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

y him, right then, Though wat it was could not be put into words. This was the real
blessing” (Galland, 1990, p. 96).
From this moment on, the entire metaphysical standpoint of the author is transformed. The
revolutionary dark Kali becomes an obedient “sky walker” (dakini), the radical feminist becomes a
pliant “wisdom consort” of Tantric Buddhism. With whatever means, the Dalai Lama succeeded in
making a devout Buddhist of the committed follower of the great goddess. From now on, Galland
begins to visualize herself along tantric lines as Tara. She interprets the legend in which the goddess
offers to help her tear-father, Avalokiteshvara (Tara arose from one of the Bodhisattva’s tears), lead
all suffering beings on the right path, as her personal mission.
The “initiation” by the Kundun did not end with this first encounter, it found its continuation later in a
dream of the author’s. There Galland sees how the Dalai Lama splashes around in a washtub,
completely clothed, and with great amusement. She herself also sits in such a tub. Then suddenly the
Kundun stands up and looks at her in an evocative silence. “There was nothing between us, only pure
being. It was a vivid and real exchange. — Suddenly a blue sword came out of the crown of the Dalai
Lama’s head over an across the distance between us and down to the crown of my head, all the way
down my spine. I felt as though he had just transmitted some great, wordless teaching. The sword was
made of blue light. I was very happy. Then he climbed into the third tub, where I was now sitting
alone. We sat side by side in silence. I was on the right. Our faces were were next to one another,
faintly touching” (Galland, 1990, p. 168). The Dalai Lama then climbs out of the tub. She tries to
persuade him to explain the situation to her, and in particular to interpret the significance of the
sword. “But every time I asked him a question, he changed forms, like Proteus, the old man of the
sea, and said nothin” (Galland,1990, p. 169). At the end of the dream he transformed himself into a
turquoise scarab which climbed the wall of the room.
Even if both of the dream’s protagonists (the Dalai Lama and China Galland) are fully clothed as they
sit together in the washtub, one does not need too much fantasy to see in this scene a sexual magic
ritual from the repertoire of the Vajrayana. The blue sword is a classic phallic symbol and reminds us
of a similar example from Christian mysticism: it was an arrow which penetrated Saint Theresa of
Avila as she experienced her mystic love for God. For China Galland it was the sword of light of the
supreme Tibetan tantra master.
Soon after the spectacular dream initiation, the “pilgrimages” to the holy places at which the black
Madonnas of Europe and America are worshipped described in her book began. Instead of Marys she
now only sees before her western variations upon the Tibetan Tara. The tear (tara) of Avalokiteshvara
(the Dalai Lama) becomes an overarching principle for the American woman. In the dark gypsy
Madonna of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (France), in her famous black sister of Czestochowa (Poland),
in the copy of the latter in San Antonio (Texas), but above all in the Madonna of Medjugorje, whom
she visits in October 1988, Galland now only sees emanations of the Tibetan goddess.
Whilst she reflects upon Mary and Tara in the (former) Yugoslavian place of pilgrimage, a prayer to
the Tibetan deity comes to her mind. “In it she is said to come in what ever form a person needs her to
assume in order for her to be helpful. True compassion. Buddha Tara, indeed all Buddhas, are said to
emanate in billions of forms, taking whatever form is necessary to suit the person. Who can say that
Mary isn’t Tara appearing in a form that is useful and recognizable to the West? When the Venerable
Tara Tulku [Galland’s Buddhist Guru, a male emanation of Tara] came [...], we spoke about this.