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

existence. It exists purely and exclusively as an emanation of his imagination and can thus be created,
maintained and destroyed at will. But who actually is this tantric master, this manipulator of the
divine? His consciousness has nothing in common with that of a ordinary person, it must belong to a
sphere higher than that of the gods. The texts and commentaries describe this “highest authority” as
the “higher self” or as the primeval Buddha (ADI BUDDHA), as the primordial one, the origin of all
being, with whom the yogi identifies himself.
Thus, when we speak of a “guru” in Vajrayana, then according to the doctrine we are no longer
dealing with an individual, but with an archetypal and transcendental being, who has as it were
borrowed a human body in order to appear in the world. Events are not in the control of the person
(from the Latin persona ‘mask’), but rather the god acting through him. This in turn is the emanation
of an arch-god, an epiphany of the most high ADI BUDDHA. Followed to its logical conclusion this
means that the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (the most senior tantric master of Tibetan Buddhism)
determines the politics of the Tibetans in exile not as a person, but as the Bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara, whose emanation he is. Thus, if we wish to pass judgment on his politics, we must
come to terms with the motives and visions of Avalokiteshvara.
The tantric master’s enormous power does not have its origin in a Vajrayana doctrine, but in the two
main philosophical directions of Mahayana Buddhism (Madhyamika and Yogachara). The
Madhyamika school of Nagarjuna (fifth century C.E.) discusses the principle of emptiness (shunyata)
which forms a basis for all being. Radically, this also applies to the gods. They are purely illusory and
for a yogi are worth neither more nor less than a tool which he employs in setting his goals and then
puts aside.
Paradoxically, this radical Buddhist perceptual theory led to the admission of an immense multitude
of gods, most of whom stemmed from the Hindu cultural sphere. From now on these could populate
the Buddhist heaven, something which was taboo in Hinayana. As they were in the final instance
illusory, there was no longer any need to fear them or regard them as competition; since they could be
“negated”, they could be “integrated”.
For the Yogachara school (fourth century C.E.), everything — the self, the world and the gods —
consists of “consciousness” or “pure spirit”. This extreme idealism also makes it possible for the yogi
to manipulate the universe according to his wishes and plans. Because the heavens and their
inhabitants are nothing more than play figures of his spirit, they can be produced, destroyed and
exchanged at whim.
But what, in an assessment of the Vajrayana system, should give grounds for reflection is the fact,
already mentioned, that the Buddhist pantheon presented on the tantric stage is codified in great
detail. Neither in the choreography nor the costumes have there been any essential changes since the
twelfth century C.E., if one is prepared to overlook the inclusion of several minor protective spirits, of
which the youngest (Dorje Shugden for example) date from the seventeenth century. In current “Deity
yoga”, practiced by an adept today (even one from the West), a preordained heaven with its old gods
is conjured up. The adept calls upon primeval images which were developed in Indian/Tibetan,
perhaps even Mongolian, cultural circles, and which of course — as we will demonstrate in detail in
the second part of our study — represent the interests and political desires of these cultures. [3]
Since the Master resides on a level higher than that of a god, and is, in the final instance, the ADI