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

its religion and its god-king?” (Spiegel, 16/1998, p. 110).
But under the pressure of the vehement critique of the history of the country which has been building
since 1996, and which can table indisputable evidence, in Dharamsala one is also becoming more
careful of unrestrainedly glorifying the Tibet of old. For this reason the Dalai Lama ever more often
now employs the handy formula that Tibet, like all nations, has its good sides and its bad sides; the
future will, however, only stress the good. That is more or less all. Hence, the shadows which cast
their pall over the history of the Land of Snows are only referred to in very general terms — roughly
in the sense that where there is much light there is also much darkness.
It is not our task here to offer an assessment of the improvements much praised by the Chinese which
they claim to have brought to the medieval country. We personally believe that in social terms the
Tibetan people today live better than they did under the rule of Lamaism. But we in no sense mean by
this that the current social situation in the Land of Snows is ideal. We hold many of the accusations
and criticisms leveled at Beijing’s “minority politics” by the Tibetans in exile to be thoroughly
relevant. It can also not be denied that resistance to China is today growing among the Tibetans and
that it primarily makes use of religious arguments. Like everywhere in the world, there has also been
a religious renaissance on “roof of the world” since the mid-eighties. We see a problem in this
Lamaist revival, not in the Tibetan democracy movement. What is peculiar and confusing about the
political situation is, however, that the clerical revival itself very successfully pretends to be the
democracy movement, and manipulates the awareness of both the Tibetans and the West with this
deception.
Footnotes:
[1] On a spiritual plane this bureaucracy corresponded to a meticulously detailed regulation of the monasteries
and a dry scholasticism which often resulted in hair-splitting and a unending process of commentary upon the
original texts. Thus commentaries upon the commentaries upon the commentaries on a particular Tantra arose .
The Tibetan pleasure in the eternal repetition of the same formulas, the untiring circling of the same topics had
led to the invention of the prayer mill — a unique construction which most vividly demonstrates how
mechanistic and stereotyped this religion was. This was a metal cylinder, which was rotated for hours by hand
by believers, usually with the mantra om mani padme hum on their lips.
Next Chapter:
5. BUDDHOCRACY AND ANARCHY: CONTRADICTORY OR COMPLEMENTARY?
Index | Contents | References | Buddhism Debate | Glossary | Home
© Copyright 2003 – Victor & Victoria Trimondi
The contents of this page are free for personal and non-commercial use,
provided this copyright notice is kept intact. All further rights, including
the rights of publication in any form, have to be obtained by written
permission from the authors.