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Mipham Rinpoche (19th century) invokes Saraswati in the introduction to The Blazing Lights of the Sun and
Moon (Tib. Sherab Raltri:)
In the expansive lotus-garden of speech of all the conquerors,
With 100,000 melodious blooms of holy Dharma,
You are a singing swan that shines as bright as moonlight,
May you now enjoy the vast lake of my mind.
Saraswati [or Sarasvati] is essentially
an Indian goddess. She appears as a Buddhist yidam in her capacity as
an embodiment of virtuous activities of all kinds especially cultural ones such
as learning, and also the performing arts, especially music. Her
mythology also includes an important purificatory aspect. In many regards,
she shares characteristics with White Tara.
 In
Tibetan, Saraswati is Yang Chenmo, or when her musical
aspect is emphasized, she is Piwa
Karpo. In Mongolian she is Keleyin ukin Tegri, in Chinese she
is called Tapien-ts'ai t'iennu or Miao-yin mu, and in Japan she is
equated with Benten. The Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo is named for
Saraswati.
She is often identifiable by her plain white garment, (though
not in this image) her veena which
is a stringed musical instrument, and her association with the consonants and vowels
of the Sanskrit language. Her own seed syllable is haym.
In the Sadhanamala (162) Maha-Sarasvati's mantra is:
Om Hrih Mahamayange Mahasarasvatyai namah.
Bardor Tulku Rinpoche, through Lama Yeshe Gyamtso, related (KTD, Sept. 1, 2007)
the origin of the Goddess Saraswati according to Buddhist tradition:
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During the Golden Age at the time of the Churning of the Sea
[of Milk] containing amrita [the elixer of Immortality], there arose, to the
south of Mount Meru, a marvellous wave. That wave was the embodiment of all
virtue and goodness, and Lord Brahma was so delighted with it that he caused
it to be raised up as a goddess, who was named for those excellent qualities.
Hence the name, Sara-swati (Sanskrit for "she [becoming] of the stream" [of
good]). Another tradition holds that she is the same as Yami, sister of
Yama.
In
Hinduism, she is the daughter of Devi and wife of Lord Brahma, and her vehicle is
the celestial bird called the
hamsha or kinnara, usually portrayed as a swan but sometimes a
peacock. She is called Sharda
Devi or Sharada (Sarada) and the hymn to her says that her home is Kashmir, once famous
for its pandits or learned scholars.
Saraswati means 'the one that flows' and is the name of a
Vedic river that once flowed, but has vanished. That is the source of her
connection with fluidity of all fertile kinds including speech, writing, song,
music and thought. She is also known as Vak [speech.]
In India, grandmothers make a pentagram or Saraswati-sign with
honey
on the tongue of newborns to invoke the blessing of speech.
Hers is a spring [besant] festival falling on the fifth day of the
new year's waxing moon. In Bengal, it is the custom of girls to wear the light orange shade
called besanti
on Saraswati Day.
Students of all kinds call upon her for success in their
studies. She is depicted dressed in pure white without the usual
adornments of goddesses as she, herself, is the source of illumination.
In Bengal, students are supposed to fast before the Book or Boi Puja as this
time is also known, and writing materials, musical instruments and
school supplies are placed before the deity's altar.
Books are
considered sacred to Saraswati; if one accidentally sits or puts their feet on
even a page of a book, it is necessary to pranam [bow with palms
together] or touch it to
the forehead with respect, as a form of apology for the misdeed.
Offerings end with a special floral and fruit tribute [pushpanjali]
accompanied by the following mantra said three times:
Saraswati maha-bhage vidye kamala lochane
Viswa-rupe vishalakshi vidyangdehi namastute
Esho shachandana pushpa bilvapatranjali
Namo Saraswatvayi devyayi namo.
This puja is also the time that very young children are
initiated into writing. An elder holds the child and guides its hand to write
for the first time, the first letter of the Sanskrit alphabet -- Aum.
In Bengal at least, this festival is celebrated in all schools and colleges, and
educational institutes are closed all day. Children participate
feeling this will bring them luck in their exams.
Saraswati Puja is also plum-eating day. Amusingly to English-speakers, in Bengali the word for the fruit that epitomizes spring is Kool.
~ Source of Saraswati Puja in Bengal:
Biswas Anirban, Calcutta.
In Buddhism, as well as being a yidam or inspirational deity
Saraswati is sometimes
considered the consort of Manjushri, the knowledge bodhisattva. She was
the yidam of the reformer and founder of the lam-rim system, Tsongkhapa.
She is sometimes considered the peaceful form of the protector, Palden Lhamo.
That connection may derive from her dark blue colour which is the same as
that of Nila Saraswati, who is the dark
blue emanation of Durga, the Mahakali of Hindu tantric tradition.
Yangchenma is
sometimes equated with White Tara since she is white with one
face and, sometimes, three eyes. She can also be depicted with only two
hands, knees bent with crossed ankles as she sits playing her instrument.
When she is depicted with 4, one hand holds a book of scripture and another a tenwa
[mala] that symbolizes the string of letters of the alphabet.
There is also a red
Sarasvati -- Yangchen Marmo, and also a vajra, or Dorje Yangchenma, whose
mantra in this last form as Arya Vajrasarasvati (sadhanas no.161
& 163) is:
Om, pichu pichu prajna vardhani jvala jvala medhavardhani dhiri dhiri
buddhivardhani, Svaha
~ mantra information courtesy M. B., Nepal
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