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

capitalism and in an age where reports of catastrophes are constant he is the guarantor of justice and a
clear and unshaken will; from the thick of the battle of cultures and peoples he emerges as the apostle
of peace; amidst a global outbreak of religious fanaticism he preaches tolerance and nonviolence.
His followers worship him as a deity, a “living Buddha” (Kundun), and call him their “divine king”.
Not even the Catholic popes or medieval emperors ever claimed such a high spiritual position — they
continued to bow down before the “Lord of Lords” (God) as his supreme servants. The Dalai Lama,
however –according to Tibetan doctrine at least — himself appears and acts as the “Highest”. In him
is revealed the mystic figure of ADI BUDDHA (the Supreme Buddha); he is a religious ideal in flesh
and blood. In some circles, enormous hopes are placed in the Kundun as the new Redeemer himself.
Not just Tibetans and Mongolians, many Taiwan Chinese and Westerners also see him as a latterday
Messiah. [1]
However human the monk from Dharamsala (India) may appear, his person is surrounded by the most
occult speculations. Many who have met him believe they have encountered the supernatural. In the
case of the “divine king” who has descended to mankind from the roof of the world, that which was
denied Moses—namely, to glimpse the countenance of God (Yahweh)—has become possible for
pious Buddhists; and unlike Yahweh this countenance shows no wrath, but smiles graciously and
warmly instead.
The esoteric pathos in the characterization of the Dalai Lama has long since transcended the
boundaries of Buddhist insider groups. It is the famous show business personalities and even articles
in the “respectable” Western press who now express the mystic flair of the Kundun in weighty
exclamations: “The fascination is the search for the third eye”, Melissa Mathison, scriptwriter for
Martin Scorsese’s film, Kundun, writes in the Herald Tribune. “Americans are hoping for some sort
of magical door into the mystical, thinking that there’s some mysterious reason for things, a cosmic
explanation. Tibet offers the most extravagant expression of the mystical, and when people meet His
Holiness, you can see on their faces that they’re hoping to get this hit that will transcend their lives,
take them someplace else” (Herald Tribune, March 20, 1997).
Nevertheless — and this is another magical fairytale — the divine king’s omnipotent role combines
well with the monastic modesty and simplicity he exhibits. It is precisely this fascinating combination
of the supreme (“divine king”) and the almighty with the lowliest (“mendicant”) and weakest that
makes the Dalai Lama so appealing for many — clear, understandable words, a gracious smile, a
simple robe, plain sandals, and behind all this the omnipotence of the divine. With his constantly
repeated statement — “I ... see myself first as a man and a Tibetan who has made the decision to
become a Buddhist monk” — His Holiness has conquered the hearts of the West (Dalai Lama XIV,
1993a, p. 7). We can believe in such a person, we can find refuge in him, from him we learn about the
wisdom of life and death. [2]
A similar reverse effect is found in another of the Kundun’s favorite sayings, that the institution of the
Dalai Lama could become superfluous in the future. “Perhaps it would really be good if I were the
last!” (Levenson, 1990, p. 366). Such admissions of his own superfluity bring tears to people’s eyes
and are only surpassed by the prognosis of the “divine king” that in his next life he will probably be
reincarnated as an insect in order to help this lower form of life as an “insect messiah”. In the wake of
such heartrending prophecies no-one would wish for anything more than that the institution of the
Dalai Lama might last for ever.