Kritik am Buch „The Shadow Of The Dalai Lama ... - Neues von Shi De

ead it. This caution is customary to the tradition, but to disregard it can only be
detrimental” (Dhargyey, 1985, p. iii).
Such threatening gestures are a part of occult show business, then these days it is no longer even
necessary to understand Tibetan or Sanskrit in order to dip into the tantras, since numerous texts plus
their commentaries have been translated into European languages and are generally accessible. Even
Dhargyey’s “forbidden” text (A Commentary on the Kalachakra Tantra) can be found in large public
libraries. David Snellgrove, an outstanding and incorruptible interpreter of Tibetan religious history,
snidely remarks of the widespread secretiveness also promoted by the lamas that, “There is nothing
particularly secret about sexual yoga in the Highest Yoga Tantras; one merely has to read the
texts” (Snellgrove, 1987, vol. 1, p. 269).
This was in fact different in the Tibet of old. The highest yoga teachings were not allowed to be
printed, and could at best be distributed in handwriting instead. Even for monks it was very difficult
to receive higher initiations, and these afforded a much longer preparation time than is usual in our
day. Mass initiations were, in contrast to the present day, extremely rare occasions.
The seven lower public initiations and their symbolic significance
Let us now turn to the various stages of initiation treated in the Kalachakra Tantra and their features
and methods. What can be understood by the term initiation (abhisheka)? It concerns the transmission
of spiritual energies and insights from a priest to an individual who has requested this of him. The
initiation thus presupposes a hierarchical relationship. In its classic form, a master (guru or lama)
communicates his knowledge and mystic powers to a pupil (sadhaka). This master too once sat facing
his own guru before the latter likewise initiated him. The chains of the initiated, all of which can be
traced back to the historical Buddha, are known as “transmission lines”. It is usual for the
transmission to proceed orally, from ear to ear. This is thus also known as the “ear-whispered
lineage” (Beyer, 1978, p. 399). But words are in no sense a necessity. The initiation can also proceed
without speech, for example through hand gestures or the display of symbolic images.
Both forms of transmission (the oral and the nonverbal) still take place between humans. When,
however, the Buddhist deities initiate the pupil directly, without a physical go-between, this is known
as the “consciousness lineage of the victors”. The transcendent Buddhas (Dhyani Buddhas) who
approach an earthly adept directly are referred to as “victors”. A subtype of such communication from
beyond is known as the “trust lineage of the dakinis”. Here an adept discovers holy texts which were
hidden for him in caves and mountain clefts by the dakinis in times of yore in order to instruct him
following their discovery. Such “consciousness treasures”, also known as termas, generally provoked
sharp criticism from the orthodox lamas, as they called into question their privilege of being the only
source of initiation.
The Kalachakra Tantra is explicitly modeled upon the traditional Indian coronation ceremony
(Rajasuya). Just as the Rajasuya authorizes the heir to the throne to take on the status of a king, so the
tantric initiation empowers the adept to function as the emanation of a Buddhist deity. Of course, it is
also not as a person that the lama communicates the divine energies to the initiand, but rather as a
superhuman being in human form.
It is the pupil’s duty to imagine his guru as a living Buddha (Tibetan Kundun) during the entire
initiatory process. So that he never forgets the superhuman nature of his master, the Kalachakra