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

water as the feminine counterpart to masculine fire plays a completely subordinate role in Daly’s and
Shaw’s visions. Thus the force under which the earth already suffers is multiplied by the fiery rage of
these women. Avalokiteshvara and Kalachakra are — as we have shown — fire deities, i.e., they feed
upon fire even if or even precisely because it is lit by “burning” women.
The internal reason for the feminist self-destruction lies in the unthinking adoption of tantric
physiology by the women. If such women practice a form of yoga, along the lines Miranda Shaw
recommends, then they make use of exactly the same techniques as the men, and presume that the
same energy conditions apply in their bodies. They thus begin — as we have already indicated — to
destroy their female bodies and to replace it with a masculine structure. This is in complete accord
with the Buddhist doctrine. Thanks to the androcentric rituals her femininity is dissolved and she
becomes in energy terms a man.
Between March 30 and April 2, 2000, representatives from groups three and four convened in
Cologne, Germany at a women-only conference. Probably without giving the matter much thought,
the Buddhist journal Ursache & Wirkung [Cause and Effect] ran its report on the meeting at which
1200 female Buddhists participated under the title of “Göttinnen Dämmerung” [Twilight of the
Goddesses] — which with its reference to the götterdämmerung signified the extinction of the
goddesses (Ursache & Wirkung, No. 32, 2/2000).
Now whether the yogis can actually and permanently maintain control over the women through their
“tricks” (upaya) is another question. This is solely dependent upon their magical abilities, over which
we do not wish to pass judgement here. The texts do repeatedly warn of the great danger of their
experiments. There is the ever-present possibility that the “daughters of Mara” see through the tricky
system and plunge the lamas into hell. Srinmo, the fettered earth mother, may free herself one day and
cruelly revenge herself upon her tormentors, then she too has meanwhile become a central symbol of
the gynocentric movement. Her liberation is part of the feminist agenda. „One senses a certain pride”,
we can read in the work of Janet Gyatso, „in the description of the presence of the massive demoness.
She reminds Tibetans of fierce and savage roots in their past. She also has much to say to the Tibetan
female, notably more assertive than some of her Asian neighbours, with an independent identity, and
a formidable one at that. So formidable that the masculine power structure of Tibetan myth had to go
to great lengths to keep the female presence under control. […. Srinmo] may have been pinned and
rendered motionless, but she threatens to break loose at any relaxing of vigilance or deterioration of
civilization” (Janet Gyatso, 1989, p. 50, 51).
The Fourteenth Dalai Lama and the question of women's rights
The relationship of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama to the female sex appears sincere, positive, and
uninhibited. Leaving the tantric goddesses aside, we must distinguish between three categories of
women in his proximity: 1. Buddhist nuns; 2.Tibetan women in exile; 3. Western lay women.
Buddhist nuns
At the outset of our study we described the extremely misogynist feelings Buddha Shakyamuni
exhibited towards ordained female Buddhists. In a completely different mood, the Fourteenth Dalai
Lama succeeded in becoming a figure of hope for all the women assembled at the first international
conference of Buddhist nuns in 1987 in Bodh Gaya (India). It was the Kundun and not a nun
(bhiksuni) who launched proceedings with his principal speech. It surely had a deep symbolic/tantric
significance for him that he held his lecture inside the local Kalachakra temple. There, in the holiest