20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

712 Klaus SagasterIn the same way may, through my offering of these requisites (holdingthe books together),May the living beings perceive the Great Knowledge!oṃ vajra pustaka bandha āḥ hūṃ svāhāThe ever-increasing (rab-tu rgyas) mental constructions (spros-pa)are all elements comprising the phenomenal world, which is the source ofsuffering. The true nature of the worldly phenomena, however, is emptiness– the phenomena are, by nature, empty, they are an illusion. They arebasically all the same, they all are empty or, as the text says, they are allof the same taste (ro-gcig). This is the Great Knowledge (ye-shes chenpo)behind the phenomena, which leads to nirvaṇa. When the phenomenathat cause all suffering disappear, suffering ends, that means nirvāṇa isattained. The straps through which the book (glegs-bam) "becomes one”(gcig-gyur), like the “mental constructions” become one, “are of one andthe same taste”, holding together all the phenomena contained in the bookand thereby transforming them into Knowledge, the “Great Knowledge,”in a similar way as the Word of the Buddha, which results in liberation fromsuffering. The offering of the straps of the books is intended to remind thebelievers of the true nature of the phenomena. If the living beings (´gro-ba)offer the straps, they will perceive (rtogs) the Great Knowledge. The strapsare called “requisites” (yo-byed) in the Tibetan text, whereas in the mantrasthey are designated as “bonds, straps of the book” (pustakabandha).I know that it is not easy to understand Buddhist symbolism, and I hopethat I have explained the ritual texts correctly. There can, however, be nodoubt about the following:The book is the symbol of the Word, of the Word of the Buddha.Word is one of the three aspects through which the Buddha makes himselfaccessible to mankind, or, more correctly, to all living beings suffering inthe saṃsāra, in the cycle of existences. The other two aspects are the Bodyof the Buddha, represented by his image, and the Mind of the Buddha,architectonically represented by the stūpa.1. The Buddha sits on a throne guarded by lions, the Lion Throne.Similarly, the Book, the symbol of the Word aspect of the Buddha, is alsoplaced on the Lion Throne. The seat of the Buddha is not only protectedby lions, it is also strong and indestructible like a vajra, a thunderbolt,a diamond. Therefore, the seat of the Buddha is also called vajra-seat(vajrāsana). The meaning behind the offering of the seat of the Buddha isthat all living beings should strive for – and are capable of attaining – the