Question: Based on the Alagaddupama Sutta, the snake and the raft represent all Dharma teachings as taught by Buddha. The snake parable teaches that if one understands the Dharma wrongly, it’s like catching the snake by the tail, letting it turn around to bite one. In other words, there must be Right Understanding (based on the Noble Eightfold Path) to apply and realise the Dharma correctly. The puzzling part is the raft parable. Why did the Buddha advise to abandon the Dharma once it is understood? Maybe you can ‘enlighten’ me.
Answer: What the Buddha meant was that for liberation to be attained, nothing, whatsoever, should be attached to, not even the Dharma, because attachment to anything, even to the truth, renders one still defiled. This does not mean to literally ‘abandon’ the Dharma or the truth, but to let go of clinging to wrong and right views to realise truth and liberation. As long as the Dharma is clung to, it is just attachment to a view. As long as it is not realised experientially, one is still not liberated.
If there is still clinging, there is no perfect Right Understanding yet – because the Dharma ultimately teaches all to be free from attachment (including to the Dharma and non-Dharma), aversion (including towards the idea of letting go of attachment to the Dharma) and delusion (which is the opposite of Right Understanding). This is one of the key messages in the Diamond and Heart Sutra too. For more on the raft analogy, please see this article: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thedailyenlightenment-realisation/message/353
From http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.022.than.html: ‘It is important to underline the connection between these two similes, for it is often missed. Many a casual reader has concluded from the simile of the raft simply that the Dhamma is to be let go… However, the simile of the water-snake makes the point that the Dhamma has to be grasped; the trick lies in grasping it properly. When this point is then applied to the raft simile, the implication is clear: One has to hold onto the raft properly in order to cross the river. Only when one has reached the safety of the further shore [of liberation] can one let go.’