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

Ci Xi and attendants
Such dressings-up were in no sense purely theatrical, rather Ci Xi experienced them as sacred
performances, as rituals during which the energy of the Chinese water goddess (Guanyin) flowed into
her. She publicly professed herself to be a Buddhist incarnation and likewise affected the male title of
“old Buddha lord” (lao fo yeh), a label which became downright vernacular. We are thus dealing with
a gynocentric reversal of the androgynous Avalokiteshvara myth here, as in the case of the Empress
Wu Zetian. Guanyin, the Chinese goddess of mercy, makes an exclusive claim for masculine control,
and thus has, within the body of a woman, the gender of a male Buddha at her disposal. In the
imperialist, patriarchal West, Ci Xi was, as the American historian Sterling Seagrave has
demonstrated, the victim of a hate-filled, defamatory, sensationalist press who insinuated she was
guilty of every conceivable crime. „The notion,” Seagrave writes, „that the corrupt Chinese were
dominated by a reptilian woman with grotesque sexual requirements tantalized American
men” (Seagrave, 1992, p. 268). Just like her predecessor, Wu Zetian, she became a terrible
„dragoness”, a symbol of aggressive femininity which has dominated masculine fantasies for
thousands of years: „By universal agreement the woman who occupied China’s Dragon Throne was
indeed a reptile. Not a glorious Chinese dragon — serene, benevolent, good-natured, aquarian – but a
cave-dwelling, fire-breathing Western dragon, whose very breath was toxic. A dragon
lady” (Seagrave, 1992, p. 272).
Thus, in mythological terms the two Bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara and Guanyin, met anew in the
figures of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and the Empress Dowager. From the moment Ci Xi realized her
claim to power the two historical figures thus faced one another in earnest competition and a discord
which extended far beyond questions of practical politics. The chief imperial eunuch, Li Lien Ying,
foresaw this conflict most clearly and warned Ci Xi several times against meeting the Tibetan godking
in person. He even referred to an acute mortal danger for both the Empress and her adoptive son,
the Emperor Guangxu. The following words are from him or another courtier: “The great lama
incarnations are the spawn of hell. They know no human emotion when matters concern the power of
the Yellow Church” (Koch, 1960, p. 216).
But Ci Xi did not want to heed such voices of warning and peremptorily required the visit of the
Hierarch from the “roof of the world”, so as to discuss with him the meanwhile internationally very
complex question of Tibet. Only after a number of failed attempts and many direct and indirect threats
was she able to motivate the mistrustful and cautious prince of the church to undertake the
troublesome journey to China in the year 1908.
The reception for the Dalai Lama was grandiose, yet even at the start there were difficulties when it
came to protocol. Neither of the parties wanted with even the most minor gesture to make it known
that they were subject to the other in any way whatsoever. In the main, the Chinese maintained the
upper hand. It was true that the Hierarch from Lhasa was spared having to kowtow, then after lengthy
negotiations it was finally agreed that he would only have to perform those rituals of politeness which
were otherwise expected of members of the imperial family — an exceptional privilege from
Beijing’s point of view, but from the perspective of the god-king and potential world ruler an