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The Shadow of the Dalai Lama – Annex:
Critical Forum Kalachakra
© Victor & Victoria Trimondi
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 nonviolent
contribution to world peace?
Over
the past few years, increasing criticism has been
leveled 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
Grundfeld). 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,
Colin Goldner). 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. Felix Austria – this criticism
seems to have floated by the beautiful mountains
of Austria like
a slim cloud that hardly turns a head.
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
Kalchakra
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 (i.e.,
also those in Graz) 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 – Revolution von Innen – Die Lehren
des Buddhismus oder das vollkommene Glück
(1999), 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 dueto
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
in Graz is enough to convince one of the wrathful
character 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 scepter 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 behavior 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 center
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 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. It is the duty
of the city of Graz, the provincial government
of Styria, the various political factions, the
media, the intellectuals and not least the Christian
institutions, to begin a broad public discussion of this ritual,
so as not be drawn into something which is diametrically
opposed to their original intentions.
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 Kalachkra Tantra.
The
Critical Forum Kalachakra (CFK) demands that a
wide-ranging cultural debate over the Kalachakra
Tantra and the Shambhala
myth. The CFK collects informations, distributes
and translates documents.
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