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

Through his daredevilry he there succeeded in building up an army of his own and positioning himself
at its head. This was soon to excite fear and horror because of its atavistic cruelty. It consisted of
Russians, Mongolians, Tibetans, and Chinese. According to Ossendowski, the Tibetan and Mongolian
regiments wore a uniform of red jackets with epaulettes upon which the swastika of Genghis Khan
and the initials of the “living Buddha” from Urga were emblazoned. (In the occult scene von Ungern
Sternberg is thus seen as a precursor of German national socialism.)
In assembling his army the baron applied the tantric “law of inversion” with utmost precision. The
hired soldiers were firstly stuffed with alcohol, opium, and hashish to the point of collapse and then
left to sober up overnight. Anyone who now still drank was shot. The General himself was considered
invulnerable. In one battle 74 bullets were caught in his coat and saddle without him being harmed.
Everyone called the Balt with the shaggy moustache and tousled hair the “mad baron”. We have at
hand a bizarre portrait from an eyewitness who saw him in the last days before his defeat: “The baron
with his head dropped to his chest, silently rode in front of his troops. He had lost his hat and clothing.
On his naked chest numerous Mongolian talismans were hanging on a bright yellow cord. He looked
like the incarnation of a prehistoric ape man. People were afraid even to look at him” (quoted by
Webb, 1976, p. 203).
This man succeeded in bringing the Khutuktu, driven away by the Chinese, back to Urga. Together
with him he staged a tantric defense ritual against the Red Army in 1921, albeit without much
success. After this, the hierarch lost trust in his former savior and is said to have made contact with
the Reds himself in order to be rid of the Balt. At any rate, he ordered the Mongolian troops under the
general’s command to desert. Von Ungern Sternberg was then captured by the Bolsheviks and shot.
After this, the Communists pushed on to Urga and a year later occupied the capital. The Khutuktu had
acted correctly in his own interests, then until his death he remained at least pro forma the head of
state, although real power was transferred step by step into the hands of the Communist Party.
All manner of occult speculations surround von Ungern Sternberg, which may essentially be traced to
one source, the best-seller we have already quoted several times by the Russian, Ferdinand
Ossendowski, with the German title of Tiere, Menschen, Götter [English: Beasts, Men and Gods].
The book as a whole is seen by historians as problematic, but is, however, considered authentic in
regard to its portrayal of the baron (Webb, 1976, p. 201). Von Ungern Sternberg quite wanted to
establish an “order of military Buddhists”. “For what?”, Ossendowski has him ask rhetorically. “For
the protection of the processes of evolution of humanity and for the struggle against revolution,
because I am certain that evolution leads to the Divinity and revolution to bestiality” (Ossendowski,
1924, p. 245). This order was supposed to be the elite of an Asian state, which united the Chinese, the
Mongolians, the Tibetans, the Afghans, the Tatars, the Buriats, the Kyrgyzstanis, and the Kalmyks.
After calculating his horoscope the lamas recognized in von Sternberg the incarnation of the mighty
Tamerlan (1336-1405), the founder of the second Mongolian Empire. The general accepted this
recognition with pride and joy, and as an embodiment of the great Khan drafted his vision of a world
empire as a “military and moral defense against the rotten West…" (Webb, 1976, p. 202). “In Asia
there will be a great state from the Pacific and Indian Oceans to the shore of the Volga”, Ossendowski
presents the baron as prophesying. “The wise religion of Buddha shall run to the north and the west. It
will be the victory of the spirit. A conqueror and leader will appear stronger and more stalwart than
Jenghiz Khan .... and he will keep power in his hands until the happy day when, from his subterranean