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

According to Thurman, the USA is the first western country in which the lamas’ Buddhocratic vision
will prevail: “Most of the teachers from the various enlightenment movements seem to agree on one
thing: If there is to be a renaissance of enlightenment sciences in our times, it will have to begin in
America. America is the land of extreme dichotomies: the great materialism and the greatest
disillusionment with materialism; great self-indulgence and great self-transcendence” (Thurman 1998,
p. 280). The Dalai Lama (“the fifth [principle of] global democratism”) as the next American
president? —But if he dies?—No worries, thanks to the system of incarnation he may remain among
us as priest and king for ever.
Thurman’s methods, adapting himself to the point of self-deception to the consciousness and the
customs of his environment (in this case the western democratic environment), but without losing
sight of the actual grand metapolitical goal, has a long tradition in Tibet. Padmasambhava, for
instance, Buddhized the Land of Snows by integrating with aplomb the various tribal cultures which
he encountered on his missionary travels into his tantric system, together with their particular ideas
and cultic practices. In doing so he was so skillful that the pre-Buddhist inhabitants of Tibet believed
Buddhism to be no more than the realization of their own traditional expectations of salvation. The
Fourteenth Dalai Lama is masterfully repeating this heuristic principle from his eighth-century
incarnation on the world stage. In the meantime he knows all the variations and rules of the game of
Western civilization and has managed to generate a public image as a great reformer and democrat
who brilliantly combines modern political fundamentals with old Eastern teachings of wisdom. There
are countless sermons from him in which he strongly advises his audience to stay true to their own
religious tradition, since in the end they all come to the same thing. Such superior invitations have as
we shall see a double-bind effect. People are so enthused by the ostensible tolerance of Tibetan
Buddhism and its supreme representative that they become converts to the Dharma and ensnared in
the tantric web.
Footnotes:
[1] During the UN-organized Millennium Festival of Religions at the end of August 2000, at which over a
thousand religious representatives were present, the Dalai Lama was supposed to stay in the Waldorf Astoria.
Without doubt, thanks to his charisma and pretended precept of tolerance, the Kundun would have become the
center of the entire occasion. But after great pressure was applied by the Chinese he was not invited. At this, a
segment of the organizers resolved to encourage him to take part in a kind of private rally at the end of the
assembly in the Waldorf Astoria hotel. But the Kundun declined. Robert Thurman’s vision of the Kalachakra
Buddha at the summit of the Waldorf Astoria did not eventuate.
Next Chapter:
16. TACTICS, STRATEGIES, FORGERIES, ILLUSIONS
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