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Critical Links
to Lamaism
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 non-violent contribution to world peace?
Over the past
few years, increasing criticism has been levelled 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 Grunfeld).
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 have condemned, on the basis of
personal experience and with great expertise, the systematic and
sophisticated oppression and abuse of women in Tibetan Buddhism (June
Campbell). Psychologists and psychoanalysts have investigated the
aggressive and morbid character of Lamaist
culture (Robert A. Paul, Fokke Sierksma). From within the Dalai Lama’s own ranks,
overwhelming evidence of his intolerant, superstitious and autocratic
nature has been amassed since 1997 (Shugden
Affair). Lamaism’s rituals have also been subjected to strong criticism.
The humanistic, peace-loving, tolerant and ecumenical intentions of the Kalachakra Tantra
and the Shambhala myth it contains have been
interrogated in a comprehensive study (Victor and Victoria Trimondi). Biting criticism of the XIV Dalai Lama and
his system founded on magic has also been broadcast in German, Swiss and
Austrian television (Panorama, 10 nach 10, Treffpunkt Kultur). In Munich, on the
occasion of a visit by the Tibetan religious potentate (in May 2000), there
was even a split in the SPD, whose "pro-Dalai Lama" wing had
invited the Tibetan "God-King" to a gala event. The media as a
whole has been equally divided: the Dalai Lama has been accused of, among
other things, having an undemocratic and autocratic leadership style,
suppressing any political opposition, acting to repress religious
minorities; letting policy be determined by possessed oracles rather than
through dialog and debate, deliberate falsification of the history of
Tibet, maintaining uncritical relationships with former members of the SS
and Neo-Nazis, defaming critics and conducting misogynist rituals.
Here are some of the points raised by the critics of the Kalachakra Tantra
and the Shambhala myth it contains that the Critical
Forum Kalachakra is putting forward for
discussion:
The secret rites of the Kalachakra Tantra
may not, under pain of medieval punishment for body and soul, be discussed
with the uninitiated. The “head and
heart” of whoever reveals its occult secrets "will burst asunder" and they will burn in the deepest
hell. There are good reasons for this, then in the
eight highest initiations there is talk of things that stand in complete
contradiction to a humanist system of values (Michael Henss
– Kalachakra – ein tibetisches Einweihungsritual
– Zurich 1985, 46).
The Kalachakra-Tantra is anything but pacifist, rather, it
prophesies and promotes a bloody religious war for world domination between
Buddhists and non-Buddhists (Shambhala myth).
The text explicitly names the "leaders"
of the three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) as opponents of Buddhism: "Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, the
White-Clad one [Mani], Muhammad
and Mathani [the Mahdi]".
The Kalachakra Tantra
describes them as "the family of
the demonic snakes" (Shri Kalachakra I.
154).
Thus, the Kalachakra Tantra is opposed to all religions of Semitic
origin, and for this reason has been pressed into service by right-wing
radical and anti-Semitic circles for their racist propaganda.
The Kalachakra Tantra invokes a global war between the Islamic and
the non-Islamic world in which the followers of Mohammed are presented as
the principal enemies of the Buddhists. The original text refers to Mecca, where the "mighty, merciless idol of the barbarians" lives as a
"demonic incarnation"
(Shri Kalachakra I.
154).
Murderous super-weapons possessed by the Buddhist Shambhala Army and employed against "enemies of
the Dharma" are described at length and in enthusiastic detail in the Kalachakra Tantra (Shri Kalachakra
I. 128 – 142). Modern Lamaist interpretations of these military arsenal
fantasies indulge in spectacular comparisons to the weaponry of the 20th
and 21st centuries.
The Buddhist art of war in the Shambhala
battles is obviously at odds with basic human rights, and is instead
described in the original text as "merciless"
and "cruel". "The supremely ferocious [Buddhist] warriors will cast down the barbarian
horde" and "eliminating"
them "together with their
followers". (Shri Kalachakra I.
163/165).
All the participants in a Kalachakra
initiation have the questionable privilege of being reborn as "Shambhala Warriors" in order to be able
to participate in the prophesied apocalyptic battle as either infantry or
officers, dependant on rank. High lamas of particular lineages have already
been assigned to commanding positions (E. Bernbaum
– Der Weg nach Shambhala – Auf der Suche nach
dem sagenhaften Königreich im Himalaya –
Hamburg 1982, 252, 35).
According to a vision of the Tibetan Lama Kamtrul Rinpoche, it is the
reincarnated Dalai Lama himself, who as wrathful field marshal will lead
the Buddhist army into the Shambhala battle (Rudra Chakrin)
to conquer all evil in the universe. Propagandists for the Kalachakra Tantra
peddle a primitive martyr cult that resembles that of the Moslem jihad
warriors: he who falls in the Shambhala war is
rewarded with guaranteed entry to the Shambhala
paradise (E. Bernbaum – Der Weg nach Shambhala – Auf der Suche nach dem sagenhaften Königreich im Himalaya –
Hamburg 1982, 253).
At all levels, the Kalachakra Tantra
fosters the postulation of (and negotiation with) a conceived “enemy” and –
completely at odds with the original teachings of the historical Buddha or
the ethical demands of Mahayana Buddhism – advocates war between
"good" and "evil", between the "faithful" and
the "unbelievers".
The Kalachakra-Tantra contains a Buddhocratic
doctrine of state which is even more "theocratic" than the
fundamentalist Islam concept of theocracy, then the Buddhist "Chakravartin" (world ruler) is seen as a direct
"incarnation" or "emanation" of the Supreme Buddha (Adi Buddha), as a walking "God-Man" on earth,
whilst the "Caliph" is only God’s (Allah’s)
"representative" on earth, who does not even have the rank of a
"prophet".
At the pinnacle of the authoritative Buddhocratic Kalachakra
state, on the "Lion Throne" resides an absolute
"Priest-King" (Chakravartin), who unites in his person religious,
political, juridical and military might. There is absolutely no civil
"separation of powers" here. Those familiar with the
constitutional position of the Dalai Lama in traditional Tibet (up until 1959) know that
the office of the Tibetan "God-King" corresponded to that of a Chakravartin in miniature. The highly questionable and
half-hearted democratization reforms that the XIV Dalai Lama has introduced
among the Tibetans in exile would be obliterated afresh through the Buddhocratic, state political consequences of the Kalachakra Tantra
teachings.
The right to a Buddhocratic world supremacy is an explicit
demand of the Kalachakra Tantra.
Here too we find a fundamentalist correspondence to Islamist ambitions to
global domination. If both systems are set to confront another
as deadly enemies in a bloody apocalyptic battle, then this is a
consequence of the logic of their theocratic-cum-Buddhocratic
absolutism.
Modern Buddhocratic
visions for our planet which are welcomed by the XIV Dalai Lama are built
upon the foundations of the Kalachakra Tantra. See in this regard Robert A. Thurman’s book
Inner Revolution, where the
author develops the authoritative political theory of a "Buddhaverse". As early as 1979, Thurman, described
by Time magazine as the "spokesman of the Dalai Lama" in the USA,
saw the Tibetan religious leader in a dream enthroned as a "Time
God" over the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, while the great swarm
of notables – mayors, senators, company directors and kings, sheiks and
sultans, celebrities and stars buzzed around him; caught up in the
maelstrom of the 722 dancing deities of the Kalachakra
Tantra swarmed around him just like bees in
pinstripes around a huge hive.
In the secret higher stages of initiation the Kalachakra Tantra
demands the unconditional and unlimited surrender to the absolute will of
the administering guru (in this case the Dalai Lamas as Kalachakra
master). The "ego consciousness" and the personality of the initiand are extinguished step by step, so as to
transform him into a human vessel for the in part warlike and aggressive
Tantric deities and Buddhist figures. Hence, the Kalachakra Tantra
brings no "ennoblement", "transfiguration" or
"integration" of the individual, but rather its systematic
"elimination" in the interests of a codified religious pattern.
In the eight secret higher initiations of the Kalachakra Tantra,
extreme mental and physical exercises are used to push the initiand into a state beyond good and evil. The
original text thus requires the following misdeeds and crimes of him:
killing, lying, stealing, infidelity, the consumption of alcohol, sexual
intercourse with lower-class girls. As in all the other Tantras,
here too these requirements can be understood both symbolically and
literally. Even the XIV Dalai Lama finds it legitimate for a Kalachakra adept to kill a person under special
circumstances, "who are harmfull to the [Buddhist] teaching". He insists, however, that this be "motivated by compassion" (Dalai
Lama – The Kalachakra
Tantra – Rite of Initiation – London, 1985,
S. 348 ff.) .
In the highest magical initiations, what are known
as "unclean substances" are employed.
The Kalachakra Tantra
recommends the consumption of the meat of various taboo animals. Human meat
(maha mamsa) is
also employed as a ritual substance. It is usually taken from the dead and,
writes the Tantric grand master and Shambhala
King, Pundarika, in his traditional Kalachakra
commentary, is the "meat of those who died due to their own karma, who were killed in
battle due to evil karma or and due
to their own fault, or that of robbers and so forth who were executed".
He continues with the advice that it is sensible to consume these
substances in the form of pills. The flesh of innocent people, who have
been killed as sacrifices to the gods, out of fear, as part of an ancestor
cult, out of desire (greed) or for money, is laden with "unspeakable
sin" and may not be used in the rituals. "But which falls in the bowl unasked-for is without unspeakable sin"
– and may therefore be put to use. (In: John Ronald Newman - The outer wheel of time: Vajrayana Buddhist cosmology in the Kalacakra
Tantra - Madison 1987, 266 f.).
Numerous ritual objects employed in the ceremonies
are made from corpses (bowls made from human skulls, trumpets made of leg
bones, bone necklaces). A glance at the great Kalachakra
Thangka (wall tapestry) which will be hanging
above the throne of the XIV Dalai Lama during the whole of the ceremony is
enough to convince one of the wrathful characters of this ritual. The Time
God "Kalachakra" depicted there
together with his consort, the Time Goddess "Vishvamata"
in sexual union while standing, hold in their total of 32 hands 24 objects
of an aggressive, morbid or warlike
nature (hooks, sword, machete, drums and vessels made of skull bowls, a
sceptre whose peak is adorned with three severed human heads, etc.)
In the secret higher initiations of the Kalachakra Tantra
sexual magical rites take place, the aim of which is to transform
"sexuality" into worldly and spiritual power. The real or
imaginary women (both are possible) used in these represent particular forms
of energy, whereby age plays an important role. One begins with
ten-year-old girls. Up to the age of 20, the female sexual partners
represent positive characteristics. If they are older they are regarded as
the bearers of the negative energies of scorn, rage, hate etc. and as
"demonesses".
In the 8th to 11th levels of initiation into the Kalachakra Tantra
sexual magic experiments are made with just " one" woman; in the
12th to 15th levels, the so-called Ganachakra, a total of 10 women take part in the ritual
along with the master and the initiand. It is the
pupil’s duty to offer his Lama the women as a "gift". "Laity" who are
to be initiated into the ritual are supposed to offer up their female
relatives (mother, sister, wife, daughter, aunt, etc.). One can read in the
Kalachakra Mûlatantra
that "If the pupil does not hand
these wisdom consorts over to his master, in order to protect his family,
then [the master] may not perform this ritual." Consecrated monks
and novices, however, may make use of unrelated women from various castes.
In the secret ritual itself the participants experiment with the masculine
and feminine seed (sperm and menstrual blood). In the Kalachakra Tantra
women are regarded as mere "energy donors" for the male
practitioners and once the ritual is over they have no further role to play
(see in this regard Nâropâ – Iniziazione Kâlacakra
– Roma 1994).
In the current age, which according to the
teachings of Lamaism is hastening towards an apocalyptic end (Kali yuga), the Kalachakra Tantra has a particularly destructive and
aggressive character. It includes special rites which are supposed to
accelerate the general decline through symbolic acts. "What is Kalachakrayana
[the Kalachakra
Way]?" – asks one of the leading experts
in the field of Tantrism, the Indian Shashi Bhusan Dasgupta, and tellingly answers, "The word kala means time, death and destruction. Kala-Chakra is the Wheel of Destruction."
These are
just some of the problematic aspects that critics object to in the Kalachakra Tantra
and the Shambhala Myth it contains. They ought to
provide sufficient grounds to question whether this ritual can still be
seen as having a humanistic, peaceful, tolerant, freedom-loving and
ecumenical character. In addition, the Shambhala myth integrated into the Kalachakra Tantra has
– insofar as it has been accorded historical and ideological relevance –
led to extremely aggressive behaviour patterns, megalomaniac visions,
conspiracy theories and terrorist activity. But above all it exercises a
special fascination for neo-fascist circles and provides a source of ideological
inspiration for them.
In the wars between Byelorussians, Bolsheviks and
Mongolians, the Shambhala myth was associated with ideas of
the return of Genghis Khan at the beginning of the twenties. The Mongolians
saw themselves in this conflict as "Shambhala
warriors". Their military actions were extremely bloodthirsty.
The Italian fascist and right-wing extremist
philosopher of culture, Julius Evola, saw in the
mythic realm of Shambhala
the esoteric centre of a sacred warrior caste and suspected that the palace
of the world king, whose escutcheon was the swastika, could be found there.
He held lectures on these views for the SS “Ahnenerbe”.
In the occult literature (the "Nazi
mysteries”), "masters" from Shambhala are depicted as the
hidden string pullers who are supposed to have participated in the
"magical" creation of the Nazi regime (Trevor Ravenscroft,
Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier
u. a.).
In the ideological SS underground of the post-War
period and in the "SS mysticism" of the nineties, the mythical
kingdom of Shambhala
is seen as a sanctuary for an aggressive and morbid "Nazi
religion" (Wilhelm Landig, Jan van Helsing u. a.).
The Shambhala myth
is one of the ideological pillars of "esoteric Hitlerism".
This is the worldwide, racist, occult doctrine of the Chilean diplomat,
Miguel Serrano, and the Indian by
adoption, Savitri Devi ("Hitler’s
Priestess")
With his concept of the Shambhala warrior, the now deceased Tibetan Lama, Chögyam
Trungpa (1940-1987), laid the first foundations
for a potential
"Combative Buddhism", already found in large parts
of East Asia, in the West. Instead of
monasteries, Trungpa’s Shambhala warriors live in military camps, meditation is accompanied by
military parades, in place of the begging bowl his pupils carry weapons and
rather than monastic robes they wear military uniforms. The master himself
no longer moved around in Buddhist style, with yellow and red monastic robe
and walking staff and sandals, but rather rode forth on a white horse (in
accordance with the apocalyptic prophecy of the Kalachakra
Tantra) in peaked cap, tunic and high boots. The Shambhala coat of arms can be seen on the saddle of a
horse in a photo of the martial Trungpa.
The Shambhala Myth
provides the ideological basis for the terrorism of the Japanese
apocalyptic guru, Shoko Asahara. He derives his
apocalyptic visions from the teachings of the Kalachakra Tantra.
His intention is to accelerate the onset of the Shambhala
war and this is his justification for his poison-gas attacks on the Tokyo Underground. Asahara was the first leader of a sect to make the
"uninvolved" from outside of his own organization the target of
his deadly attacks and thus opened the floodgates for the religiously
motivated international terrorism that has become the number one topic in
the world community.
Even if these
fascist and terrorist interpretations of the Shambhala myth are erroneous, it is therefore all the more pressing that
the XIV Dalai Lama and his followers lay bare the Kalachakra
ritual in all its detail, correct possible distortions, projections and
misuses, and distance themselves publicly from its more problematic contents,
that or edit them out of the traditional texts. Instead, however, there
have in the past been numerous friendly meetings between the Tibetan
religious leader and former SS figures (Heinrich Harrer,
Bruno Beger), the founder of "esoteric Hitlerism", Miguel Serrano, and the terrorist,
Shoko Asahara, whom even after the Tokyo attacks
he described as his "friend, albeit
an imperfect one”. Only later did he distance himself from him.
Then,
according to statements in numerous international media reports, Tibetan
Buddhism is the "trend religion" of our time. Through the XIV
Dalai Lama, through both his charismatic appearances and his ostensibly
humanist speeches and writings, a gigantic, unreflective cultural import of
Eastern concepts into the West is taking
place, one which displays fundamentalist characteristics and serves as an
ideological foundation for various fundamentalist camps and can continue to
so serve in the future. The Buddhist leader appeals to people’s deep need
for harmony and peace, but the history of Lamaism itself, the contents of
the Tibetan Tantras and their complex of rituals,
even the conditions which prevail among
the Tibetans in exile, are anything but peaceful and harmonic. There
are passages in the Kalachakra Tantra
which brazenly call for a "war of the religions", which are
intolerant and aggressive. In Tibetan Buddhism we have an archaic,
magic-based religious system, which has remained to a large extent
untouched by the fundamentals of the Western Enlightenment. This is also
the reason it is so attractive for right-wing extremists. For centuries it
has led to social injustices that any freedom-loving citizen of today would
be forced to reject. The equality of the sexes, democratic decision making
and ecumenical movements are in themselves foreign to the nature of Tantric
Buddhism, although the XIV Dalai Lama publicly proclaims the opposite.
In a reaction
to 11 September 2001, Der Spiegel
drew attention to aggressive elements and fundamentalist currents in the
three monotheistic religions in an article entitled "Religious Mania –
The Return of the Middle Ages". As is so often the case in such
cultural critiques, Buddhism was spared. This is untrue! All of the topics
criticized in this article (battles against
unbelievers and dissidents, religious wars, armament fantasies, theocratic
visions of power, apocalyptic predictions, misogyny, etc.) are to be found
in a particularly concentrated degree in the Kalachakra Tantra.
The Critical
Forum Kalachakra (CFK) demands that a wide-ranging
cultural debate over the Kalachakra Tantra and the Shambhala myth. The CFK collects information, distributes and translates
documents.
© Victor & Victoria Trimondi
Further information about the Kalachakra-Tantra:
FRONT
Kalachakra: The Public and
the Secret Initiations
Kalachakra: The Inner
Processes
The ADI Buddha: His Mystic Body and his Astral
Aspects
The ADI Buddha: The Mandala Principle and the World Ruler
The Aggressive Myth of Shambhala
The Manipulator of Erotic Love
The Spearhead of the Shambhala
War: The Mongols
The Shambhala Myth and
the West
The Doomsday Guru Shoko Asahara
and XIV Dalai Lama
The Buddhocratic
Conquest of the West
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