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

In the world of appearances Yama represents suffering and mortality, birth and death. So much cruelty
and morbidity is associated with this figure in the tantric imagination that he all but has to be seen as
the shadowy brother of the Bodhisattva of mercy and love. Yet both Buddha beings prove themselves
to be a paradoxical unit. It is self-evident according to the doctrines of Tantrism that the
characteristics of Yama can also combine themselves with the person of the Dalai Lama (the highest
incarnation of Avalokiteshvara). This has seldom been taken into consideration when meeting with
the god-king from Tibet who “looks down peacefully”.
A further striking feature of the iconography of Avalokiteshvara are the feminine traits which many of
his portraits display. He seems, as an enigmatic being between virgin and boy with soft features and
rounded breasts, to unite both sexes within himself. As it says in a poem addressed to a painter:
Draw an Avalokiteshvara,
Like a conch, a jasmine and a moon,
Hero sitting on a white lotus seat [...]
His face is wonderfully smiling.
(Hopkins, 1987, p. 160)
Avalokiteshvara as Androgyne