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Saraha's Spontaneous Songs
With the Commentaries by Advayavajra and Moksakaragupta
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Table of Contents
About The Book
“Completely abandon thought and no-thought,
and abide in the natural way of a small child.” —Saraha
To find liberation and realize the true nature of reality, the Indian Buddhist master Saraha says we must leave behind any conceptual assessment of reality, since no model of it has ever been known to withstand critical analysis. Saraha’s spontaneous songs, or dohas, represent the Buddhist art of expressing the inexpressible. The most important collection of Saraha’s songs is the Dohakosagiti, better known in Tibet as the Songs for the People, and the Tibetan Mahamudra tradition, especially within the Kagyü school, has done the most to preserve the lineage of Saraha’s instructions to the present day.
But Saraha was also widely cited in Indian sources starting around the eleventh century, and one Indic commentary, by the Newar scholar Advayavajra, still exists in Sanskrit. In addition, we have independent root texts of Saraha’s songs in the vernacular Apabhramsa in which they were recorded. These Indian texts, together with their Tibetan translations, are here presented in masterful new critical editions along with the Tibetan translation of the commentary no longer extant in Sanskrit by Moksakaragupta. Finally, both commentaries are rendered in elegant English, and the authors offer a brisk, comprehensive introduction.
Product Details
- Publisher: Wisdom Publications (April 9, 2024)
- Length: 592 pages
- ISBN13: 9781614297284
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Raves and Reviews
"For the first time the most important work of spiritual poetry from late Buddhist India is now available together with its only existing Sanskrit commentary as well as the defining commentary for the reception of Saraha’s poetry in Tibet. Together these three major works illuminate a rich and dynamic period of Buddhist thought and practice. A magnificent achievement.”
– Kurtis Schaeffer, author of Dreaming the Great Brahmin
“This is the most important book on Saraha in a generation—and arguably in the past eighty years. Saraha's Spontaneous Songs will be the foundation for any serious study of Saraha and his Treasury of Dohas for many decades to come, and all students of South Asian and Tibetan Buddhism shud be profoundly grateful to Mathes and Szántó for having collaborated on this landmark work.”
– Roger R. Jackson, John W. Nason Professor of Asian Studies and Religion, Emeritus, Carleton College
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