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

Accordingly, Tantrism does not develop the good qualities of a person in order to ennoble or even
deify them; rather, it resolutely and quite deliberately destroys all the “ personality elements” of the
initiands in order to replace them with the consciousness of the initiating guru and of the deity
assigned to him. This leads at the end of the initiatory path to a situation where the tantra master now
lives on in the form of the pupil. The latter has de facto disappeared as an individual, even if his old
physical body can still be apprehended. It has become a housing in which the spirit of his master
dwells.
The lineage tree
The pupil serves as an empty vessel into which can flow not just the spirit of his master but also the
lineage of all the former teachers which stretches back behind him, plus the deities they have all
represented. It is all of these who now occupy the sadhaka’s body and through him are able to
function in the real world.
In Lamaism, once anyone counts as part of the lineage of the High Initiates, they become part of a
“mystic tree” whose leaves, branches, trunk, and roots consist of the numerous Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas of the Tibetan/tantric pantheon. At the tip or in the middle of the crown of the tree the
Highest Enlightenment Being (the ADI BUDDHA) is enthroned, who goes by different names in the
various schools. The divine energy flows from him through every part to deep in the roots. Evans-
Wentz compares this down-flow to an electric current: “As electricity may be passed on from one
receiving station to another, so ... is the divine Grace ... transmitted through the Buddha Dorje Chang
(Vajradhara) to the Line of Celestial Gurus and thence to the Apostolic Gurus on earth, and from
him, to each of the subordinate Gurus, and by them, through the mystic initiation, to each of the
neophytes” (Evans-Wentz, 1978, p. 9, quoted by Bishop, 1993, p. 118).
All of the high initiates are separated by a deep divide from the masses of simple believers and the
rest of the suffering beings, who either prostrate themselves before the dynastic line tree in total awe
or are unable to even perceive it in their ignorance. Yet there is still a connection between the timeless
universe of the gurus and “normal” people, since the roots of the mystic tree are anchored in the same
world as that in which mortals live. The spiritual hierarchy draws its natural and spiritual resources
from it, both material goods and religious devotion and loving energy. The critical Tibet researcher,
Peter Bishop, has therefore, and with complete justification, drawn attention to the fact that the mystic
line tree in Lamaism takes on the appearance of a bureaucratic, regulated monastic organization:
“This idealized image of hierarchical order, where everything is evaluated, certified and allotted a
specific place according to the grade of attainment, where control, monitoring and authorization is
absolute, is the root-metaphor of Tibetan Buddhism” (Bishop, 1993, p. 118).
The first seven initiations
All together the Kalachakra Tantra talks of fifteen initiatory stages. The first seven are considered
lower solemnities and are publicly performed by the Dalai Lama and open to the broad masses. The
other eight are only intended for a tiny, select minority. The Tibetologist Alexander Wayman has
drawn a comparison to the Eleusian mysteries of antiquity, the first part of which was also conducted
in front of a large public, whilst only a few participated in the second, secret part in the temple at
night (Wayman, 1983, 628).
The seven lower initiations ought to be succinctly described here. They areas follows: the (1) the