Dadar (ritual tool)

Saraha is often icongraphically depicted holding an arrow is mda'

The Dadar (Tibetan; Wylie: mda' dar^[1]), or arrow often though not always dressed with rainbow ribbon is a teaching tool, ritual instrument and potent polyvalent symbol for Nyingmapa and Bonpo Dzogchenpa and is a particular attribute for Mandarava and Saraha.

An aphorism "to shoot the arrow" of Jigme Lingpa is rendered into English by Gyatso (1998: p. 85), it refers:

...to the need to seek students with whom there is a "karmic connection"; the point is that the bodhisattva cannot always be helpful to everyone, and so one should direct one's efforts at those who are already predisposed to one. Khanpo Palden Sherab commented that the tantric master does not remain isolated but wanders in the world and occasionally is on the mark, that is, has the satisfaction of helping others attain buddhahood.^[2]

Simmer-Brown (2001: p. 359) asserts that linguistic device such as a pun are common teaching tools in tantra and vajrayana and provides the following homonymic example:

The word for arrow is mda', which is identical in pronunciation to the word for symbol, brda'.^[3]

See also

• Iconography

Dadar is a symbol of our life, it is as fast as the arrow flies. Also the silk of 5 colors symbolize 5 elements: space, air, water, fire and earth, which all connected with different illnesses and ways to cure it. It is needed to be 5 jewels also on the end of dadar which means the strong concentration of energy which helps practitioners to overcome illnesses. And the essence of what dadar means is the non duality of method and wisdom.

Notes

1. ^ Dharma Dictionary. mda' dar. Source: [1] (accessed: July 31, 2008)
2. ^ Gyatso, Janet(1998). Apparitions of the Self, the Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01110-9 (cloth: alk. paper) p.85
3. ^ Simmer-Brown, Judith (2001). Dakini's Warm Breath: the Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism. Boston, USA: Shambhala. ISBN 1-57062-720-7 (alk. paper). p.359

References

• Gyatso, Janet(1998). Apparitions of the Self, the Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01110-9 (cloth: alk. paper) p. 85