"Saraha" is the name of a Buddhist master who lived in India during the 8th century CE.  Saraha was a Mahasiddha, or one renowned for achieving the highest level of wisdom accomplishment during his life. 

Saraha's life story is rich and varied.  He is known for his early accomplishment as a master of traditional Buddhist scholarship, and later for setting aside the scholar's role to wander freely in the world as an enlightened being, at times found living amongst a so-called lowly caste of arrow makers in India. Saraha's teachings are recorded to the present by many famous Buddhist "dohas," poems or songs of realization, that he composed. The wisdom arrows of his speech fly straight and true, unobstructed in the expanse of his enlightened realization.

The formation of the Saraha Nyingma Buddhist Institute in August of 2011 is very much connected to the acquisition of the building in Eugene, Oregon which serves as its headquarters.  This unique building, previously the home of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, was the site of a single visit, teaching and Buddhist empowerment event conferred by HH Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, on Nov. 8, 1980, over thirty years prior to the building's acquisition by the Institute.

An account of how our organization came to acquire this building, along with how the Institute was founded as a result can be found in this account published in the Northwest Dharma News online magazine HERE.  Saraha is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Saraha the Mahasiddha, the historical person, is also known as one of a series of previous enlightened incarnations of the root teachers of the Dudjom Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, including the late Buddhist masters Dudjom Lingpa, and then HH Dudjom Ripoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, who actually visited the site of the Saraha Nyingma Buddhist Temple on November 8, 1980. 

This enlightened connection between these Buddhist masters of the past and present is described in the poetical lineage recitation known as The Pearl Rosary, and elsewhere.

The Saraha Nyingma Buddhist Institute was founded as a Buddhist educational and practice facility according the specific vision and intention of its founding directors.

How do you say "Saraha?"  

The key is that the three "a's" in "Saraha" are all pronounced as short a's, like the letter "a" in "above."  And the word is accented on the first of its three syllables, as in "lineage." Click  HERE for audio of a few people saying the word "Saraha" correctly.