© Victor & Victoria Trimondi
The Shadow of the Dalai Lama –
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Light and Shadow
For centuries after Buddha had died,
his shadow was still visible in a
cave
a dreadful, spine-chilling
shadow.
God is dead: but man being the way
he is for centuries to come there
will be caves in which his shadow is shown
and we, we must
also triumph over his shadow.
Friedrich Nietzsche
The practice and philosophy of Buddhism has spread
so rapidly throughout the Western world in the past 30 years and has so
often been a topic in the media that by now anybody who is interested in
cultural affairs has formed some sort of concept of Buddhism. In the
conventional “Western” notion of Buddhism, the teachings of Buddha Gautama
are regarded as a positive Eastern countermodel
to the decadent civilization and culture of the West: where the Western
world has introduced war and exploitation into world history, Buddhism
stands for peace and freedom; whilst Western rationalism is destructive of
life and the environment, the Eastern teachings of wisdom preserve and
safeguard them. The meditation, compassion, composure, understanding,
nonviolence, modesty, and spirituality of Asia
stand in contrast to the actionism, egomania,
unrest, indoctrination, violence, arrogance, and materialism of Europe and North America.
Ex oriente lux—“light comes from the East”; in occidente nox—“darkness prevails in the West”.
We regard this juxtaposition of the Eastern and
Western hemispheres as not just the “business” of naive believers and
zealous Tibetan lamas. On the contrary, this comparison of values has
become distributed among Western intelligentsia as a popular philosophical
speculation in which they flirt with their own demise.
But the cream of Hollywood also gladly and openly confess
their allegiance to the teachings of Buddhism (or what they understand
these to be), especially when these come from the mouths of Tibetan lamas.
“Tibet
is looming larger than ever on the show business map,” the Herald Tribune wrote in 1997. “Tibet is
going to enter the Western popular culture as something can only when Hollywood does the
entertainment injection into the world system. Let’s remember that Hollywood is the most
powerful force in the world, besides the US military” (Herald Tribune, March 20, 1997, pp.
1, 6). Orville Schell, who is working on a book on Tibet and the West, sees the Dalai Lama’s “Hollywood
connection” as a substitute for the non-existent diplomatic corps that
could represent the interests of the exiled Tibetan hierarch: “Since he
[the Dalai Lama] doesn’t have embassies, and he has no political power, he
has to seek other kinds. Hollywood
is a kind of country in his own, and he’s established a kind of embassy
there.” (Newsweek, May 19, 1997,
p. 24).
In Buddhism more and more show-business
celebrities believe they have discovered a message of salvation that can at
last bring the world peace and tranquility. In connection with his most
recent film about the young Dalai Lama (Kundun), the director Martin
Scorsese, more known for the violence of his films, emotionally declared:
“Violence is not the answer, it doesn’t work any more.
We are at the end of the worst century in which the greatest atrocities in
the history of the world have occurred ... The nature of human beings must
change. We must cultivate love and compassion” (Focus 46/1997, p. 168; retranslation). The karate hero Steven
Segal, who believes himself to be the reincarnation of a Tibetan lama, tells
us, “I have been a Buddhist for twenty years and since then have lived in
harmony with myself and the world” (Bunte, November 6, 1997, p. 24; retranslation). For
actor Richard Gere, one of the closest Western
confidants of the Dalai Lama, the “fine irony of Buddhism, which signifies
the only way to true happiness, is our own pleasure to offer to each and
all” (Bunte,
November 6, 1997, p. 25; retranslation). Helmut Thoma,
former head of the private German television company RTL, is no less
positive about this Eastern religion: “Buddhists treat each other in a
friendly, well-meaning and compassionate way. They see no difference
between their own suffering and that of others. I admire that” (Bunte,
November 6, 1997, p. 24). Actress Christine Kaufmann has also enthused, “In
Buddhism the maxim is: enjoy the phases of happiness for these are
transitory” (Bunte,
November 6, 1997, p. 21). Sharon Stone, Uma
Thurman, Tina Turner, Patty Smith, Meg Ryan, Doris Dörrie,
and Shirley MacLaine are just some of the film stars
and singers who follow the teachings of Buddha Gautama.
The press is no less euphoric. The German magazine
Bunte has praised the teachings from the
East as the “ideal religion of our day”: Buddhism has no moral teachings,
enjoins us to happiness, supports winners, has in contrast to other
religions an unblemished past ("no skeletons in the closet”),worships nature as a cathedral, makes women beautiful,
promotes sensuousness, promises eternal youth, creates paradise on earth,
reduces stress and body weight (Bunte, November 6, 1997, pp. 20ff.).
What has already become the myth of the “Buddhization of the West” is the work of many. Monks,
scholars, enthusiastic followers, generous sponsors, occultists, hippies,
and all sorts of “Eastern trippers” have worked on it. But towering above
them all, just as the Himalayas surpass
all other peaks on the planet, is His Holiness Tenzin
Gyatso the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Timeless,
gigantic, respectful, tolerant, patient, modest, simple, full of humor,
warm, gentle, lithe, earthy, harmonious, transparent, pure, and always
smiling and laughing — this is how the Kundun (the Tibetan word
means “presence” or “living Buddha”) is now known to all. There is no
positive human characteristic which has not at one time or another been
applied to the Dalai Lama. For many of the planet’s inhabitants, even if
they are non-Buddhists, he represents the most respectable living
individual of our epoch.
Many believe they have discovered in the
straightforward personality of this Buddhist monk all the rare qualities of
a gracious and trustworthy character that we seek in vain among our Western
politicians and church leaders. In a world full of evil, materialism, and
corruption he represents goodwill, the realm of the spirit, and the lotus blossom
of purity; amidst the maelstrom of trivialities and confusion he stands for
meaning, calm, and stability; in the competitive struggle of modern
capitalism and in an age where reports of catastrophes are constant he is
the guarantor of justice and a clear and unshaken will; from the thick of
the battle of cultures and peoples he emerges as the apostle of peace;
amidst a global outbreak of religious fanaticism he preaches tolerance and
nonviolence.
His followers worship him as a deity, a “living
Buddha” (Kundun),
and call him their “divine king”. Not even the Catholic popes or medieval
emperors ever claimed such a high spiritual position — they continued to
bow down before the “Lord of Lords” (God) as his supreme servants. The
Dalai Lama, however –according to Tibetan doctrine at least — himself
appears and acts as the “Highest”. In him is revealed the mystic figure of
ADI BUDDHA (the Supreme Buddha); he is a religious ideal in flesh and
blood. In some circles, enormous hopes are placed in the Kundun as the new Redeemer himself. Not
just Tibetans and Mongolians, many Taiwan Chinese and Westerners also see
him as a latterday Messiah. [1]
However human
the monk from Dharamsala (India) may
appear, his person is surrounded by the most occult speculations. Many who
have met him believe they have encountered the supernatural. In the case of
the “divine king” who has descended to mankind from the roof of the world,
that which was denied Moses—namely, to glimpse the countenance of God (Yahweh)—has become possible for
pious Buddhists; and unlike Yahweh this countenance shows no wrath, but
smiles graciously and warmly instead.
The esoteric
pathos in the characterization of the Dalai Lama has long since
transcended the boundaries of Buddhist insider groups. It is the famous
show business personalities and even articles in the “respectable” Western
press who now express the mystic flair of the Kundun in weighty exclamations: “The fascination is the search for
the third eye”, Melissa Mathison, scriptwriter
for Martin Scorsese’s film, Kundun, writes in the Herald
Tribune. “Americans are hoping for some sort of magical door into the
mystical, thinking that there’s some mysterious reason for things, a cosmic
explanation. Tibet offers the most extravagant expression of the mystical,
and when people meet His Holiness, you can see on their faces that they’re
hoping to get this hit that will transcend their lives, take them someplace
else” (Herald Tribune, March 20,
1997).
Nevertheless — and this is another magical
fairytale — the divine king’s omnipotent role combines well with the
monastic modesty and simplicity he exhibits. It is precisely this
fascinating combination of the supreme (“divine king”) and the almighty
with the lowliest (“mendicant”) and weakest that makes the Dalai Lama so
appealing for many — clear, understandable words, a gracious smile, a
simple robe, plain sandals, and behind all this the omnipotence of the
divine. With his constantly repeated statement — “I ... see myself first as
a man and a Tibetan who has made the decision to become a Buddhist monk” —
His Holiness has conquered the hearts of the West (Dalai Lama XIV, 1993a,
p. 7). We can believe in such a person, we can find refuge in him, from him
we learn about the wisdom of life and death. [2]
A similar reverse effect is found in another of
the Kundun’s
favorite sayings, that the institution of the Dalai Lama could become
superfluous in the future. “Perhaps it would really be good if I were the
last!” (Levenson, 1990, p. 366). Such admissions
of his own superfluity bring tears to people’s eyes and are only surpassed
by the prognosis of the “divine king” that in his next life he will
probably be reincarnated as an insect in order to help this lower form of
life as an “insect messiah”. In the wake of such heartrending prophecies
no-one would wish for anything more than that the institution of the Dalai
Lama might last for ever.
The political impotence of the country the
hierarch had to flee has a similarly powerful and disturbing effect. The
image of the innocent, peaceful, spiritual, defenseless, and tiny Tibet,
suppressed and humiliated by the merciless, inhumane, and materialistic
Chinese giant has elevated the “Land
of Snows” and its
monastic king to the status of a worldwide symbol of “pacifist resistance”.
The more Tibet
and its “ecclesiastical king” are threatened, the more his spiritual
authority increases and the more the Kundun
becomes an international moral authority. He has succeeded in the impossible
task of drawing strength from his weakness.
The numerous speeches of the Fourteenth Dalai
Lama, his interviews, statements, writings, biographies, books, and his
countless introductions and forewords to the texts of others deal almost
exclusively with topics like compassion, kindness, sincerity, love,
nonviolence, human rights, ecological visions, professions of democracy,
religious tolerance, inner and outer spirituality, the blessings of
science, world peace, and so on. It would take a true villain to not agree
totally with what he has said and written. Training consciousness,
achieving spiritual peace, cultivating inner contentment, fostering
satisfaction, practicing awareness, eliminating egoism, helping others —
what responsible person could fail to identify with this? Who doesn’t long
for flawless love, clear intellect, generosity, and enlightenment?
Within Western civilization, the Dalai Lama
appears as the purest light. He represents — according to former President
Jimmy Carter — a new type of world leader, who has placed the principles of
peace and compassion at the center of his politics, and who, with his kind
and winning nature, has shown us all how the hardest blows of fate can be
borne with perseverance and patience. By now he symbolizes human dignity
and global responsibility for millions. Up until very recently hardly
anyone, with the exception of his archenemies, the Chinese communists, has
dared to criticize this impotent/omnipotent luminary. But then, out of the
blue in 1996, dark clouds began to gather over the bright aura of the
“living Buddha”.
Charges, accusations, suspicions and
incriminations began to appear in the media. At first on the Internet, then
in isolated press reports, and finally in television programs (see Panorama on ARD [Germany], November 20, 1997 and 10 vor 10
on SF1 [Switzerland],
January 5-8, 1998).
At the same time as the Hollywood stars
were erecting a media altar for their Tibetan god, the public attacks on
the Dalai Lama were becoming more frequent. Even for a mundane politician
the catalogue of accusations would have been embarrassing, but for a divine
king they were horrendous. And on this occasion the attacks came not from
the Chinese camp but from within his own ranks.
The following serious charges are leveled in an
open letter to the Kundun supposedly written by Tibetans in
exile which criticizes the “despotism” of the hierarch: “The cause [of the
despotism] is the invisible disease which is still there and which develops
immediately if met with various conditions. And what is this disease? It is
your clinging to your own power. It is a fact that even at that time if
someone would have used democracy on you, you would not have been able to
accept it. ... Your Holiness, you wish to be a great leader, but you do not
know that in order to fulfill the wish, a ‘political Bodhisattva vow’ is
required. So you entered instead the wrong ‘political path of accumulation’
(tsog lam) and that has lead you on a
continuously wrong path. You believed that in order to be a greater leader
you had to secure your own position first of all, and whenever any
opposition against you arose you had to defend yourself, and this has
become contagious. ... Moreover, to challenge lamas you have used religion
for your own aim. To that purpose you had to develop the Tibetan people’s
blind faith. ... For instance, you started the politics of public Kalachakra initiations. [3] Normally the Kalachakra initiation is not given in public. Then you
started to use it continuously in a big way for your politics. The result
is that now the Tibetan people have returned to exactly the same muddy and
dirty mixing of politics and religion of lamas which you yourself had so
precisely criticized in earlier times. ... You have made the Tibetans into
donkeys. You can force them to go here and there as you like. In your words
you always say that you want to be Ghandi but in
your action you are like a religious fundamentalist who uses religious
faith for political purposes. Your image is the Dalai Lama, your mouth is
Mahatma Ghandi and your heart is like that of a
religious dictator. You are a deceiver and it is very sad that on the top
of the suffering that they already have the Tibetan people have a leader
like you. Tibetans have become fanatics. They say that the Dalai Lama is
more important than the principle of Tibet. ... Please, if you feel
like being like Gandhi, do not turn the Tibetan situation in the church
dominated style of 17th century Europe” (Sam, May 27, 1997 - Newsgroup 16).
The list of accusations goes on and on. Here we
present some of the charges raised against the Kundun since 1997 which we treat in more detail in this study:
association with the Japanese “poison gas guru” Shoko Asahara
(the “Asahara affair”); violent suppression of
the free expression of religion within his own ranks (the “Shugden affair”); the splitting of the other Buddhist
sects (the “Karmapa affair”); frequent sexual
abuse of women by Tibetan lamas (“Sogyal Rinpoche and June Campbell affairs”);intolerance
towards homosexuals; involvement in a ritual murder (the events of February
4, 1997); links to National Socialism (the “Heinrich Harrer
affair”); nepotism (the “Yabshi affair”); selling
out his own country to the Chinese(renunciation of Tibetan sovereignty);
political lies; rewriting history; and much more. Overnight the god has
become a demon. [4]
And all of a sudden Westerners are beginning to
ask themselves whether the king of light from the Himalayas
might not have a monstrous shadow. What we mean by the Dalai Lama’s
“shadow” is the possibility of a dark, murky, and “dirty” side to both his
personality and politicoreligious office in
contrast to the pure and brilliant figure he cuts as the “greatest living
hero of peace in our century” in the captivated awareness of millions.
For most people who have come to know him
personally or via the media, such nocturnal dimensions to His Holiness are
unimaginable. The possibility would not even occur to them, since the Kundun has grasped how to effectively conceal the
threatening and demonic aspects of Tibetan Buddhism and the many dark
chapters in the history of Tibet.
Up until 1996 he had succeeded –the poorly grounded Chinese critique aside
— in playing the shining hero on the world stage.
Plato’s cave
The shadow is the “other side” of a person, his
“hidden face”, the shadows are his “occult
depths”. Psychoanalysis teaches us that there are four ways of dealing with
our shadow: we can deny it, suppress it, project it onto other people, or
integrate it.
But the topic of the shadow does not just have a
psychological dimension; ever since Plato’s famous analogy of the cave it
has become one of the favorite motifs of Western philosophy. In his Politeia (The
State), Plato tells of an
“unenlightened” people who inhabit a cave with their backs to
the entrance. Outside shines the light of eternal and true reality, but as
the people have turned their backs to it, all they see are the shadows of reality which flit
sketchily across the walls of the cave before their eyes. Their human
attentiveness is magically captivated by this shadowy world and they thus
perceive only dreams and illusions, never higher reality itself. Should a
cave dweller one day manage to escape this dusky dwelling, he would
recognize that he had been living in a world of illusions.
This parable was adapted by Friedrich Nietzsche in
Aphorism 108 of his Fröhliche Wissenschaft [The
Gay Science] and — of interest here — linked to the figure of Buddha: “For
centuries after Buddha had died,” Nietzsche wrote, “his shadow was still
visible in a cave — a dreadful, spine-chilling shadow. God is dead: but man
being the way he is, for centuries to come there will be caves in which his
shadow is shown — and we — we must also triumph over his shadow”. [5]
This aphorism encourages us to speculate about the
Dalai Lama. He is, after all, worshipped as “God” or as a “living Buddha” (Kundun), as a
supreme enlightened being. But, we could argue with Nietzsche, the true
Buddha (“God”) is dead. Does this make the figure of the Dalai Lama nothing
but a shadow? Are pseudo-dogmas, pseudo-rituals, and pseudo-mysteries all
that remain of the original Buddhism? Did the historical Buddha Shakyamuni leave us with his “dreadful shadow” (the
Dalai Lama) and have we been challenged to liberate ourselves from him?
However, we could also speculate as to whether people perceive only the
Dalai Lama’s silhouette since they still live in the cave of an
unenlightened consciousness. If they were to leave this world of illusion,
they might experience the Kundun as the
supreme luminary and Supreme Buddha (ADI BUDDHA).
In our study of the Dalai Lama we offer concrete
answers to these and similar metaphysical questions. To do this, however,
we must lead our readers into (Nietzsche’s) cave, where the “dreadful
shadow” of the Kundun
(a “living Buddha”) appears on the wall. Up until now this cave has been
closed to the public and could not be entered by the uninitiated.
Incidentally, every Tibetan temple possesses such
an eerie room of shadows. Beside the various sacred chambers in which
smiling Buddha statues emit peace and composure there are secret rooms
known as gokhangs
which can only be entered by a chosen few. In the dim light of flickering,
half-drowned butter lamps, surrounded by rusty weapons, stuffed animals,
and mummified body parts, the Tibetan terror gods reside in the gokhang.
Here, the inhabitants of a violent and monstrous realm of darkness are
assembled. In a figurative sense the gokhang symbolizes the dark
ritualism of Lamaism and Tibet’s
hidden history of violence. In order to truly get to know the Dalai Lama
(the “living Buddha”) we must first descend into the “cave” (the gokhang) and
there conduct a speleology of his religion.
“Realpolitik” and the “Politics of
Symbols”
Our study is divided into two parts. The first
contain a depiction and critique of the religious foundations of Tibetan
(“Tantric”) Buddhism and is entitled Ritual
as Politics. The second part (Politics
as Ritual) examines the power politics of the Kundun (Dalai Lama) and its
historical preconditions. The relationship between political power and
religion is thus central to our book.
In ancient societies (like that of Tibet),
everything that happens in the everyday world — from acts of nature to
major political events to quotidian occurrences — is the expression of
transcendent powers and forces working behind the scenes. Mortals do not
determine their own fates; rather they are instruments in the hands of
“gods” and “demons”. If we wish to gain any understanding at all of the
Dalai Lama’s “secular” politics, it must be derived from this atavistic
perspective which permeates the traditional cultural legacy of Tibetan
Buddhism. For the mysteries that he administers (in which the “gods” make
their appearances) form the foundations of his political vision and
decision making. State and religion, ritual and politics are inseparable
for him.
What, however, distinguishes a “politics of
symbols” from “realpolitik”?
Both are concerned with power, but the methods for achieving and
maintaining power differ. In realpolitik we are dealing with facts that are both
caused and manipulated by people. Here the protagonists are politicians,
generals, CEOs, leaders of opinion, cultural luminaries, etc. The methods
through which power is exercised include force, war, revolution, legal
systems, money, rhetoric, propaganda, public discussions, and bribery.
In the symbolic political world, however, we
encounter “supernatural” energy fields, the “gods” and “demons”. The
secular protagonists in events are still human beings such as
ecclesiastical dignitaries, priests, magicians, gurus, yogis, and shamans.
But they all see themselves as servants of some type of superior divine
will, or, transcending their humanity they themselves become “gods”, as in
the case of the Dalai Lama. His exercise of power thus not only involves
worldly techniques but also the manipulation of symbols in rituals and
magic. For him, symbolic images and ritual acts are not simply signs or
aesthetic acts but rather instruments with which to activate the gods and
to influence people’s awareness. His political reality is determined by a
“metaphysical detour” via the mysteries. [6]
This interweaving of historical and symbolic
events leads to the seemingly fantastic metapolitics
of the Tibetans. Lamaism believes it can influence the course of history
not just in Tibet
but for the entire planet through its system of rituals and invocations,
through magic practices and concentration exercises. The result is an
atavistic mix of magic and politics. Rather than being determined by
parliament and the Tibetan government in exile, political decisions are
made by oracles and the supernatural beings acting through them. It is no
longer parties with differing programs and leaders who face off in the
political arena, but rather distinct and antagonistic oracle gods.
Above all it is in the individual of the Dalai
Lama that the entire wordly and spiritual/magic
potential of the Tibetan world view is concentrated. According to tradition
he is a sacred king. All his
deeds, however much they are perceived in terms of practical politics by
his surroundings, are thus profoundly linked to the Tibetan mysteries.
The latter have always been shrouded in secrecy.
The uninitiated have no right to participate or learn about them.
Nevertheless, in recent years much information about the Tibetan cults
(recorded in the so-called tantra texts and their
commentaries) has been published and translated into European languages.
The world that opens itself here to Western awareness appears equally
fantastic and fascinating. This world is a combination of theatrical pomp,
medieval magic, sacred sexuality, relentless asceticism, supreme
deification and the basest abuse of women, murderous crimes, maximum
ethical demands, the appearance of gods and demons, mystical ecstasy, and
cold hard logic all in one powerful, paradoxical performance.
Note on the
cited literature:
The original documents which we cite are without
exception European-language translations from Sanskrit, Tibetan or Chinese,
or are drawn from Western sources. By now, so many relevant texts have been
translated that they provide an adequate scholarly basis for a culturally
critical examination of Tibetan Buddhism without the need to refer to
documents in the original language. For our study ,
the Kalachakra Tantra is
central. This has not been translated in its entirety, aside from an
extremely problematical handwritten manuscript by the German Tibetoligist, Albert Grünwedel,
which can be found in the Bavarian State Library in Munich. Important parts of the Sri Kalachakra
have been translated into English by John Roland Newman, along with a
famous commentary on these parts by Pundarika
known as the Vimalaphraba. (John Ronald Newman - The outer wheel of time: Vajrayana buddhist cosmology in the Kalacakra
Tantra – Vimalaprabhā
-
nāmamūlatantrānusāriņī-dvādaśasāhasrikālagukālacakratantrarājaţīkā
) Madison
1987)
The Sri Kalachakra (Laghukalachakratantra)
is supposed to be the abridgement of a far more comprehensive original text
by the name of Sekoddesha. The complete text has been lost —
but some important passages from it have been preserved and have been
commented upon by the renowned scholar Naropa
(10th century). An Italian translation of the commentary by Ranieri Gnoli and Giacomella Orofino is available. Further to this, we
have studied every other work on the Kalachakra Tantra
which we have been able to find in a Western language. We were thuis in a position to be able to adequately reconstruct
the contents of the “Time Tantra” from the
numerous translated commentaries and sources for a cultural historical (and
not a philological) assessment of the tantra.
This extensive literature is listed at the end of the book. In order to
make the intentions and methods of this religious system comprehensible for
a Western audience, a comparision with other tantras and with parallels in European culture is of
greater importance than a meticulous linguistic knowledge of every line in
the Sanskrit or Tibetan original.
In the interests of readability, we have
transliterated Tibetan and Sanskrit names without diacritical marks and in
this have primarily oriented ourselves to Anglo-Saxon usages.
Footnotes:
[4] Up until 1996 the West needed to be divided
into two factions — with the eloquent advocates of Tibetan Buddhism on the
one hand, and those who were completely ignorant of the issue and remained
silent on the other. In contrast, modern or “postmodern” cultural
criticisms of the Buddhist teachings and critical examinations of the
Tibetan clergy and the Tibetan state structure were extremely rare
(completely the opposite of the case of the literature which addresses the
Pope and the Catholic Church). Noncommitted and unfalsified analyses and interpretations of Buddhist or
Tibetan history, in brief open and truth-seeking confrontations with the
shady side of the “true faith” and its history, have to be sought out like
needles in a haystack of ideological glorifications and deliberately
constructed myths of history. For this reason those who attempted to
discover and reveal the hidden background have had to battle to swim
against a massive current of resistance based on pre-formed opinions and
deliberate manipulation. This situation has changed in the period since
1996.
[6] There is nonetheless an occult
correlation between “symbolic and ritual politics” and real political
events. Thus the Tibetan lamas believe they are justified in subsuming the
pre-existing social reality (including that of the West) into their magical
world view and subjecting it to their “irrational” methods. With a for a contemporary
awareness audacious seeming thought construction, they see in the processes
of world history not just the work of politicians, the military, and
business leaders, but declare these to be the lackeys of divine or demonic
powers.
First
Chapter:
1. BUDDHISM AND MISOGYNY
(AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW)
|