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

and Marx in the material; what alliance could be more fruitful?” (Hicks and Chogyam, 1990, p. 143);
“I believe firmly there is common ground between communism and Buddhism” (Grunfeld, 1996, p.
188); “Normally I describe myself as half Marxist, half monk” (Zeitmagazin 1988, no. 44, p. 24;
retranslation). He is even known to have made a plea for a communist economic policy: “As far as the
economy is concerned, the Marxist theory could possibly complement Buddhism...” (Levenson, 1992,
p. 334). It is thus no wonder that at the god-king’s suggestion , the “Communist Party of Tibet” was
founded. The Dalai Lama has become a left-wing revolutionary even by the standards of those
western nostalgics who mourn the passing of communism.
Up until in the eighties the Dalai Lama’s concern was to create via such comments a good
relationship with the Soviet Union, which had since the sixties become embroiled in a dangerous
conflict with China. As we have seen, even the envoy of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Agvan Dorjiev,
was a master at changing political fronts as he switched from the Tsar to Lenin without a problem
following the Bolshevist seizure of power. Yet it is interesting that His Holiness has to continued to
make such pro-Marxist statements after the collapse of most communist systems. Perhaps this is for
ethical reasons, or because China at least ideologically continues to cling to its communist past?
These days through such statements the Kundun wants to keep open the possibility of a return to Tibet
under Chinese control. In 1997 in Taiwan he explained that he was neither anti-Chinese nor anticommunist
(Tibetan Review, May 1997, p. 14). He even criticized China because it had stepped back
from its Marxist theory of economics and the gulf between rich and poor is thus becoming ever wider
(Martin Scheidegger, speaking at the Gesellschaft Schweizerisch Tibetische Freundschaft [Society for
Swiss-Tibetan Friendship], August 18, 1997).
Are the Chinese interested in the Shambhala myth?
Do the Chinese have an interest in the Kalachakra Tantra and the Shambhala myth? Let us repeat,
since time immemorial China and Tibet have oriented themselves to a mythic conception of history
which is not immediately comprehensible to Americans or Europeans. Almost nobody here wants to
believe that this archaic way of thinking continued to exist, even increased, under “materialistic”
communism. For a Westerner, China today still represents “the land of materialism” vis-à-vis Tibet as
“the land of spirituality”. There are, however, rare exceptions who avoid this cliché, such as Hugh
Richardson for example, who establishes the following in his history of Tibet: “The Chinese have ... a
profound regard for history. But history, for them was not simply a scientific study. It had the features
of a cult, akin to ancestor worship, with the ritual object of presenting the past, favorably emended
and touched up, as a model for current political action. It had to conform also to the mystical view of
China as the Centre of the World, the Universal Empire in which every other country had a natural
urge to become a part … The Communists … were the first Chinese to have the power to convert
their atavistic theories into fact” (quoted by Craig, 1997, p. 146).
If it was capable of surviving communism, this mythically based understanding of history will hardly
disappear with it. In contrast, religious revivals are now running in parallel to the flourishing
establishment of capitalist economic systems and the increasing mechanization of the country.
Admittedly the Han Chinese are as a people very much oriented to material things, and Confucianism
which has regained respectability in the last few years counts as a philosophy of reason not a religion.
But history has demonstrated that visionary and ecstatic cults from outside were able to enter China
with ease. The Chinese power elite have imported their religious-political ideas from other cultures
several times in the past centuries. Hence the Middle Kingdom is historically prepared for such