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

ody, from out of his head, his forehead, his neck, his heart and his navel. He can conjure up the most
diverse entities in the form of women, such as elements, planets, energies, forces and emotions —
compassion for example: “as the incarnation of this arises in his heart a golden glowing woman
wearing a white robe. ... Then this woman steps ... out of his heart, spreads herself out to the heaven
of the gods like a cloud and lets down a rain of nourishment as an antidote for all bodily
suffering” (Gäng, 1988, p. 44).
Karma mudra vs. inana mudra
In the tantric literature we find an endless discussion about whether the magical sexual act with a
karma mudra of flesh and blood must be valued more highly than that with an imagined inana mudra.
For example, Herbert Guenther devotes a number of pages to this debate in his existentialist study of
Vajrayana. Although he also reports in detail about the “pro-woman” intentions of the tantras, he
comes to the surprising conclusion that we have in the karma mudra a woman “who yields pleasure
containing the seed of frustration”, whilst the inana mudra is “a woman who yields a purer, though
unstable, pleasure” (Guenther, 1976, p. 57).
As a product of the PURE SPIRIT, he classes the inana mudra above a living woman. She “is a
creation of one’s own mind. She is of the nature of the Great Mother or other goddesses and
comprises all that has been previously experienced” (Guenther, 1976, p. 72, quoting Naropa). But she
too finally goes the way of all life and “therefore also, even love, Jñānamudrā [inana mudra], gives us
merely a fleeting sense of bliss, although this feeling is of a higher, and hence more positive, order
than the Karmamūdra [karma mudra] who makes us ‘sad’…” (Guenther, 1976, p. 75).
On the other hand there are very weighty arguments for the greater importance of a real woman
(karma mudra) in the tantric rite of initiation. Then the purpose of the ritual with her is the final
transcending of the real external world of appearance (maya) and the creation of a universe which
functions solely according to the will and imagination of the tantric master. His first task is therefore
to recognize the illusory character of reality as a whole. This is naturally represented more
graphically, tangibly, and factually by a woman of flesh and blood than by a fictive construction of
the own spirit, which the inana mudra is. She appears from the outset as the product of an illusion.
A karma mudra thus presents an exceptionally difficult challenge to the spiritual abilities of the adept,
since the real human woman must also be recognized as an illusion (maya)! This means, in the final
instance, nothing less than that the yogi no longer grants the entire physical world, which in Indian
tradition concentrates itself in the form of a woman, an independent existence, and that as a
consequence he recognizes matter as a conceit of his own consciousness. He thereby frees himself
from all restrictions imposed by the laws of nature. Such a radical dissolution of reality is believed to
accelerate several times the initiation process which otherwise takes numerous incarnations.
Especially if “enlightenment” and liberation from the constraints of reality is to be achieved in a
single lifetime, it is necessary in the opinion of many tantra commentators to practice with a human
mudra. In the Cakrasamvara Tantra we read for example, that “the secret path without a consort will
not grant perfection to beings” (quoted by Shaw, 1994, p. 142). Tsongkhapa, founder of the Tibetan
Gelugpa sect is of the same opinion: “A female companion is the basis of the accomplishment of
liberation” (quoted by Shaw, 1994, p. 146). Imagined women are only recommendable for less
qualified individuals, or may serve at the beginning of the ritual path as a preliminary exercise, reports
Miranda Shaw, who makes reference to modern Gelugpa Masters like Lama Yeshe, Geshe Kelsang