SARAHA'S TREASURY OF SONGS
translated by David
Snellgrove
1
The Brahmins who do not know
the truth, Vainly recite the Vedas four.
2
With earth and water and
kusha-grass they make preparations, And seated at home they kindle fire,
And from the senseless offerings that they make, They burn their eyes
with the pungent smoke.
3
In lordly garb with one staff
or three, They think themselves wise with their brahmanical lore. Vainly
is the world enslaved by their vanity. They do not know that dharma's the
same as non-dharma.
4
With ashes these masters smear
their bodies, And on their heads they wear matted hair. Seated within
the house they kindle lamps. Seated in a corner they tinkle bells.
5
They adopt a posture and fix
their eyes, Whispering in ears and deceiving folk, Teaching widows and
bald-headed nuns and such like, Initiating them as they take their fee.
6
The Jain monnks mock the Way
with their appearance, With their long nails and their filthy clothes,
Or else naked and with dishevelled hair, Enslaving themselves with their
doctrine of release.
7
If by nakedness one is
released, Then dogs and jackals must be so. If from absence of hair
there comes perfection, Then the hips of maidens must be so.
8
If from having a tail there
comes release, Then for the peacock and yak it must be so. If wisdom
consists in eating just what one finds, Then for elephant and horse it must
be so.
9
For these Jain monks there is
no release, Saraha says. Deprived of the truth of happiness, they do but
afflict their own bodies.
10
Then there are the novices and
bhikshus with the teaching of the Old School, Who renounce the world to be
monks. Some are seen sitting and reading the scriptures, Some wither
away in their concentration on thought.
11
Others have recourse to the
Great Vehicle. This is the doctrine which expounds the original texts, (they
say). Others just meditate on mandala-circles. Others strive to define
the fourth stage of bliss.
12
With such investigating they
fall from the Way; Some would envisage it as space, Others endow it with
the nature of voidness, And thus they are generally in disagreement.
13
Whoever deprived of the Innate,
seeks nirvana, Can in no wise acquire the absolute truth.
14
Whoever is intent on anything
else, how may he gain release? Will one gain release, abiding in meditation?
What's the use of lamps? What's the use of offerings? What's to be done
by reliance on mantras?
15
What is the use of austerities?
What is the use of going on pilgrimage? Is release achieved by bathing
in water?
16
Abandon such false attachments
and renounce such illusion! Than knowledge of This there is nothing else.
Other than This no one can know.
17
It is This that's read and This
that's meditated, It's This that's discussed in treatises and old legends.
There is no school of thought that does not have This as its aim, But
one sees it only at the feet of one's master.
18
If the world of one's master
but enter the heart, It seems like a treasure in the palm of one's hand.
The world is enslaved by falsehood, says Saraha, And the fool does not
perceive his true nature.
19
Without meditating, without
renouncing the world, One may stay at home in the company of one's wife.
Can that be called perfect knowledge, Saraha says, If one is not
released while enjoying the pleasures of sense?
20
If it's already manifest,
what's the use of meditation? And if it is hidden, one is just measuring
darkness. Saraha cries: The nature of the Innate is neither existent nor
non-existent.
21
By means of that same essence
by which one is born and lives and dies, By means of that one gains the
highest bliss. But although Saraha speaks these profound and mysterious
words, This stupid world seems not to understand.
22
If it exists apart from
meditation, how may one meditate upon it? If it is ineffable, how may it be
discussed? The whole world is enslaved by the appearance of things, And
no one apprehends his true nature
23
Mantras and tantras, meditation
and concentration, They are all a cause of self-deception. Do not defile
in contemplation thought that is pure in its own nature, But abide in the
bliss of yourself and cease those torments.
24
Eat and drink, indulge the
senses, Fill the mandala (with offerings) again and again, By things
like these you'll gain the world beyond. Tread upon the head of the foolish
worldling and proceed!
25
Where vital breath and mind no
longer roam about, Where Sun and Moon do not appear, There, O man, put
thy thought to rest, This is the precept taught by Saraha.
26
Do not discriminate, but see
things as one, Making no distinction of families. Let the whole of the
threefold world become one in the state of Great Passion.
27
Here there is no beginning, no
middle, no end, Neither samsara nor nirvana. In this state of highest
bliss There is neither self nor other.
28
Whatever you see, that is it,
In front, behind, in all the ten directions. Even today let your master
make an end of delusion! There is no need to ask of anyone else.
29
The faculties of sense subside,
And the notion of self is destroyed. O friend, such is the Body Innate.
Ask for it clearly of your master.
30
Where thought is held and
breath passes hence, That is the highest bliss. Elsewhere one goes
nowhere.
31
Now it is a matter of
self-experience, So do not err with regard to it. To call it existence
or non-existence or even stage of bliss would impose a limitation.
32
Know your own thought
completely, O yogin! Like water meeting with water.
33
How by meditation should one
fondly gain release? And why accept such falsehood? Have confidence in
the word of your good master. This is the advice that I Saraha give.
34
The nature of the sky is
originally clear, But by gazing and gazing the sight becomes obscured.
Then when the sky appears deformed in this way, The fool does not know
that the fault's in his own mind.
35
Through fault of pride he does
not see truth, And therefore like a demon he maligns all ways. The whole
world is confused by schools of thought, And no one perceives his true
nature.
36
They do not perceive the true
basis of mind, For upon the Innate they impose a threefold falsification.
Where thought arises and where it dissolves, There you should abide, O
my son.
37
For one who thus ponders the
truth without its true basis, A master's instruction would make everything
clear. Saraha says, O fool, surely know, The diversity of existence is
but a form of thought.
38
One's own true nature cannot be
explained by another, But it is revealed by one's master's instruction.
There exists in it not an atom of evil, Both dharma and non-dharma are
cleansed and consumed.
39
When one's own mind is
cleansed, Then one's master's good qualities may enter the heart. It is
in knowledge of this that Saraha sings, Paying no regard to tantra or
mantra.
40
Men are bound by karma and by
release from karma the mind is released. And by this release of the mind
they gain for a certainty this highest Nirvana.
41
Mind is the universal seed.
Both Samsara and Nirvana spring forth from it. Pay honour to this that
like a wish-granting gem Gives all desirable things.
42
Thought bound brings bondage,
and released brings release, Of that there is no doubt. By that with
which fools are bound, the wise are quickly released.
43
When so bound it dashes in all
directions, But released, it stays still. Just consider the camel, my
friend. I see there a similar paradox.
44
Don't concentrate on yourself,
restricting your breath. Fie, yogin, don't squint at the end of your nose.
O fool, hold fast to the Innate, And abandon the clinging bonds of
existence.
45
Bring together in thought the
restless waves of breath. Then know the true nature of the Innate, And
this becomes still of itself.
46
When the mind goes to rest
And the bonds of the body are destroyed, Then the one flavour of the
Innate pours forth And there is neither outcast nor brahmin.
47
Here is the sacred Humna and
here the River Ganges, Here are Prayaga and Benares, here are Sun and Moon.
48
I have visited in my wanderings
shrines and other places of pilgrimage, But I have not seen another shrine
blissful like my own body.
49
Lotuses in clusters with leaves
and blossoms and fragrance and petals and tendrils Abandon this
discrimination, O Fool, do not torment yourself and cling to such fondness.
50
As objects of desire mantras
and treatises go to destruction. Ask, O thou of no family, For Brahama
and Vishnu and all the three worlds return here to their source.
51
Know the taste of this flavour
which consists in absence of knowledge. Those who recite commentaries do not
know how to cleanse the world.
52
Listen, my son; this taste
cannot be told by its various parts. For it is free from conceits, a state
of perfect bliss, in which existence has its origin.
53
It is the very last segment
that remains of the creation of illusion, Where intellect is destroyed,
where mind dies and self-cenredness is lost. Why encumber yourself there
with meditation?
54
A thing appears in the world
and then goes to destruction. If it has no true existence, how may it appear
again? If it is free from both manifestation and destruction, what then
arises? Stay! Your master has spoken.
55
Look and listen, touch and eat,
Smell, wander, sit and stand, Renounce the vanity of discussion,
Abandon thought and be not moved from singleness.
56
Those who do not readily drink
the ambrosia of their master's instruction, Die of thirst in the desert of
multitudinous treatises.
57
Abandon thought and thinking
and be just as a child. Be devoted to your master's teaching, and the Innate
will become manifest.
58
It is devoid of names and other
qualities; I have said it cannot be known by discussion. So how may the
Supreme Lord be described? It is like a maiden's experiencing of bliss.
59
Completely devoid of the
notions of being and non-being, It is there that the whole world is
absorbed. For when the mind abides motionless, One is released from the
toils of existence.
60
So long as you do not recognize
the Supreme One in yourself How should you gain this incomparable form?
I have taught that when error ceases, You know yourself for what you
are.
61
One should not think of
molecules or atoms; It is this supreme bliss that pours forth unceasingly as
existence. Error such as that is madness, says Saraha. Know but the pure
and perfect state!
62
He is at home, but she goes
outside and looks. She sees her husband, but still asks the neighbours.
Saraha says, O fool, know yourself. It is not a matter of meditation, or
concentration or the reciting of mantras.
63
"If one's master just speaks,
would one know everything? And without knowing everything would one gain
release?" So they wander about gaining experience, But they know not the
Innate. They just amass evil.
64
Enjoying the world of sense,
one is undefiled by the world of sense. One plucks the lotus without
touching the water. So the yogin who has gone to the root of things, Is
not enslaved by the senses although he enjoys them.
65
One may worship a divinity, and
(in trance) even his form may be seen. But one is still oneself subject to
death, for what can he do? All this does not destroy the Samsara,
"Without perseverance," they say, "there is no escape."
66
"One fixes the eyes, obstructs
the thought, restrains the breath. This is the teaching of our lord and
master." But when the flow of his breath is quite motionless And the
yogin is dead, what then?
67
So long as one is in the sphere
of the senses, Desire pours forth of itself. Who can deal with this
awkward problem? In so far as one is within something, one cannot see it
(from without).
68
All these pandits expound the
treatises, But the Buddha who resides within the body is not known.
Comings and goings are not destroyed in that way. But they shamelessly
say: "We are pandits."
69
He who among living men never
grew old, Such a one would be free from old age and death. (This is their
impossible aim.) But at one's master's word the mind is cleared. What
treasure is there other than this?
70
He who does not enjoy the
senses purified, And practices only the Void, Is like a bird that flies
up from a ship And then wheels round and lands back there again.
71
But do not be caught by
attachment to the senses, Saraha says. Consider the fish, the butterfly, the
elephant, the bee and the deer.
72
Whatever pours forth from the
mind, Possesses the nature of the owner. Are waves different from the
water? Their nature like that of space is one and the same.
72
Who speaks, who listens, and
what is confided? Like the dust in a dusty tunnel, That which arises in
the heart goes to rest in the heart.
74
Even as water entering water
Has an identical savour, So faults and virtues are accounted the same
As there's no opposition between them.
75
Do not cling to the notion of
voidness, But consider all things alike. Indeed even the husk of a
sesame-seed Causes pain like that of an arrow.
76
One thing is so, another is not
so. The action is like that of a wish-granting gem. Strange how these
pandits go to grief through their own errors, For in self-experience
consists this great bliss.
77
In it all forms are endowed
with the sameness of space, And the mind is held steady with the nature of
this same sameness. When the mind ceases thus to be mind, The true
nature of the Innate shines forth.
78
In this house and that the
matter is discussed, But the basis of the great bliss is unknown. The
world is enslaved by thought, Saraha says, And no one has known this
non-thought.
79
There is one Lord revealed in
many scriptures, Who becomes clearly manifest at your wish.
80
Oneself is the Lord, and
another is the enemy. This is the notion they have in their houses. In
eating the one, he consumes all the other, But she goes outside and looks
for her master.
81
He is not seen to come, Nor
known to stay or go; As signless and motionless the supreme Lord is known.
82
If you do not abandon coming
and going, How may you gain this rare one, this splendour?
83
Thought is pure when consigned
to the forehead. Do not then conceive differences in yourself. When
there is no distinction between Body, Speech and Mind, Then the true nature
of the Innate shines forth.
84
There how should another arise,
Where the wife without hesitation consumes the householder? This
yogini's action is peerless.
85
She consumes the house-holder
and the Innate shines forth. There is neither passion nor absence of
passion. Seated beside her own, her mind destroyed, thus I have seen the
yogini.
86
One eats and drinks and thinks
what occurs to the thought. It is beyond the mind and inconceivable, this
wonder of the yogini.
87
Here Sun and Moon lose their
distinction, In her the triple world is formed. O know this yogini,
perfecter of thought and unity of Innate.
88
The whole world is tormented by
words And there is no one who does without words But in so far as one is
free from words Does one really understand words.
89
The same without as within.
Firmly established at the 14th stage, The bodiless form is concealed in
the body. He who knows this is therein released.
90
I used to recite (the
text-book, which begins with the words), "Let there be success." But I drank
the elixir and forgot it. There is but one word that I know now, And of
that, my friend, I know not the name.
91
At the moment of the embrace
does he then win the great bliss, Who does not comprehend that everything is
of his own nature? He is like a thirsty deer that runs for water which is
but a mirage. It dies of thirst, and how should he obtain the divine waters?
92
The five skahdhas, the five
material elements, the twelve sense-fields, the six faculties of sense and their
spheres, these with their various modifications are the water. In these
doha-verses which are altogether new nothing is anywhere concealed.
93
So pandits, please have
patience with me, For here there is no hesitating. That which I have
heard by the word of my master, Why should I speak of it secretly?
94
That blissful delight that
consists between lotus and vajra, Who does not rejoice there? In the
triple world whose hopes does it fail to fulfil?
95
This moment may be the bliss of
Means or of both (Wisdom and Means), And by the favour of their master and
by merit it is known by a few.
96
It is profound, it is vast.
It is neither self nor other. O know this self-experience Of the
Innate in the Fourth Moment!
97
Even as the moon makes light in
black darkness, So in one moment the supreme bliss removes all defilement.
98
When the sun of suffering has
set, Then arises this bliss, this lord of the stars. It creates with
continuous creativity, And of this comes the mandala-circle.
99
See thought as thought, O fool,
and leave all false views, Gain purification in bliss supreme, For here
lies final perfection.
100
Question not with hesitation.
Release this elephant which is your mind, That he may drink the
river-waters And stay on the bank at his pleasure.
101
Held in the trunk of the
elephant that now represents the senses, One may appear as lifeless, But
the yogin like a nimble rider slips away and goes.
102
As is Nirvana, so is Samsara.
Do not think there is any distinction. Yet it possesses no single
nature, For I know it as quite pure.
103
Do not sit at home, do not go
to the forest, But recognize mind wherever you are. When one abides in
complete and perfect enlightenment, Where is Samsara and where is Nirvana?
104
O know this truth, That
neither at home nor in the forest does enlightenment dwell. Be free from
prevarication In the self-nature of immaculate thought!
105
"This is myself and this is
another." Be free of this bond which encompasses you about, And your own
self is thereby released.
106
Do not err in this matter of
self and other. Everything is Buddha without exception. Here is that
immaculate and final stage, Where thought is pure in its true nature.
107
The fair tree of thought that
knows no duality, Spreads through the triple world. It bears the flower
and fruit of compassion, And its name is service of others.
108
The fair tree of the Void
abounds with flowers, Acts of compassion of many kinds, And fruit for
others appearing spontaneously, For this joy has no actual thought of
another.
109
So the fair tree of the Void
also lacks compassion, Without shoots or flowers or foliage, And whoever
imagines them there, falls down, For branches there are none.
110
The two trees spring from one
seed, And for that reason there is but one fruit. He who thinks of them
thus indistinguishable, Is released from Nirvana and Samsara.
111
If a man in need approaches and
goes away hopes unfulfilled, It is better he should abandon that house
Than take the bowl that has been thrown from the door.
112
Not to be helpful to others,
Not to give to those in need, This is the fruit of Samsara. Better
than this is to renounce the idea of a self.
He who clings to the Void
And neglects Compassion, Does not reach the highest stage. But he
who practices only Compassion, Does not gain release from toils of
existence. He, however, who is strong in practice of both, Remains
neither in Samsara nor in
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