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

ecstatic enthusiasm the five stages of this fascinating micro-macrocosmic apocalypse: “In the first, the
susumna (the middle channel) with the flame ascending within it is imagined as a capillary thin as a
hair; in the second, with the thickness of a little finger; in the third, with the thickness of an arm; in
the fourth, as broad as the whole body: as if the body itself had become the susumna (avadhuti), a
single fiery vessel. In the fifth stage the unfolding scenario reaches its climax: the body ceases to exist
for the meditater. The entire world becomes a fiery susumna, an endless storm-whipped ocean of
fire” (Govinda, 1991, 186).
But what happens to the candali, once she has completed her pyrotechnical opus? Does she now
participate as an equal partner with the yogi in the creation of a new universe? No — the opposite is
true! She disappears from the tantric stage, just like the elements which were destroyed with her help.
Once she has vaporized all the lotus centers (chakras) up to the roof of the skull, she melts the
bodhicitta (male seed) stored there. This, on account of its “watery” character, possesses the power to
extinguish the “fire woman”. She is, like the human karma mudra on the level of visible reality,
dismissed by the yogi.
In the face of this spectacular volcanic eruption in the inner bodily landscape of the tantra master we
must ask what the magic means might be which grant him the power to ignite the candali and make
her serve his purpose. Several tantras nominate sexual greed, which brings her to the boil. The
Hevajra Tantra speaks of the “fire of passion” (Farrow and Menon, 1992, p. xxix). In another text
“kamic fire” is explicitly mentioned (Avalon, 1975, p. 140). The term refers to the Hindu god Kama,
who represents sexual pleasure. Correspondingly, direct reference is made to the act of love in a
further tantric manual, where it can be read that “during sexual intercourse the Candali vibrates a little
and great heat arises” (Hopkins, 1982, p. 177).
The equation of the sexual act with a fire ritual can be traced to the Vedas, and was later adopted by
Tantric Buddhism. There the woman is referred to as the “sacrificial fire, her lower portion as the
sacrificial wood, the genital region as the flame, the penetration as the carbon and the copulation as
the spark” (Bhattacharyya, 1982, p. 124). From a Vedic viewpoint the world cannot continue to exist
without a fire sacrifice. But we can also read that “the fire offering comes from union with the female
messengers [dakinis]" — this from Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Tibetan Yellow Hat school (Shaw,
1994, p. 254).
In his classic, Yoga and the Geheimlehren Tibets [Yoga and the Secret Teachings of Tibet], Evans-
Wentz described an especially impressive scene concerning the “kindling” of the candali. Here the
“fire woman” is set aflame through a meditation upon the sun. After the master has required of his
pupil that he visualize the three main channels, the chakras, and the “empty form” of a yogini, the
exercise should continue as follows: “At this point in the performance you should imagine a sun in the
middle of each palm and the sole of each foot. Then see these suns placed opposite one other. Then
imagine a sun at the meeting of the three main psychic nerves [the main channels] at the lower end of
the reproductive organ. Through the influence upon one another of the suns at your hands and feet, a
flame is kindled. This fire ignites the sun beneath the navel. ... The whole body catches fire. Then
when breathing out imagine the whole world to be pervaded by the fire in its true nature” (Evans-
Wentz, 1937, p. 154). The inner unleashing of the candali in the body of the yogi is so unique that it
raises many still unanswered questions which we can only consider step by step in the course of the
following chapter: Why must it be a woman and not a man who flames up in the belly of the tantra
master? Why is the woman, who is linked with the element water in most cultures, equated with fire