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

water initiation;(2) the crown initiation; (3) the silk ribbon initiation; (4) the vajra and bell initiation;
(5) the conduct initiation; (6) the name initiation; and (7) the permission initiation. All seven are
compared to the developmental stages of a child from birth to adulthood. In particular they serve to
purify the pupils.
Before beginning the initiatory path the neophyte swears a vow with which he makes a commitment
to strive for Buddhahood incessantly, to regret and avoid all misdeeds, to lead other beings along the
path to enlightenment, and to follow absolutely the directions of the Kalachakra master. But above all
he must visualize his androgyne guru as the divine couple, Kalachakra in union with his consort
Vishvamata. With blindfolded eyes he must imagine that he is wandering through a three-dimensional
mandala (an imaginary palace) which is occupied by the four meditation Buddhas (Amitabha,
Ratnasambhava, Amoghasiddhi, Vairochana) and their partners.
After his blindfold has been removed, he tosses a blossom onto a sacred image (mandala) spread out
before him, which has been prepared from colored sand. The place where the flower comes to rest
indicates the particular Buddha figure with which the pupil must identify during his initiation journey.
In the following phase he receives two reeds of kusha grass, since the historical Buddha once
experienced enlightenment as he meditated while seated on this type of grass. Further, the Lama gives
him a toothpick for cleansing, as well as a red cord, which he must tie around the upper arm with
three knots. Then he receives instructions for sleeping. Before he goes to bed he has to recite certain
mantras as often as possible, and then to lay himself on his right side with his face in the direction of
the sand mandala. Dreams are sent to him in the night which the guru analyzes another day. It is
considered especially unfavorable if a crocodile swallows the pupil in his dream. The monster counts
as a symbol for the world of illusions (samsara) and informs the sadhaka that he is still strongly
trapped by this. But via meditation upon the emptiness of all appearances he can dissolve all
unfavorable dream images again.
Further instructions and rites follow which likewise concern purification. At the end of the first seven
stages the Vajra master then dissolves the pupil into “emptiness” in his imagination, in order to then
visualize him as his own polar image, as Kalachakra in union with Vishvamata. We should never
forget that the androgynous tantric teacher represents both time deities in one person. Since the pupil
possesses absolutely no further individual existence right from the beginning of the initiation, the two
time deities are doubled by this meditative imagining — they appear both in the tantra master and in
the person of the sadhaka.
We can thus see that already in the first phase of the Kalachakra initiation, the alternation between
dissolution and creation determines the initiatory drama. The teacher will in the course of the rituals
destroy his pupil many times more in imagination, so as to replace him with a deity, or he will instruct
the sadhaka to perform the individual act of destruction upon himself until nothing remains of his
personality. In a figurative sense, we can describe this destruction and self-destruction of the
individual as a continually performed “human sacrifice”, since the “human” must abandon his earthly
existence in favor of that of a deity. This is in no sense a liberal interpretation of the tantra texts;
rather it is literally demanded in them. The pupil has to offer himself up with spirit and mind, skin and
hair to the guru and the gods at work through him. Incidentally, these, together with all of their divine
attributes, are codified in a canon, they can no longer develop themselves and exert their influence on
reality as frozen archetypal images.