The Sarpashana Sourcebook is now available on-line in PDF format (so use Acrobat Reader, Preview on MacOS X, or a similar program to view it): Sarpashana.pdf (600K).
From the Introduction:
The name Sarpashana (Sar pá sh
na), given to the Buddhist Alcohol Study Group (once upon a time
known as the Phenomenal World Substance Abuse Group), is Sanskrit
and means poison eater.
The symbol for the Group is the peacock because of an ancient
Hindu story about the fact that the peacock derives its brilliant
plumage from its consumption of poison. Its ability to transform
poison into nourishment gives it both beauty and a proper kind of
pride.
The talk contained in this sourcebook
entitled “The Essence of the Nyingma Teachings” goes
on to explain the symbolism further.
Applied to a Buddhist-oriented
educational, counselling, and support network, Sarpashana may be
understood to mean that the poison is the disease of alcoholism
(or any other addictive tendency). Addiction produces a kind of
false pride and we are consumed with ego-arrogance. By consuming
our disease, in other words, by recognizing it for what it is,
accepting the karma of it, and responding by first educating
ourselves; second, taking it personally; and finally, acting on
what we now know to be true, we transform ourselves and discover
our true nature - symbolized by the magnificent tail of the
peacock. Then, with genuine pride in being fearlessly human, at home in
the world, we can proclaim the dharma of what we have learned and
the dharma of what we have experienced to other sentient beings
who suffer in this dark age.