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The Shadow of the Dalai Lama – Annex: Critical Forum Kalachakra
© Victor & Victoria Trimondi
Critical Forum for the Investigation of the
Kalachakra Tantra and the Shambhala Myth
In Sanskrit, Kalachakra means "The Wheel of Time ", but it is also the name of the supreme Tibetan
"Time God". The Kalachakra Tantra is held to be the last and the most recent (10th century) of all the
tantra texts that have been revealed, and is considered by the lamas to be "the pinnacle of all Buddhist
systems".
Over more than 25 years, many hundreds of thousands have been “initiated” through the Kalachakra
Tantra by the XIV Dalai Lama. Of these, large numbers are illiterate people from India. But even the
"educated" participants from the West barely know anything about what this ritual actually entails,
since alongside its public aspect it also has a strongly guarded secret side. In public, the XIV Dalai
Lama performs only the seven lowest initiations; the subsequent eight of the total of 15 initiations
continue to remain top secret.
There is no talk of these eight secret rites in the pamphlets, advertisements or brochures, and
especially not in the numerous affirmations of the XIV Dalai Lama. Here, the Kalachakra Tantra
appears as a dignified and uplifting contribution to world peace, which fosters compassion with all
living beings, interreligious dialog, interracial and intersubjective tolerance, ecological awareness,
sexual equality, inner peace, spiritual development and bliss for the third millennium ("Kalachakra
for World Peace"). The motto for the whole show is quoted from the XIV Dalai Lama: "Because we
all share this small planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and
with nature." The highly focused, extremely tantric initiation of Tibetan Lamaism thus garners the
kudos of a "transcultural and interreligious meeting for world peace".
But are the Kalachakra Tantra and the Shambhala myth truly pacifist? Do they really encourage
harmony and cooperation among people? Do they make any real contribution to freedom and justice,
equality of the sexes, religious tolerance or ethnic reconciliation? Are they a comprehensive,
politically humanist, democratic and nonviolent contribution to world peace?
Over the past few years, increasing criticism has been leveled at Tibetan Buddhism, the history of
Lamaism, conditions among the Tibetans in exile and the XIV Dalai Lama himself, criticism which is
not from the Chinese quarter. Historians from the USA have begun questioning the widespread
glorifying whitewash of Tibetan history (Melvin C. Goldstein, A. Tom Grundfeld). Critical
Tibetologists have raised accusations of deliberate manipulation by official Tibetology (Donald S.
Lopez Jr.). Tibet researchers have investigated the "dreams of power" that are activated and
exacerbated by the "Tibet myth" nurtured by Lamaists (Peter Bishop). Prominent politicians have had
to admit the evidence of their own eyes that the Chinese are not committing "genocide" in Tibet, as
the Tibetans in exile continue to claim (Antje Vollmar, Mary Robinson). Former female Buddhists