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

Buddha.
But there is better to come: „The bats had suddenly settled on her - like vultures to a feast. In a
moment she was covered from head to foot. Like lustful vampires they sank their horrible libidinous
beaks into her flesh and the blood began to flow from a hundred wounds” (Forman, 1936, pp. 183,
184). Forman turned to stone, but then — even in the most hopeless of situations a gentleman — he
came to his senses, and began to shoot madly at the bloodsuckers with his revolver. He emptied more
than seven magazines before the Abbess, to his great astonishment asked him with a smile to calm
down. With a majestic gesture she reanimated the bats which he had killed. There was not the
slightest trace of a wound to be seen on her body any more. „And in that moment”, Forman reports
further, „had she been the loveliest woman in all the world [...] Nothing remained of the grisly scene
of a few moments before to prove t me that it had ever happened at all, save the nude woman and the
solid golden idol with its four guardian pyramids of human bones. Somewhere off in the blackness I
could still hear faintly the obscene screaming of the hordes of bats” (Forman, 1936, p. 185). As they
left the grotto, Forman commented upon the incident — typically British — with the lapidary words:
„It must bee the altitude!” (Forman, 1936, p. 186).
As absurd as this story may seem, it nonetheless quite exactly hits the visual world which dominates
the tantric milieu, and it in no way exaggerates the often still more fantastic reports which we know
from the lives of famous yogis.
Women in former Tibetan society
How then is the fate of Srinmo expressed in Tibetan society? We would like to present the social role
of women in old Tibet in a very condensed manner, without considering events since the Chinese
occupation or the situation among the Tibetans in exile here. Their role was very specific and can
best be outlined by saying that, precisely because of her inferiority the Tibetan woman enjoyed a
certain amount of freedom. Fundamentally women were considered inferior creatures. Appropriately,
the Tibetan word for woman can be literally translated as “lowly born”. Man, in contrast, means
“being of higher birth” (Herrmann-Pfand, 1992, p. 76). A prayer found widely among the women of
Tibet pleads, “may I reject a feminine body and be reborn [in] a male one” (Grunfeld, 1996, p. 19).
The birth of a girl brought bad luck, that of a son promised happiness and prosperity.
The institution of marriage itself is definitely not one of the Buddhist virtues – the historical Buddha
himself traded married life for the rough life of a pilgrim. To be blessed with children was, because of
the curse which rebirth brought with it, something of a burden. Shakyamuni thus fled his father’s
palace directly following the birth of his son, Rahula. With unmistakable and decisive words,
Padmasambhava also expressed this anti-family sentiment: „When practicing the Dharma of
liberation, to be married and lead a family life is like being restraint in tight chains with no freedom.
You may wish to flee, but you have been caught in the dungeon of samsara with no escape. You may
later regret it, but you have sunk into the mire of emotions, with no getting out. If you have children,
they may be lovely but they are the stake that ties you to samsara” (Binder-Schmidt, 1994, p. 131).
According to the dominant teaching, women could not achieve enlightenment, and were thus
considered underdeveloped. A reincarnation as a female being was regarded as a punishment. The
consequence of all these weaknesses, inabilities and inferiorities was that the patriarchal monastic
society paid little attention to the lives of women. They were left, so to speak, to do what they wanted.
Family life was also not subject to strict rules. Marriages were solemnized without many formalities