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

Lord (Atisha) to preach the Mystic Doctrine. Had they done so, Tibet would have been filled with
saints by this time” (Bell, 1994, p. 93).
The tension between the rigidity of the monastic state and the anarchy of the Maha Siddhas is well
illustrated by these two comments. If we further follow the history of Tibetan Buddhism, we can see
that Gampopa abided more closely to the rules of his original order and only let himself be
temporarily seduced by the wild life of the “mountain ascetic”, Milarepa. In the long term he is thus to
be regarded as a conqueror of the anarchic currents. Together with one of his pupils he founded the
Kagyupa order.
The actual chief figure in the establishment of the Tibetan monastic state was the above-mentioned
Atisha (982–1054). The son of a prince from Bengal already had a marriage and nine children behind
him before he decided to seek refuge in the sangha. Among others, Naropa was one of his teachers. In
the year 1032, after several requests from the king of Guge (southern Tibet), he went to the Land of
Snows in order to reform Buddhism there. In 1050, Atisha organized a council in which Indians also
participated alongside many Tibetan monks. The chief topic of this meeting was the “Reestablishment
of religion in Tibet”.
Under Tantrism the country had declined into depravity. Crimes, murders, orgies, black magic, and
lack of discipline were no longer rare in the sangha (monastic community). Atisha opposed this with
his well-organized and disciplined monastic model, his moral rectitude and his high standard of
ethics. A pure lifestyle and true orderly discipline were now required. The rules of celibacy applied
once more. An orthodoxy was established, but Tantrism was in no sense abolished, but rather
subjected to maximum strictness and control. Atisha introduced a new time-keeping system into Tibet
which was based upon the calendar of the Kalachakra Tantra, through which this work became
exceptionally highly regarded.
Admittedly there is a story which tells of how a wild dakini initiated him in a cemetery, and he also
studied for three years at the notorious Uddiyana from whence Padmasambhava came, but his
lifestyle was from the outset clear and exact, clean and disciplined, temperate and strict. This is
especially apparent in his choice of female yiddam (divine appearance), Tara. Atisha bought the cult
of the Buddhist “Madonna” to Tibet with him. One could say he carried out a “Marianization” of
Tantric Buddhism. Tara was essentially quite distinct from the other female deities in her purity,
mercifulness, and her relative asexuality. She is the “spirit woman” who also played such a significant
role in the reform of other androcentric churches, as we can see from the example provided by the
history of the Papacy.
At the direction of his teacher, Atisha’s pupil Bromston founded community of Kadampas whom we
have already mentioned above, a strict clerical organization which later became an example for all the
orders of the Land of Snows including the Nyingmapas and the remainder of the pre-Buddhist
Bonpos. But in particular it paved the way for the victory march of the Gelugpas. This order saw itself
as the actual executors of Atisha’s plans. With it the nationalization of Tibetan monasticism began.
This was to reach its historical high point in the institutionalization of the office of the Dalai Lama.
The pre-planned counterworld to the clerical bureaucracy: Holy fools
The archetype of the anarchist Maha Siddha is primarily an Indian phenomenon. Later in Tibet it is
replaced by that of the “holy fools”, that is, of the roaming yogis with an unconventional lifestyle.