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

dharmapala) could be lived out in reality without limits. Yet to be fair one has to say that both
elements, the pacification and the militarization developed in parallel, as is indeed readily possible in
the paradoxical world of the tantric doctrines. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that
the proverbial fighting spirit of the Mongolians would once more really shine forth and then, as we
shall see, combine with the martial ideology of the Kalachakra Tantra.
Before the Communists seized power in Mongolia in the twenties, more than a quarter of the male
population were simple monks. The main contingent of lamas belonged to the Gelugpa order and thus
at least officially obeyed the god-king from Lhasa. Real power, however, was exercised by the
supreme Khutuktu, the Mongolian term for an incarnated Buddha being (in the Tibetan language:
Kundun). At the beginning of his term in office his authority only extended to religious matters, then
constitutionally the steppe land of Genghis Khan had become a province of China.
In the year 1911 there was a revolt and the “living Buddha”, Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, was proclaimed
as the first head of state (Bogd Khan) of the autonomous Mongolian peoples. At the same time the
country declared its independence. In the constitutional decree it said: “We have elevated the Bogd,
radiant as the sun, myriad aged, as the Great Khan of Mongolia and his consort Tsagaan Dar as the
mother of the nation” (Onon, 1989, p. 16). The great lama’s response included the following: “After
accepting the elevation by all to become the Great Khan of the Mongolian Nation, I shall endlessly
strive to spread the Buddhist religion as brightly as the lights of the million suns ...” (Onon, 1989, p.
18).
From now on, just as in Tibet a Buddhocracy with the incarnation of a god at its helm reigned in
Mongolia. In 1912 an envoy of the Dalai Lama signed an agreement with the new head of state in
which the two hierarchs each recognized the sovereignty of the other and their countries as
autonomous states. The agreement was to be binding for all time and pronounced Tibetan Buddhism
to be the sole state religion.
Jabtsundamba Khutuktu (1870–1924) was not a native Mongol, but was born in Lhasa as the son of a
senior civil servant in the administration of the Dalai Lama. At the age of four his monastic life began
in Khüre, the Mongolian capital at the time. Even as a younger man he led a dissolute life. He loved
women and wine and justified his liberties with tantric arguments. This even made its way into the
Mongolian school books of the time, where we are able to read that there are two kinds of Buddhism:
the “virtuous way” and the “mantra path”. Whoever follows the latter, “strolls, even without giving up
the drinking of intoxicating beverages, marriage, or a worldly occupation, if he contemplates the
essence of the Absolute, ... along the path of the great yoga master.” (Glasenapp, 1940, p. 24). When
on his visit to Mongolia the Thirteenth Dalai Lama made malicious comments about dissoluteness of
his brother-in-office, the Khutuktu is said to have foamed with rage and relations between the two
sank to a new low.
The “living Buddha” from Mongolia was brutal to his subjects and not rarely overstepped the border
to cruelty. He is accredited with numerous poisonings. It was not entirely without justification that he
trusted nobody and suspected all. Nonetheless he possessed political acumen, an unbreakable
ambition, and also a noteworthy audacity. Time and again he understood how, even in the most
unfathomable situations, to seize political power for himself, and survived as head of state even after
the Communists had conquered the country. His steadfastness in the face of the Chinese garnered him
the respect of both ordinary people and the nobility.