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

devastating effects upon the sphere of the holy. For this reason, women who are bleeding may never
enter the grounds of a temple. This idea is also widely distributed in Hinayana Buddhism. Menstrual
blood is seen there as a curse which has its origins in a female original sin: “Because they are born as
women,” it says in a text of the “low vehicle”, “their endeavors toward Buddhahood are little
developed, while their lasciviousness and bad characteristics preponderate. These sins, which
strengthen one another, assume the form of menstrual blood which is discharged every month in two
streams, in that it soils not just the god of the earth but also all the other deities too” (Faure, 1994, p.
182). But the Tantrics are completely different! For them the fluids of the woman bear Lucullan
names like “wine”, “honey”, “nectar”, and a secret is hidden within them which can lead the yogi to
enlightenment (Shaw, 1994, p. 157)
According to the tantric logic of inversion, that precisely the worst is the most appropriate starting
substance for the best, the yogi need not fear the magical destructive force of the menses, as he can
reverse it into its creative opposite through the proper method. The embracing of a “bleeding” lover is
therefore a great ritual privilege. In his book on Indian ecstatic cults, Philip Rawson indicates that “the
most powerful sexual rite ... requires intercourse with the female partner when she is menstruating and
her ‘red’ sexual energy is at its peak” (Rawson, 1973, p. 24; see also Chöpel, 1992, p. 191).
Astonishingly, the various types of menses which can be used for divergent magical purposes have
been cataloged. The texts distinguish between the menstrual blood of a virgin, a lower-class woman, a
married woman, a widow, and so on. (Bhattacharyya, 1982, p. 136) The time at which the monthly
bleeding takes place also has ritual significance. In Tibet yiddams (meditation images) exist which
illustrate dakinis from whose vaginas the blood is flowing in streams (Essen, 1989, vol. 1, p. 179).
In keeping with the Tantric’s preference for every possible taboo substance, it is no wonder that he
drinks the menses. The following vision was in fact perceived by a woman, the yogini Yeshe Tsogyal,
it could however have been just as easily experienced by pretty much any lama: “A red lady, perfectly
naked and wearing not even a necklace of bones, appeared before me. She placed her vagina at my
mouth and blood flowed out of it which I drank with deep draughts. It now appeared to me that all
realms were filled with bliss! The strength, only comparable to that of a lion, returned to
me!” (Herrmann-Pfand, 1992, p. 281).
As has already been mentioned, the monthly flow is not always recognized as the substance yearned
for by the yogi. Some authors here also think of other fluids which the woman releases during the
sexual act or through stimulation of the clitoris. “When passion is produced, the feminine fluid boils”,
Gedün Chöpel, who has explored this topic intensively, tells us (Chöpel, 1992, p. 59). From him we
also learn that the women guard the secret of the magic power of their discharges: “However, most
learned persons nowadays and also women who have studied many books say that the female has no
regenerative [?] fluid. Because I like conversation about the lower parts, I asked many women friends,
but aside from shaking a fist at me with shame and laughter, I could not find even one who would
give me a honest answer” (Chöpel, 1992, p. 61).
The sukra
In the traditional Buddhist conception an embryo arises from the admixture of the male seed and the
female seed. This red-white mixture is referred to by the texts as sukra Since the fluids of man and
woman produces new life, the following analogic syllogism appears as obvious as it is simple: if the
yogi succeeds in permanently uniting within himself both elixirs (the semen virile and the semen