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

independent of any conceptual construction. It transcends thought and we are not even able to claim
that the phenomenal world does not exist. This radical negativism has rightly been described as the
“doctrine of the emptiness of emptiness”.
In the light of this fundamental inexpressibility and featurelessness of shunyata, one is left wondering
why it is unfailingly regarded as a “feminine” principle in Vajrayana Buddhism. But it is! As its
masculine polar opposite the tantras nominate consciousness (citta) or compassion (karuna). “The
Mind is the Lord and the Vacuity is the Lady; they should always be kept united in Sahaja [the
highest state of enlightenment]”, as one text proclaims (Dasgupta, 1974, p. 101). Time and emptiness
also complement one another in a polar manner.
Thus, the Kalachakra divinity (the time god) cries emphatically that, “through the power of time air,
fire, water, earth, islands, hills, oceans, constellations, moon, sun, stars, planets, the wise, gods, ghosts/
spirits, nagas (snake demons), the fourfold animal origin, humans and infernal beings have been
created in the emptiness” (Banerjee, 1959, p. 16). Once she has been impregnated by “masculine”
time, the “feminine” emptiness gives birth to everything. The observation that the vagina is empty
before it emits life is likely to have played a role in the development of this concept. For this reason,
shunyata may never be understood as pure negativity in Tantrism, but rather counts as the “shapeless”
origin of all being.
The clear light
The ultimate goal of all mystic doctrines in the widest variety of cultures is the ability to experience
the highest clear light. Light phenomena play such a significant role in Tantric Buddhism that the
Italian Tibetologist, Giuseppe Tucci, speaks of a downright “photism” (doctrine of light). Light, from
which everything stems, is considered the “symbol of the highest intrinsicness” (Brauen, 1992, p. 65).
In describing supernatural light phenomena, the tantric texts in no sense limit themselves to tracing
these back to a mystical primal light, but rather have assembled a complete catalog of “photisms”
which maybe experienced. These include sparks, lamps, candles, balls of light, rainbows, pillars of
fire, heavenly lights, and so forth which flash up during meditation. Each of these appearances
presages a particular level of consciousness, ranked hierarchically. Thus one must traverse various
light stages in order to finally bathe in the “highest clear light”.
The truly unique feature of Tantrism is that this “highest clear light” streams out of the yuganaddha,
the Hieros Gamos. It is in this sense that we must understand the following poetic sentence from the
Kalachakra Tantra: “In a world purged of darkness, at the end of darkness awaits a
couple” (Banerjee, 1959, p. 24).
Summarizing, we can say that Tantrism has made erotic love between the sexes its central religious
theme. When the divine couple unite in bliss, then “by the force of their joy the members of the
retinue also fuse”, i.e., the other gods and goddesses, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas with their wisdom
consorts (Wayman, 1968, p. 291). The divine couple is all-knowing, as it knows and indeed itself
represents the germinal syllables which produce the cosmos. With their breath the time god
(Kalachakra) and time goddess (Vishvamata) control the motions of the heavens. Astronomy along
with every other science has its origin in them. They are initiated into every level of meditation, have
mastery over the secret doctrines and every form of subtle yoga. The clear light shines out of them.
They know the laws of karma and how they may be suspended. Compassionately, the god and