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

ing-like chains of mountains, which lie like wheels around the world axis. Huge oceans are found
between these wheels. The last of these seas is also the largest. It is called Mahasa Mudra, the Great
Mudra.
Thus, in the Buddhist concept of the world Meru forms the vertical, which is divided into three
segments — from bottom to top: (1) hell, (2) earth, and (3) heaven.
At its roots, (1), the seven main hells are found, each more horrific than the last. In contrast to
Western beliefs about the under world, in Buddhism there are “cold hells” in addition to the hot,
where souls are tormented not with fire but with ice. Watery hells can also be found there, in others
only smoke. The precise description of the torments in these dreadful places has been a favorite
pastime of Tibetan monks for centuries. Above the underworld, at the foot of Meru, live the so-called
hunger spirits (pretas),a restless horde of humanoid beings, who are driven by constant desire.
In the middle segment of the mountain, (2), we encounter the twelve continents, and among them
Jambudvipa, the earth. Since the continents are surrounded by ocean, there is no natural land bridge to
the world axis. We humans live on the “rose apple tree continent” (Jambudvipa). This continent is
also called the “land of karma”, since the beings who live there are still burdened with karma (stains
as a consequence of bad deeds). But we inhabitants of Jambpudvipa have the chance to work off such
karmic stains for good, by following the teachings of the Buddha. This is a great privilege which is
not as readily available to the inhabitants of other spheres or the other continents.
Above the earthly world rises the segment of the heavens, (3), and here we find ourselves in the realm
of the stars and planets. Beyond this one can wander through various divine circles, which become
ever more powerful the higher one goes. The “divine” ascent begins in regions inhabited by deities
who have not yet freed themselves from their desires. Then we enter the victorious residences of the
thirty-three deities of the “realm of forms”, which we can regard as “Forms” in the platonic sense, that
is, as immobile, downward radiating energy fields. Among them are to be included, just as with Plato,
the higher entities which represent the pure essence of the five elements.
We now leave behind Mount Meru as a geographically describable region and “fly” through a “zone
of intersection”, in which the realm of the form gods and the even more powerful, more grandiose,
and more holy imperium of formlessness can be found. The “inhabitants” of this sphere are no longer
personalities at all and cannot be visualized, rather, they bear the names of general terms. The
Abhidharmakosa calls them “Without sorrow”, “Nothing greater”, “Great success”, Stainless”, and so
forth. Even higher up we encounter a sphere, which has names such as “Infinite consciousness “ and “
Nothing whatever” (Tayé, 1995, p.155). The Kalachakra Tantra has completely incorporated this
model of the world from Mahayana Buddhism.
From this staged symbolism of the world mountain we can easily recognize that it embodies not just a
cosmic model, but also, homologously, the likeness of an initiatory way. Now whether this way
begins down in hell or from the middle of the continent of earth, it should in any case lead, via a
progression through various earthly and heavenly spheres, to the highest regions of the formless realm.
The cosmos and the energy body of the yogi
As we have already indicated a number of times, a homology exists between the Buddhist cosmogram
and the bodily geography of the yogi. Microcosm and macrocosm are congruent, the world and the
mystic body of a practicing yogi form a unity. The ADI BUDDHA, as the perfected form of the