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

sun way”. The Rishis thus brought him many gold tributes and submitted to his power and the
primacy of the Kalachakra Tantra. In the fifteenth night of the moon enlightenment was bestowed
upon them.
Behind this unique historical Shambhala incident hides a barely noticed power-political motif. The
seers (the Rishis) were as their name betrays clearly Brahmans; they were members of the elite
priestly caste. In contrast, as priest-king Manjushrikirti integrated in his office the energies of both the
priestly and the military elite. Within himself he united worldly and spiritual power, which — as we
have already discussed above — are allotted separately to the sun (high priest) and the moon (warrior
king) in the Indian cultural sphere. The union of both heavenly orbs in his person made him an
absolute ruler.
Because of the Shambhala realm’s military plans for the future, which we will describe a little later,
the king and his successors are extremely interested in strengthening the standing army. Then
Shambhala will need an army of millions for the battles which are in store for it, and centuries count
for nothing in this mythic realm. It was thus in Manjushrikirti’s interest to abolish all caste
distinctions in an overarching militarily oriented Buddhocracy. The historical Buddha is already
supposed to have prophesied that the future Shambhala king, “.. possessing the Vajra family, will
become Kalki by making the four castes into an single clan, within the Vajra family, not making them
into a Brahman family” (Newman, 1985, p. 64). The “Vajra family” mentioned is clearly contrasted
to the priestly caste in this statement by Shakyamuni. Within the various Buddha families as well it
represents the one who is responsible for military matters. Even today in the West, high-ranking
Tibetan lamas boast that they will be reborn as generals (!) in the Shambhala army, that is, that they
think to transform their spiritual office into a military one.
The warlike intention behind this ironing out of caste distinctions becomes more obvious in
Manjushrikirti’s justification that the land, should it not follow Vajrayana Buddhism, would
inevitably fall into the hands of the “barbarians”. These — as we shall later show — were the
followers of Islam, against whom an enormous Shambhala military was being armed.
The journey to Shambhala
The travel reports written by Shambhala seekers are mostly kept so that we do not know whether they
concern actual experiences, dreams, imaginings, phantasmagoria or initiatory progress. There is also
no effort to keep these distinctions clear. A Shambhala journey simply embodies all of these together.
Thus the difficult and hazardous adventures people have undertaken in search of the legendary
country correspond to the “various mystical practices along the way, that lead to the realization of
tantric meditation in the kingdom itself. ... The snow mountains surrounding Shambhala represent
worldly virtues, while the King in the center symbolizes the pure mind at the end of the
journey” (Bernbaum, 1980, p. 229).
In such interpretations, then, the journeys take place in the spirit. Then again, this is not the
impression gained by leafing through the Shambha la’i lam yig, the famous travel report of the Third
Panchen Lama (1738–1780). This concerns a fantastic collection , which is obviously convinced of
the reality of its factual material, of historical and geographic particulars from central Asia which
describe the way to Shambhala.
The landscapes which, according to this “classic travel guide”, a visitor must pass through before