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

east, transformed the petitioner into a seed syllable and swallowed him. Whilst the syllable lay upon
her lips she gave him the sacrament of Amitabha, whilst he rested in her stomach he was initiated into
the secrets of Avalokiteshvara. After leaving her lotus (i.e., vagina) he received the sacraments of the
body, the speech, and the spirit. Only now had he attained his immortal vajra body.
This scene also grants the feminine force an outstanding status within the initiation process. But there
are several versions of the story. In another account it is Padmasambhava who dissolves Vajrayogini
within his heart. Jeffrey Hopkins even describes a tantra technique in which the pupil imagines
himself to be the goddess so as to then be absorbed by his teacher who visualizes himself as Guru
Rinpoche (Hopkins, 1982, p. 180).
Without doubt, Padmasambhava’s relationship with Yeshe Tshogyal, the karma mudra given to him
by Indrabhuti, and with Princess Mandavara, the reincarnation of a dakini, display a rare tolerance.
Thus within the tradition both yoginis were able to preserve a certain individuality and personality
over the course of centuries — a rare exception in the history of Vajrayana. For this reason it could be
believed that Padmasambhava had shown a revolutionary attitude towards the woman, especially
since the statement often quoted here in the West is from him: “The basis for realizing enlightenment
is a human body. Male or female — there is no great difference. But if she develops the mind bent on
enlightenment, a woman's body is better” (Gross, 1993, p. 79).
But how can this comment, which is taken from a terma from the 18 th century (!), be reconciled with
the following statement by the guru, which he is supposed to have offered in answer to Yeshe
Tshogyal’s question about the suitability of women for the tantric rituals? „Your faith is mere
platitude, your devotion insincere, but your greed and jealousy are strong. Your trust and generosity
are weak, yet your disrespect and doubt are huge. Your compassion and intelligence are weak, but
your bragging and self-esteem are great. Your devotion and perseverance are weak, but you are
skilled at misguiding and distorting Your pure perception and courage is small” (Binder-Schmidt,
1994 p. 56).
Yet this comment is quite harmless! The “demonic” Guru Rinpoche also exists — the aggressive
butcher of people and serial rapist. There is for instance a story about him in circulation in which he
killed a Tibetan king and impregnated his 900 wives so as to produce children who were devoted to
the Buddhist teaching. In another episode from his early life he was attacked out of the blue by
dakinis and male dakas. The story reports that “he [then] kills the men and possesses the women” (R.
Paul, 1982, p. 163). Robert A. Paul thus sees in Padmasambhava an intransigent, active, phallic, and
sexist archetype whom he contrasts with Avalokiteshvara, the mild, asexual, feminized, and
transcendent counterpole. Both typologies, Paul claims, determine the dynamic of Tibetan history and
are united within the person of the Dalai Lama (R. Paul, 1982, p. 87).
Many of the anecdotes about Guru Rinpoche which are in circulation also depict him as a boastful
superman. He paid for his beer in a tavern by holding the sun still for two days for the female
barkeeper. This earned him not just the reputation of a sun-controller but also the saga that he had
invented beer in an earlier incarnation. His connection to the solar cults is also vouched for by other
anecdotes. For instance, one day he assumed the shape of the sun bird, the garuda, and conquered the
lu, the feminine (!) water spirits. Lightning magic remained one of his preferred techniques, and he
made no rare use of it. An additional specialty was to appear in a sea of flames, which was not
difficult for him as an emanation of the “fire god”, Avalokiteshvara. His siddhis (magic powers) were