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

Lethal war machines
The graphic description of the war machines to which the Kalachakra deity devotes a number of
pages already in the first chapter of the tantra is downright impressive and astonishing (Newman,
1987, pp. 553-570, verses 135-145; Grönbold, 1996). A total of seven exceptionally destructive arts
of weapon are introduced. All take the form of a wheel. The text refers to them as yantras. There is a
“wind machine” which is primarily put into action against mountain forts. They float over the enemy
army and let burning oil run out all over them. The same happens to the houses and palaces of the
opponent. The second art of weapon is described as a “sword in the ground machine”. This acts as a
personal protection for the “wrathful wheel turner”. Anyone who enters his palace without permission
and steps upon the machine hidden beneath the floor is inevitably cut to pieces. As the third art
follows the “harpoon machine”, a kind of ancient machine gun. At the squeeze of a finger, “many
straight arrows or sharp Harpoons hat pierce and pass through the body of an armored
elephant” (Newman, 1987, p. 506).
We are acquainted with three further extremely effective “rotating weapons” which shear everything
away, above all the heads of the enemy troops. One of them is compared to the wheels of the sun
chariot. This is probably a variant of the solar discus which the Indian god Vishnu successfully put to
use against the demon hordes. Such death wheels have played a significant role in Tibet’s magic
military history right up into this century. We shall return to this topic at a later point. These days,
believers in the Shambhala myth see “aircraft” or “UFOs” in them which are armed with atomic
bombs and are guided by the world king’s extraterrestrial support troops.
In light of the numerous murderous instruments which are listed in the Kalachakra Tantra, a moral
problem obviously arose for some “orthodox” Buddhists which led to the wheel weapons being
understood purely symbolically. They concerned radical methods of destroying one’s own human
ego. The great scholar and Kalachakra commentator, Khas Grub je, expressly opposes this pious
attempt. In his opinion, the machines “are to be taken literally” (Newman, 1987, p. 561).
The “final battle”
Let us return to the Rudra Chakrin, the tantric apocalyptic redeemer. He appears in a period, in which
the Buddhist teaching is largely eradicated. According to the prophecies, it is the epoch of the “not-
Dharmas”, against whom he makes a stand. Before the final battle against the enemies of Buddhism
can take place the state of the world has worsened dramatically. The planet is awash with natural
disasters, famine, epidemics, and war. People become ever more materialistic and egoistic. True piety
vanishes. Morals become depraved. Power and wealth are the sole idols. A parallel to the Hindu
doctrine of the Kali yuga is obvious here.
In these bad times, a despotic “barbarian king” forces all nations other than Shambhala to follow his
rule, so that at the end only two great forces remain: firstly the depraved “king of the barbarians”
supported by the “lord of all demons “, and secondly Rudra Chakrin, the wrathful Buddhist messiah.
At the outset, the barbarian ruler subjugates the whole world apart from the mythical kingdom of
Shambhala. Its existence is an incredible goad to him and his subjects: “Their jealousy will surpass all
limits, crashing up like waves of the sea. Incensed that there could be such a land outside their
control, they will gather an army together und set out to conquer it.” (Bernbaum, 1980, p. 240). It
then comes, says the prophecy, to a brutal confrontation. [2]