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

cathedral, the Jokhang. There a monk from the Drepung monastery was waiting for him in a
magnificent robe. In the scene which was now played out he represented the Dalai Lama. First up
there was a violent battle of words in which the scapegoat mocked the Buddhist teachings with a
sharp tongue. Thereupon the pretend Dalai Lama challenged him to a game of dice. If the “king of
impurity “ were to win, the disastrous consequences for the whole country would have been immense.
But preparations had been made to ensure that this did not happen, then he had a die which displayed
a one on every face, whilst his opponent always threw a six. After his defeat the loser fled from the
town on a white horse. The mob followed him as far as it could, shooting at him with blanks and
throwing stones. He was either driven into the wilderness or taken prisoner and locked in one of the
horror chambers of the Samye monastery for a time. It was considered a good omen if he died.
Even if he was never deliberately killed, he often paid the highest price for his degrading treatment.
Actually his demise was expected, or at least hoped for. It was believed that scapegoats attracted all
manner of rare illnesses or died under mysterious circumstances. If the expelled figure nonetheless
save his skin, he was permitted to return to Lhasa and once again take on the role.
Behind the “scapegoat ritual” — an event which can be found in ancient cultures all the world —
there is the idea of purification. The victim takes on every repulsiveness and all possible
besmirchment so as to free the community of these. As a consequence he must become a monster
which radiates with the power of darkness. According to tradition, the community has the right,
indeed the duty, to kill or drive off with an aggressive act this monster who is actually nothing more
than the repressed shadowy side of his persecutors. The sacrificers are then freed of all evil, which the
scapegoat takes to its death with him, and society returns to a state of original purity. Accordingly, the
ritual power applied is not a matter of self-interest, but rather a means of attaining the opposite, social
peace and an undisturbed state. The scapegoat — René Girard writes — has to “take on the evil
power in total so as to transform it via his death into benevolent power, into peace and fruitfulness. ...
He is a machine which changes the sterile and contagious power into positive cultural values” (Girard,
1987, pp. 143, 160).