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 Dohakosa, the Treasury of Spontaneous Songs, better known in Tibet as the Songs for the People, and the Tibetan mahamudra tradition, especially within the Kagyu 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 but comprehensive introduction.

Saraha's Spontaneous Songs provides the reader with everything needed for a serious study of one of the most important works in the Indian Buddhist canon.

Saraha's Spontaneous Songs: With the Commentaries by Advayavajra and Moksakaragupta, Klaus-Dieter Mathes & Peter-Daniel Szanto, Wisdom Publications, Hardcover, 592 pages, $69.95

Klaus-Dieter Mathes earned his doctorate at Marburg University, and is a Professor of Tibetology and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. He previously worked as a research fellow and lecturer at the Asia Africa Institute at the University of Hamburg, Germany. His research in progress deals with the Indian origins of Tibetan Mahamudra traditions. He is also a regular contributor to the Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies.

Peter-Daniel Szanto started his studies at ELTE Budapest (Tibetology, Indology). He read for a DPhil in Oxford, where he also held two junior research fellowships (Merton College, All Souls College). He also worked as a postdoc in Hamburg and Leiden and was visiting professor at Leiden and Vienna. He is currently associate professor at ELTE Budapest, where he is also head of the Department of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies. His main research areas include esoteric Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Sanskrit belles-lettres, and medieval South Asian history.