Saraha

“After the Buddha himself, there is hardly a more important Indian figure among the legendary sources of the Tibetan meditative tradition than Saraha, the arrow maker, the radish eater, the father of mahāmudrā. And yet he remains among the most elusive. In this nonbiography, Roger Jackson … compensates by providing a vast treasury of any, and maybe all, relevant information. This includes an instructive survey of India and its contemplative religions, the origins of tantra, brief life stories, and an exhaustive list of literature attributed to Saraha. Finally, it is perhaps in Jackson’s profound analyses of some of Saraha’s lyrics that we come closest to sensing the real person.”—Sarah Harding, author of Niguma, Lady of Illusion“There have been relatively few academic examinations of [Saraha’s] full body of work and its ongoing legacy. With Saraha: Poet of Blissful Awareness, Jackson presents the first thorough treatment of Saraha’s context, life, works, poetics, and teachings, including new translations of nearly all of Saraha’s dohas, or spontaneous songs.”—Tricycle

Roger R. Jackson is a Professor Emeritus of Asian Studies and Religion at Carleton College. He has nearly fifty years of experience studying and practicing Buddhism and has authored numerous books on Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, meditation, and ritual.