by Saraha (13 quotes)
“The whole world is tormented by words… Only as much as one is free from words does one really understand them.”
Chapters:
1. The Unnamed
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“Abandon hope and fear. Let go of trying to accomplish something or exhibiting anything.”
Chapters:
72. Helpful Fear
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“Everything is one's own mind. Not so much as an atom exists outside of mind.”
Chapters:
25. The Mother of All Things
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“If there is an ‘owner’ then there is something that can be ‘owned.’ But if from the beginning there never has been a ‘self,’ then what ‘owned’ can there be?”
Chapters:
58. Goals Without Means
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“In the primordially clear sky-like nature there is nothing whatsoever to abandon or attain.”
Chapters:
48. Unlearning
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“O fool, know yourself. It is not a matter of meditation, or concentration… the diversity of existence is but a form of thought.”
Chapters:
33. Know Yourself
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“One’s own true nature cannot be explained by another.”
Chapters:
13. Honor and Disgrace
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“Recognize that the waves are not different from the ocean itself.”
Chapters:
66. Go Low
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“Whoever realizes that from the very beginning there has been nothing other than mind, has acquired the realization of all the Buddhas of the three times.”
Chapters:
35. The Power of Goodness
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“The flower’s perfume has no form, but it pervades space. Likewise, through a spiral of mandalas formless reality is known.”
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“Each person’s life is like a mandala – a vast, limitless circle. We stand in the center of our own circle, and everything we see, hear and think forms the mandala of our life.”
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“If the mind itself that is twisted into knots is loosened, it is undoubtedly freed.”
from Doha for the People
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“It was only after I slept with a woman that I became a pure monk.”
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Quotes about Saraha (1 quotes)
“Some engaged in lifestyles that ordinarily would have been transgressions of Buddhist ethics. For example, the mahasiddha Saraha worked as an arrow maker and produced weapons in violation of the principle of harmlessness and nonaggression. Tilopa, the founder of the Karyu lineage, worked for a while as a procurer for an Indian prostitute. Virupa was famed for consuming miraculous amounts of liquor...”
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