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by Frank Pedersen
[Addressed to
Ambu and posted on the American-Buddha Bulletin Board on November 19,
2003]
Ethical and
Energetic Unbalances Due to the Magic Structures Underlying Tantric
Tibetan Buddhism - a Personal, Christian testimony
First let me explain
the actual background and motivation for this testimony. In 1977, I met a
Danish author and teacher, B, who at that time was a senior lecturer at
the University of Aarhus and also had a private practice as a Jungian
analyst. [I will not mention names in my narrative, since I don't want to
point a finger at anyone. We are all in need of forgiveness and there is
imperfection and perfection in every man. My only concern is reality and
truth.] B was nearly ten years older, and of course more experienced than
me, who was then a student of theology at the University of Copenhagen.
When I first met him, I had many powerful dreams. I was naive and quite
unsuspecting, and didn't know how to interpret them properly. Hence, I was
not able to safeguard myself. I thought every structure in the dreams
illuminated my own unconscious, containing no outer, collective or
objective truth. In fact, almost all the dreams contained archetypical
imagery, were lucid and reflected the astral and higher levels, and many
of them reflected the reality behind B's appearances.
B wrote, and has
since then written, several books on different subjects of personal and
spiritual development. Many of them are a presentation and compilation of
new-age ideas from the international bulk, while others are
interpretations of the Tantras and systematization of Buddhist
meditation-theory. B accepted people in his practice, many of whom
eventually participated in groups and seminars. In 1980, I too started in
analysis, and the following years I made the same journey with him,
resulting in the establishment in 1982 of a spiritual new-age community
and course facility, joined by a number of gifted and sensitive people.
This Center was from the onset dedicated to a modern, non-confessional,
non-sectarian and cross-traditional search for religious meaning and
fellowship, assisted by personal development and guided by B. For a
period of seven years I was fully involved with this endeavor and
contributed to the practical establishment of the facility with my skills
as an artisan, and shared the communal living and meditation practice.
This was part of a world-wide collective movement of spiritualization and
creation of alternative lifestyle, and you were in it too in Ashland.
Now, it is important
to notice here, that the Center was non-confessional. B was himself
inspired by tantric Buddhism, but he positioned himself outside any
tradition and tried to mediate his background with the Western tradition,
principally Christianity, forming a pan-mysticism. His own affiliation
with lamaism was blurred and understated in order to extend his
attraction. Probably this was also a part of his own development and
realization. He is a native Dane, traditionally brought up and educated,
and slowly came to terms with his ‘Buddhist karma' or predisposition.
Judging by his longstanding, all-consuming and sincere identification with
elements of the Nyingmapa-lineage, especially the figure of Padmasambhava,
he could very well be in a true karmic continuity with this historic body.
Or else you could call it a very possessive fantasy verging on obsession.
B is an intellectual introvert and an ‘observer'-type, and as such he has
a tendency in his personal defenses towards mental illusion and private
realism. Anyway, in 1989 he finally gave up his independent stand and
became a disciple of the late Urgyen Tulku. Since then, the Center turned
exceedingly sectarian, drawing heavily on the tantric- and Dzogchen-tradition,
although this is publicly denied. There is a spread of rumors that B is
considered [or rather, is considering himself] to be the spiritual heir
and successor of Urgyen Tulku, and in his writings B is now constantly
fabling of Padmasambhava, Samye and the rest of it, alluding to himself as
a close disciple of the first mentioned. His secret and tacit wish to be
recognized and acknowledged as such is pathetic, since he is doing his
utmost to disguise and quench his need for public fame and appraisal. As a
European he is not in the clan with the Tibetans, and his weird ideas make
him the Ugly Duckling among his Danish peers. I vividly remember his
bitter words during the construction of his meditation-room at the Center,
which has a window formed as a replica of the opening of one of the
meditation-caves of Padmasambhava: "If only people knew who I am"
[implicit: then they would worship, honor, respect and fear me
accordingly].
Then, you might ask,
is it fair to judge Tibetan Buddhism [which you have encountered in its
original and confessional version] from this unorthodox background? Yes
and no. B is perhaps a ‘nutcase going-native', but in many elements and
features he is exposing ethical and energetic unbalances, which are
rediscovered in the practice of Tibetan Buddhism due to the magic
structures underlying it. What you have witnessed yourself and are
testifying to with respect to Gyatrul Rinpoche runs parallel with my
experience of B - only on the one hand he was more polished and clever, on
the other hand he was more familiar. His guru-claims were not apparent in
the beginning. And there was the same gradual development from a more
open, undisciplined and inclusive concept, when people's effort were
needed to establish the foundations of the Center, towards a more
restricted, rectified and austere environment, when the ‘machinery' was in
place.
A few words on my
own motives. I joined up with B and the Center out of idealism, faith in
the values of brotherhood, and a mystic dimension of life based on the
teachings of Christ, and personal spiritual experience and religious
sentiment. Although I was studying to become an ordained priest, I was not
in the Church then and am not today a member of any religious group or
confession. I dismissed myself from the Center in 1990 and finished my
business there with a clear intent of never turning back. This decision
was brought about because of the serious deterioration of the social
dynamics in the Center. Let me briefly explain this deplorable
development.
As I have tried to
elucidate earlier in my essay: ‘Individuality versus individualism', the
elitist idea of enlightenment as an ultimate goal of self-realization is
often understood in personal and quite egoistic terms by the seeking
westerner. B is a verbal equilibrist in response to this demand and his
books are in reality a continual comparison of the adjective ‘high'. The
individualistically orientated and self-indulging guruist conceives of
ego-death as an advanced form of super-humanity being applied to him
together with special abilities and dignities, and never suspects it to be
a total depersonalization and subordination under the ministry of the
guru's transcendent forces. He doesn't realize what is going on with him.
He thinks himself superior, elected and luckily chosen, while he is in
reality robbed. He loses his normal identity and is instead equipped with
a fantastic one, which he is desperately clinging to with his feet in the
air. This seems to be a common trait and trick of the lamaistic inspired
guru with his bag full of karma-bonds, deftly exchanged to real currency
and property [quote from you: "At the same time, he told us we were doing
well, that we were the embodiment of some deity or famous personage in the
past, and our sons and daughters were special people. / All those years,
and it didn't add up to a hill of beans. Most of my property and
investments were lost, sucked up in that bottomless pit of mud, rain and
snow."] People are caught up in their own wish of gain. The exchange is
possible because there is fraud and imbalance in the first place.
Westerners are spoiled and pampered in materialistic terms, socially
protected and patronized as individuals. If everything we have and think
we are and deserve had to be acquired through autonomy, then there was no
possible trade-off! But there is inflation in individualism. Both in the
understanding of oneself as an expanding and consuming center in the
universe and in the privileged life-situation.
B was quick to take
over control of interpretation and determination of everybody's
‘spiritual' identity. Thus he gained the power to raise or lower people's
value in their own eyes and in the eyes of others. Of course he had to
respect his own frame of interpretation and former statements, but he was
free to shift focus and add to explanation, which he did. Also, he could
point out people to special groups and shift his personal interest from
one to the other. He didn't accept competing interests or associations,
ridiculed other teachers and scorned persons in processes of doubt.
Couples were split by his strategy of nomination, accepting only one of
them in his new group, and emotional tensions were built up. B was the
only person securing all the positive projections for himself. All others
became exceedingly dependent on B, concurrently with their surrender of
orientation and value to him.
Gradually everybody
talked with the guru's voice. People didn't meet; false identities came
together. Some with the bright nimbus of B's sparkling interest, others
depressed and devalued by him. You can imagine what a circus! One day the
protegé of B thought for sure he had Zen-Buddhist karma and was a
high-profile personality on this account, but then B signaled an
increasing interest in the Christian mystics - and behold! The protegé
dreamed he had been a Benedictine monk! What B lacked in traditional
authority and approval, he thus gained in flexibility. He himself had of
course high spiritual karma both from the Eastern and Western tradition.
The social and brotherly organism was poisoned to death. There came a
time, when B wished to tighten things up a bit and increase the pressure.
Some people he didn't need anymore, others he didn't approve of. So there
was a demand for a greater economic contribution from everyone. B wished
to buy a farm and have a retreat for himself, where he could practice
Tantra with his consort [not his wife, she had to accept being pushed
aside]. He was also getting involved with Urgyen Tulku. At that point, I
was disillusioned with what was going on. Relegating people after having
discussed them in their absence in the ‘Intuition-group', the inner-circle
of the Center, and questioning them with this double agenda, was not
acceptable to me. I tried to divert the demand for more economic
contribution into the formation of a formal body based on direct
democracy. In my view, the real potential among people on the Center was
diminished and distorted by B's informal and hidden leadership. But he
openly stated himself as the owner of the Center and the rest of us as
residents, comparing himself to the conductor of an orchestra where we
only played different instruments. This model I didn't fancy, neither the
growing involvement with the Tibetan tribe. So I left the inner-circle and
the Center with this experience, preserving my integrity of faith.
Apparently, you have had much the same negative experience, when trying to
secure a more democratic structure in the Ashland Center, and I sense from
your description of people's reactions, that you think they too are highly
manipulated and dependent.
I was not completely
discouraged though. I have spiritually always been well protected and
nourished from within. Faith and truth are not compromised by experience
and a disillusionment can be of great value. So I ‘put my hand on the
plow'. But over the years, both after and prior to my commitment with the
Center, there has been a ‘process in the process' on the energy-level,
which has elucidated many general features besides the above mentioned
social structures and dynamics, already described in the sociology of
religion under the heading of new-age sectarianism. Recently I have gone
through a major process adding to this information. This has also prompted
me to investigate further into the magic background of Tibetan Buddhism
and other areas of esoteric theory. My own access to this line of
investigation is a sensitivity to phenomena on the astral and mental
level, both in lucid dreaming and in direct experience, and of course a
spiritual foundation and adequate intellect. In context with Tibetan
Buddhism, I will draw attention to the ground-breaking work of Victor and
Victoria Trimondi, The Shadow of the Dalai Lama, which point out many
features I have analyzed and determined on experiential grounds and put
them all into perspective. I could work this out in greater detail than in
my presentation here, but I find it hard to motivate myself. There is
nothing appealing about the folly of man. So I concentrate on the broader
themes connected with the business of the Maha-Siddha or Grand Sorcerer.
Like the Dalai Lama
in his widespread Kalachakra-performance, B has an underlying
imperialistic strategy behind his attitude to the inner reality of group
meditations and the building up of an energy-field. He has talked about
the possibility of correcting certain structures in the collective mind
and unconscious of a whole culture or society, of course to the benefit of
people, but without their consent or knowledge, by using the organ of a
well-disciplined meditation group under his supervision. The group is
understood as a sort of amplifier and generator of coherent patterns of
energy, produced by the structuring of a mandala of people with specific
energetic attributes [polarity, archetypes, and so forth], with its focus
and content directed by B. Since the astral and mental realms in our
culture are organized more or less at random, you can understand why a
focused and sustained impulse carried by an energy-field with a build-up
of polarity-energy in the etheric, astral fusion and ‘balance', and mental
rectification could effect or create certain formations. Every act of
thinking and behavior is in a form. If you alter or shift the form, the
unaware person will gradually think and behave accordingly. One of B's
early manipulations with the collective mind, imprinting himself firmly on
the astral level, was to make it a criterion for analysis that you should
dream of him. This conditioning has since then been expanded to a
criterion for admission to the Center and so forth. B understands himself
as an exceptional person [like a saint], who is an ‘operative self' with
an opening to the collective realms [upwards and downwards]. Around such
an individual, he says, there is an energetic vortex. Through him energy
[love and wisdom] is transported from the spiritual level [Padmasambhava]
and out into the society and culture. This phenomenon requires a
polarity-structure. B is of course the intensified yang and the central
figure, and so he constituted around him four representative women with
their separate ‘collective open yin-energies', forming a
mandala-quaternity. How they loved this important appointment! Their
cheeks blushed bashfully and decorously and their eyelashes waved in
nervous expectance. In his euphoria, B refers to this arrangement as a
sort of ‘homoeopathic collectivized eros'. In reality, it is a
dung-spreader! This you know for sure, when you have had lucid dreams like
this one: One of the women came to me appealing and wanted me to
participate at the Center in a meditation group. I was persuaded by her,
because she stated that the content was Christian, but when I sat down I
was assaulted by some men, who tried to force me to the ground. This is
only a single astral incident of many with three of these women. On other
occasions, they have tried to study and pick out information from my
aura-structure, or instigate some action or attitude. Clearly the
underlying motive is not agape, nor even eros, but power!
My own code of
ethics and values ask for consent, open information and respect for the
free will and self-determination of other people. But identification with
a god or the good prompts B and his pupils to disregard this demand. Like
the Dalai Lama, they represent the Dharma, the one true and liberating
knowledge, which justifies any manipulation and violation of individual
rights. This is completely and totally inconsistent with the teachings of
Christ! The question is, what are the real motives and contents behind
this engineering! B admits to the problematic character of his procedure,
stating that: ‘The energetic structures are so subtle, so powerful, and
neither good or bad in themselves. The use of these powers and functions
depends on the participants and their knowledge, ethics and personal
development!' That is: Manipulation is actually ok! What a fool! And
foolish him, and foolish his four devas, thinking they are so perfect and
pure, radiating love from the bliss-hell of their god. Let me give a few
more examples of these workings! One night I woke up in a lucid dream. I
was participating in a mandala meditation with people I knew from the
Center and B who arranged it. Only he and I were awake! He recognized
this. In another lucid dream, I walked at the ocean shore, and suddenly
there were lots of silvery shining flying fish in and out of the water,
landing themselves on the beach. They were hollow inside as I looked into
their eyes, and then I was transported into a pure mental dimension of
energy, where B floated near me telepathing a message that I should join
him, because he alone was able to administer my energy-structure [which
had access to a certain spiritual level]. I didn't think so. This dream
was followed by all sorts of energy-sensations in body and mind,
high-pitched sounds, etc. Immediately afterwards, when I went to sleep
again, there were other and less energetic dreams, pointing to some of the
lower motives behind B's interest in me. It is obvious that the structure
of the collective unconscious [the sea, the fish] and the mental realm are
being used to transport intentions. It is an open question what level of
actuality and deliberation lies behind these experiences, since my former
connection with the Center could explain my receptiveness, but the
invasive quality of the activity is beyond any doubt.
I suspect that the
strategy of silent coercion of behavioral and mental forms is a double
with an open and a hidden agenda working together. The effect of
persuasion is greater if the persuaded party openly accepts something
seemingly by his free will. Then you must offer him a direct suggestion
and simultaneously work on his unconscious suggestibility. For example,
the Dalai Lama openly declares that he is not enlightened, not a
world-leader, not a male idol, not a sexual fetish, and so forth. But that
is exactly what he is beaming! In the same manner, B is working with
suggestion, giving the impression of modesty, and at the same time hinting
at his own importance. He thinks he has a role to play on the grand
evolutionary scale. Padmasambhava foresaw this time in history and
prepared his messengers [tertöns] by impressing ‘hidden knowledge' or
‘termas' on their consciousness. Of course, in order to bring people the
necessary techniques of development, B also adheres to the prophecy of
Dharma-export to the West, when the ‘ironbird flies'! In fact, he must
understand his own incarnation within this scheme. So he shares the
geopolitical outlook, identifying himself with ‘old masters' like
Padmasambhava, who watched over the Indian subcontinent with their
clairvoyant powers. He has openly admitted that he 'kept a third eye' on
any interesting 'energy-sightings' in our country. And no doubt he
understands the Center to be a replica of Samye. The floor of the
meditation hall has an inlaid pattern of a corresponding mandala, and a
similar construction of the ceiling. Like the mandala-drawing in the Dalai
Lama's Kalachakra-ritual, this signals a consolidation of a certain
energy-field. In this case, drawn from the Nyingmapa tradition.
This could be pure
fantasy, identification, and wishful thinking, but the attitude is
evident. Regarding the protective forces or agencies [gods] built up
around the Center, B's understanding and attitude is well illustrated by
the following narrative. The Center is situated in a small town in the
countryside and naturally attracted some opposition from conservative
Christians, amongst them a local teacher. This man spoke publicly and
warned against activities at the Center. Unfortunately, he soon after
suffered a personal tragedy, killing his own son in a shooting accident on
a hunting trip, and was depressed for many years. B showed no surprise or
regret when he heard the news. The teacher's son, in company with some
other kids, had thrown a few stones at the Center and crushed a window --
no big deal, just a boyish prank! But B's comment was: 'Whoever spits
against the wind ...' We should understand, that there were severe and
protective forces guarding the Center. Whether B himself summoned and
directed them through ritual, I don't know, but obviously he counted on
them to be active. This was so bizarre that it was soon forgotten. It was
a sudden, strange, and incomprehensible glimpse into a line of thinking
that no one questioned or took notice of at the time, because there was
really no point of reference.
B's character
evidently is marked by some of the same qualities as Gyatrul Rinpoche´s,
and you might wonder if the mutual ‘spiritual' and energetic background
has a role to play in this merging. Perhaps the personal make-up is
influenced by the tantrism and discipline of meditation. There is a
constant building of magnetism through the accumulation of etheric energy
drawn from people on account of polarization and projection. So B is able
to play out the polarity in many ways, enchanting people in the same
manner as for instance the Dalai Lama. Women have told me how they
suddenly and without explanation in their feelings were prompted
energetically to fall in love with B! A woman explained how one night she
couldn't fall asleep. Then she saw a monk in a black robe throw a dorje at
her. It was whirling towards her, and then suddenly right in front of her
it exploded in a bright reddish splash of energy. But she protected
herself against this strange phenomenon and stayed apart, and then she
discovered that the perpetrator was B. Later, when she confronted him
with this experience, his comment [with a knowing smile] was that she
evidently was aware of the reality of merging in the dimension of energy.
He was caught in the act of creating a personal attachment without her
consent or information, only she was too sensitive and well protected.
This would have paved the way for his open manipulation and utilization of
her potentials. You might compare with your own experience of meeting
Gyatrul and your initial hesitation, skepticism and resistance: ‘When I
stood across the room while everyone was enjoying a potluck, wondering
what the hell I was getting into, he looked back at me from across the
room, and we shared a mental space.' No, you didn't share a mental space -
he invaded yours!
Let me illustrate
this further. In a very lucid dream I was together with B and his strange
companion, a little, agile gnome, with pointed feet and a big head.
Suddenly this fellow threw himself at me with obscene gestures and started
to paralyze and mesmerize my consciousness. I was almost in a state of
trance, but in the inner core of my consciousness I stayed awake and
alert. I wouldn't allow him to take possession of my mind. I made the sign
of the cross in front of him and then he finally gave up his intent with a
scornful remark. Please also remember the above-mentioned dream, in which
I was transported into a pure mental dimension of energy, where B floated
near me telepathing a message that I should join him, because he alone was
able to administer my energy-structure. As regards to the involuntarily
‘falling in love,' there seems to exist aggressive techniques involving
projection or a sort of energy-thrust from the hara chakra, which I
suspect from the following evidence. Accidentally I met one of B's
previous protégés, who told me that B in a guidance-session unexpectedly
kissed him and prostrated himself on the floor, uncovering his penis. He
had promised him lifelong therapy and guidance if he would consider a
sexual relationship. This event came completely surprising to the protégé
who left in a hurry! But many years after he was still marked on his soul
by this betrayal of confidence. He only met with B one more time.
Actually, I was present at that episode, and this was the reason for him
telling me his secret. Because on that occasion he experienced how B 'hit
him' with an 'energy-thrust' in the hara-chakra, which gave him
considerable energetic and sexual problems later on. Many years later, in
a lucid dream in an Indian temple, I saw a magic tradition as a lineage of
'magician-saints' floating in the air, the earliest being nothing but a
heap of black, old, and crumbled bones. A seemingly innocent and lovely
woman was the keeper of the temple. She was tired and sad, but alas, as I
spontaneously reached out to her to give her a stroke of caring, she hit
me in exactly the same way in the hara and stole all of my life-energy! I
instantly woke up depleted of energy. As evidence of the widespread use of
polarity [and perhaps showing the homosexual motive] I conclude with this
astral experience: One night, in three reoccurring astral visions, a
standing figure tried to make me move away from my body to a point at my
right side 'to straighten things out'. Every time I woke up with a start.
The last time I meditated to ward off the energy and sensed the presence
of an extremely cold energy. Then, early in the morning, in a dream, I was
in the presence of B and some other people. He ran several meditation
groups, I was told. My best friend from highschool [a feeling-type, more
feminine, vulnerable and naive] sat to the left of me. He had been
examined by a 'doctor', had an 'open and bright aura' and was considered
ready by B to engage with him in an intimate process to 'utilize' his
meditative potentials. B then lies down beside him [that is to the left of
me] in a very inviting and appealing manner.
Of course, you might
speculate on the level of B's deliberation and intent behind all this. I
am sure that a special energetic design is operative, but there need not
be conscious action by B in all cases. This is a tradition characterized
my magic, manipulation and illusion, and these forces are effective in any
situation of merging energy-structures. Ultimately, they reside in the
corresponding energy-field, situated in the astral and mental realms. In a
lucid dream I experienced this connection. I witnessed a commentary to the
personal development of B in his early years of becoming a guru. He was
trying to impress people by jumping into the street from an alley with a
preliminary run, showing his power and virility. They thought he was
‘flying' across the street. Then one of his pupils levitated. He stood out
in the air from the roof of a building nearby. I looked at the scenery
with no special appreciation, but then I was suddenly floating in the air
myself. I was moving up a mountain river in Tibet. But actually it was not
a river, but a stream of karma or karmic energy, loaded with information.
I came up to a shrine, high up in the mountain. This shrine was dedicated
to a Tibetan saint and recluse, who had lived there. I went inside the
shrine and had a feeling of awe. There was a Tibetan altar and a figure of
the saint, and then the figure became alive. Books of gold, written in
Sanskrit, expired from his mouth, but again I felt no appreciation. I
communicated to him that I was a Christian, and this was all strange and
irrelevant to me. Then he gave me a small book to read, one of the
Upanishads, that I was more familiar with.
The first scene is
typical of B. He was always very competitive with men in a boyish manner
when feeling secure and having the upper hand [primarily with his male
disciples], and mentally, when it was men of status he wished to impress
and conquer. This desire and impulse to demonstrate power and virility,
and also the playful attitude, was very characteristic. Perhaps it can
best be explained from a personal masculine inferiority-complex in
combination with the normal character-defense of the introverted
mentalist. Anyhow, the energetic connection with the superior energy-field
is clearly demonstrated, and so are the dimensions between the personal
sphere of action and motivation and the transcendent one. When dealing
with B, you were not doubting the fact that you confronted quite
extraordinary and collective forces. In another lucid dream with him I
attracted a powerful demon as big as an apartment house. I balanced this
creature through a square of floating reddish energy while screaming and
frightened faces hurled at me. The pressure was immense. Now, you must not
forget that what stirs in the dimensions of the collective is eo ipso
collective and not personal, whether it be positive or negative forces.
When it comes to demonology though, Tibetan Buddhism shows a strange
predilection. Instead of working through such structures adhering to the
ethical restriction by purifying the ego, the approach seems to be an
integration of the energy, getting in control of it for the purpose of
power. Hence the submission of the demon by the sorcerer and his crazy
obsession with seeking out demons to conquer, as for example seen in the
hagiography of Padmasamhbava. This implies an intensification of the
personal shadow like in the aforementioned ‘gnome'-figure and is perhaps
the explanation for the dominant, self-assertive and ‘personal' magnetism
of B. The mental attitude of non-differentiation in dealing with any
phenomenon or dual structure, even if it be extremely negative, produces
in fact a subtle obsession with it through the identification with a
‘mastering of the evil'. By this procedure you are bypassing evil without
understanding it as a projection from your own egoism due to the law of
attraction. B considers himself a ‘master of god and evil' in this sense.
And he has been advising people to integrate their shadow following the
same principle. If, for example, a person showed exaggerated
law-abidingness, B has in fact given the person the advice to steal
something! And in a commentary to the Hevajra-tantra's familiar
prescription of digesting meat from a human body, B says that: ‘The
consciousness has to decide to look at all it's tendencies and troublesome
urges: Incest, violence, bloodthirstiness, etc. .. behind sexual craving
lies deep down a cannibalistic impulse. The lover wishes in the core of
his physical desire to own, fuse with and consume the loved one.' The
question is, if this is sound or insane honesty? Is it showing a general
feature of man's appetite, or is it the disturbed character of the
invasion-fearing mentalist, or is it traditional magic?
The principle of
consumption is a unifying one. There is the magic spell of polarity, using
the yang to bind peoples' yin and overpower them with the force of a
collective energy-field, which they now have to support. There is the
integration of negative structures, turning them operative and useful.
This is the ‘tantric strategy of inversion', described by the Trimondis
and openly confessed to by B as the ‘transformation and refining of the
unhandy energies from the inner waste-areas of the psyche.' The
energy-field functions as a converter of fear and aggression absorbing
even these energies from all over, and by such skilled means you can even
change your opponent, or people you intimidate or hurt, into an unceasing
supplier of energy. There is the provoked projection of energy from people
either through manipulation, false appearances or interventions in the
dimension of energy or the collective unconscious. And then of course
there is the open request and acceptance of voluntary contributions from
many adherents and sympathizers, which is okay, except when generated by
negative procedures such as coercion [social pressure], deceiving, and
lying. From the outset, B disguised his real affiliations, intentions, and
sectarian tendencies under a mask of universality and inclusiveness, which
he still maintains in public.
Now, if you look at
the economy of energy associated with the Center and the activity of B,
there is a tremendous imbalance. Despite his claim of all the love and
wisdom that flows down and out from this ‘Master-field', the fact remains
that it consumes people's energy, work, and effort, with or without their
knowing consent. B was quite explicit about this, when he once told us
that many had to sacrifice their energy to the benefit of the few in order
to raise them up. Later, some of this energy is reverted to the many, but
now under control of the ruling body. This is a general theory of
evolution insisted on by B, placing himself at the top of the pyramid.
When he proclaimed it, I realized the social damage, and soon after left
the Center. In retrospect, B was very calculated and conscious with
respect to the balance of payments. He didn't approve of voluntary work
being offered to anyone outside the Center. And it is rather obvious that
people who join the Center lose their independent flow and status. They
become subservient to B and undertake all kinds of assignments for him,
write out his books and so on. Quietly they deflate due to his
discouragements, in return for which he inflates further. Remember B's
remark: ‘If only people knew who I am!' In his own eyes, he is so
important and mighty that he completely outshines everybody else. This is
evident from statements like: ‘Make a great woman out of her, but do it
slowly', in reference to a woman, who had considerable success when she
joined the Center. B was the ‘maker', the producer. He assigned people
their roles, walk-on parts in his splendid scenery. And people gladly and
gratefully traded their sound personality and work for these gimmicks and
fancy identities. So in reality the Center was a kind of black hole,
drawing in and accumulating all kinds of energy, inward and upward, God
knows where. There was a constant pull of gravity and a resistance to
releasing or letting go. Perhaps this is also a general feature of
ownership-lamaism, that there is denial and resentment when people want
out. Once I had this illustrating dream: I was hiding in a wood of poles
or sticks. I tried to stay invisible, but there was a search going on for
me. Then I found myself standing in a long line of people, waiting to be
received in a sort of audience by a little boy, who was dressed like a
distinguished lama in golden robes and surrounded by older lamas, all
Tibetans. The scenery took place in a rice-field, and the people lined up
waded in water to their knees. I didn't want to pay any homage to this
lama and left the line, only to be pursued by two monks who attacked me. I
was forced to the ground, tied up on some kind of couch, and subsequently
subjected to ongoing and extreme torture.
Could this violent
imagery highlight any structuring of energy in the total make-up of the
Center and B? Well, you might compare the following quotations: ‘After
having announced the intention to the guru and accomplished beings,
perform with mercy the rite of killing of one who is a non-believer of the
teachings of the Buddha and the detractors of the gurus and Buddhas. One
should emanate such a person, visualizing his form as being upside-down,
vomiting blood, trembling and with hair in disarray. Imagine a blazing
needle entering his back. Then, by envisioning the seed-syllable of the
Fire element in his heart, he is killed instantly.' [Farrow G. W. and
Menon, I., The Concealed Essence of the Hevajra Tantra with the Commentary
Yogaratnamala, Delhi 1992, s. 276.] / ‘Obviously in the "Hevajra Tantra"
an old authority speaks, who inwardly knows what he is talking about. The
"Hevajra Tantra" is one of the basic practices, which Padmasambhava
brought to Tibet in the eight century. The text and the practice is
consequently underlying the Nyingmapa- and Kagüupta-lineages. In the
reading of this treatise, I felt a deep recognition. A congenial world
opened up and I could breathe fully and freely.' [B in one of his
writings].
You must also
consider another psychological and social mechanism. The involvement with
B and the Center leaves no room for personal doubt, or you are out!
Likewise, the strict policy of "divide et impera," together with the
starvation of people's personal needs, and the overall negative balance of
energy, creates an environment where people are desperately clinging to
any positive identification and role. We are on the open sea with ice-cold
water, the Titanic is going down, people are in the water, and there are
not enough lifeboats. B sits behind the rudder in one of them. Not
everybody can be with him in the boat at the same time, and many will
never get saved. That's the mythology in which people firmly believe. And
then the ideology itself, seeking the rare condition of enlightenment
through the affiliation with a guru! The consequence is that everybody
strives for the uplifting experience of energy like young birds craving
for more food. There is a constant denial of negative experience or
anything that could jeopardize the ‘feeling good, being good'. Social
control is thus efficiently internalized. And during meditation, people
are on tenterhooks, crouching for a spring into higher consciousness or
whatever, drawing the focus of energy to themselves. If they succeed, they
automatically get the extra attention of everyone else. They inflate,
while the rest deflate. Sometimes you even suspect that B is able to
either direct or divert this mechanism through subtle signals,
reinforcement, discouragement or focusing. Because of all these features,
there is a constant projection of shadow outwards from the ‘saved' on the
‘lost'. The gravity-pull of the Center and the implosion of energy
produces depression at the perimeter. God knows what it creates in the
collective structures, when it reverberates through them! I'm afraid it is
nothing very pleasant!
Perhaps this is a
general characteristic of new-age meditation [especially in groups] in a
striving for and identification with the highest level of value. There is
a constant advocating of meditation as an instrument to improvement and
empowerment, making you feel better. A lot of measuring is going on to
prove and demonstrate this effect to the public, thus rendering, for
example, Buddhism a scientific discipline. I have been around meditators
for many years now, and I would surely estimate that the strongest effect
of meditation is placebo in terms of subtle identifications and feelings
of superiority in a social context [salvation, election, etc.], especially
when practiced in a sectarian environment. One must consider what is in
reality going on energetically during group meditation. When everyone
tries to get out of the personal shadow, where is the shadow then cast?
And of course this gets ever more complicated, if a person like B expands
himself energetically outward by means of group meditation. The
meditation-group becomes an amplifier and loudspeaker for the matrix that
underlies it. It is all very contemplative and silent on the outside, but
it is very noisy on the inside, and the interference is transmitted and
channeled in most cases. From a spiritual perspective, perhaps it was
better if people shouted during satsang and gave true expression to
everything that filled them now and here.
It is ironic that
the venerable Buddhist philosophy and practice, dedicated to the
overcoming of greed and clinging, is in fact contaminated with this
disease. The explanation for this could be the idea of a personal
surrender and the annihilation of the self. Emptying the natural
foundations for human life in a sacrifice to transcendent powers is
unhealthy and unrealistic. Greed continues and is aggravated. You then
reach the paradox of humble monks living in luxury with room service. In
the words of Jesus: ‘When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes
through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I
will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house
unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it
seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live
there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.'
[Matt. 12:43ff]
Perhaps it is now
the time to speculate on the real dynamics and structures of the
energy-field behind B and the Nyingmapa-tradition, assuming that B is not
encapsulated in a private fantasy, or in the grip of some other paranormal
spirit-agency. Of course, B himself refers to his legitimation from the
late Urgyen Tulku as the authority having confirmed his mission, but the
officiality of this I don't know anything about. Anyhow, for the sake of
argument, we adhere to B's own claims and descriptions of his energetic
background, and maintain that the coherence and coincidence of data
support our view of B as representative for this trade of lamaism.
The strategy and
mission of B is to gather a group of people who have the meditative
potential and karmic background to achieve a specific level of development
designated as a ‘self' [using a Jungian term]. This implies a certain
personal transparency and energetic sensitivity. Now B understands his own
position as being ahead of these people in development. He is an
‘operative self,' and has quite extraordinary prerequisites due to his
connection with Padmasambhava. He is a Tertön with access to a terma
concerning how to develop a ‘joint consciousness' in this group, rendering
the group open to collective levels of energy. In order to realize this,
the group must develop coherence in the different patterns of energy.
Through the build-up of ‘morphological resonance' by B scanning the energy
and formatting the group-meditation, the group becomes an efficient
amplifier and receiver. The balance of the group is sometimes
characterized as an equality [remember, everyone is supposed to have his
own original spiritual background and close karmic relationship with a
spiritual guide within different traditions, having the potential of
becoming a teacher on his own accord]. Or else the formula is that there
is a like-mindedness among the group-members [now suddenly people are no
longer on equal terms]. In reality of course the group is controlled and
dominated by B. He utilizes the increased level of energy to become even
more operant in his own fusing with the prevailing energy-field of his
root-guru Padmasambhava, while the rest of the group experience a
distortion of their own true spiritual affiliation and get sidetracked.
There never was any parity, parataxis or mutual respect.
Now after his
traineeship under Urgyen Tulku, B took the full step of becoming a guru
himself. He is now initiating people into the condition of Rigpa which he
experiences on a daily basis. Constantly he fuses with the energetic and
mental condition he describes as the ‘continuity of visions', meaning the
apparition in splendor of Padmasambhava and his consort Yeshe and so
forth, accompanied by light, bliss and information. He has thus achieved
the consciousness of unity [his interpretation of the fusion with these
structures of the energy-field, although this is evidently a dual
phenomenon], because this is the level behind the manifestation of the
guru, in which he from time to time submerges himself. So he is not in
need of the kick-starting group of selves any more. He is offering
individual persons the rare chance of having a ‘transmission' from a
realized human being, experiencing the identity of their consciousness
with his through the higher energy-field, and getting drawn closer into it
in dependence on B. People might think there is room for their individual
preference or affiliation with other spiritual traditions or figures, and
that somehow on the spiritual plane, or in the unity of consciousness, all
these structures come together in a balance. They believe B when he tells
them that his transmission and the employment of a modified version of
Dzogchen-meditation takes them even farther into their own spiritual
background, since his Rigpa-condition is a universal form of
consciousness. Well, they are very naive to say the least. Both the
condition of B, and the techniques deployed by him, bear the sign of a
specific matrix of energy, not to mention his professed values and
understanding of the human predicament, and this reality he admits to when
he claims that the Center has developed a genuine ‘teaching' of its own.
The mythology of the Center is that there is only one mountaintop and many
paths leading up to it. One of the most efficient is on B's roadmap - so
why don't you use that and take him as your guide? But in effect you are
lead astray on the mountain and left in a camp on the hillside. In a lucid
dream, I was again moving upwards in a mountain-land, perhaps Tibet. Then
I was near the top of this huge mountain and surrounded by the beautiful
sky. Unfortunately, I then strayed into a city on the hillside. It could
have been Lhasa. I saw the native houses. I was trying to find my way out
of the city in order to continue on to the top of the mountain, and after
a while I managed to get outside the city again and reach a spot where the
mountain and nature were again visible in the remote distance. But before
that, I experienced some other features. In Lhasa, many monks gathered
around a phallic structure of stone which bent down along the ground, and
I had to be careful not to bump against it. I was told that some of the
inhabitants studied an old language enthusiastically [Sanskrit or
Tibetan], which was in fact only an intermediate type [like Koiné compared
to Classic Greek]. Just outside Lhasa, I met a chain-gang of Westerners,
working as slaves on the construction and expansion of the city. Now,
that's quite another prospect!
It all depends on B
and the energy-field he focuses. There are four possibilities. Both are
genuine and for real, transmitting a quality of enlightenment or
spirituality. Then, if you fancy the tradition and the teacher, just go
ahead. Or the energy-field is genuine, but B is too much an egomaniac or
fantasist. Then you are in a tight spot. Or B is sincere and
well-intentioned, but the field is negative or in some way unbalanced.
Just get away! Or finally, both B and the energy-field are far from the
spiritual ideal and condition they are professed to embody. Run like hell!
But how are you to arbitrate between the four possibilities? Well, Jesus
said:
‘Watch out for false
prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are
ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick
grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree
bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear
bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit
you will recognize them.' [Matt. 7:15ff]
You have to realize
a strange and unsuspected reality. In the energetic dimension, that is in
the astral and mental realms [but not on the spiritual level], there exist
powerful entities you can perceive as fields or formations of energy. They
are highly developed in certain skills of manipulation of energy both on
the etheric, the astral, and the mental level. If you start to feed such a
structure with meaning, attention, and reverence, you get into a feedback
mechanism with it. There can also be other reasons and explanations behind
the confrontation with this kind of entity. The point is that the entity
is no more developed in terms of egolessness than humans. You could say it
is arrested in an earlier and primitive stage of collective evolution.
While the entity, through the feedback mechanism, is capable of producing
a vast and impressing variety of energetic phenomena like ideas, visions,
sensations, fantasies, agitations, energy-flushes and so forth, using
manipulative powers and illusion operating on the three above-mentioned
levels of energy, it has nothing to do with either enlightenment or true
spiritual light. This you can easily judge from the phenomenology with its
prevalence of manipulation and magic procedures, that is energy controlled
and directed at will, and its orientation towards power. Primitive
physical and social science, or early human culture - traditionally and
mythologically supposed to originate from gods or semi-gods - is exactly
what this entity amounts to. It has never incarnated itself in a single
human person, but it has been operative in different segments of time and
culture. On the other hand, people have affiliated themselves with these
entities in order to obtain guidance and power, and of course this
occupation with the gods and demons could in some instances verge on the
point of identification and obsession. Judge for yourself from the data if
Padmasambhava was a saint [realizing unselfishness] or a Maha Siddha, a
Grand Sorcerer, merging and fusing his energy-system and consciousness
with extra[terrestial]- ordinary powers? Notice among other things the
elaborate techniques and manipulations of energy [both on personal,
interpersonal, and collective levels] applied to reach this unnatural
condition. And judge from the fruits of his arduous efforts: They are
nothing but the skill of reconditioning himself and others in the same
strange condition. There's a real tautology for you! It is a
self-promoting conditionality with a constant deficit of energy seen from
the standpoint of individuality, spirituality and love. Whereto is all the
surplus of energy transported? It is upholding the astral and mental
energy-field, preventing it from collapse. Seemingly, the entity has no
other form of expression than the ‘continuity of visions' and reproduction
of itself in the tradition of lineage-holders. It is stuck in a loop of
incarnation, halfway incarnated here, halfway incarnated there, embodying
itself successively in individuals predisposed to depersonalize and fuse
with the entity. The medium is fantasy, illusion, self-deceit and lunacy.
If this
understanding is true, then B is in a predisposed, though self-induced,
technically engineered, continuous [both diachronic and synchronic] state
of personal unbalance on all levels of energy. You can describe it as a
hyper-delirium of spirit-possession, which leaves the mental faculty
intact and accumulates and sublimates body-energies. It is caused by
‘Padmasambhava's' manipulations and choke-formations on B's consciousness,
personality and character, done with his own consent and participation. In
fact, his own image of being a kind of vortex stretching up and down in
the collective layers, with himself as an intermediate link or a channel,
is rather accurate, but with a different opinion as to whom or what he is
hosting. I can therefore agree with the the following quotation from the
final conclusion of the Trimondi-book: ‘ When a western sadhaka is
prepared to sacrifice his "little self", he certainly does not have the
same understanding as the lamas of the "greater self" [the higher self or
Buddha consciousness] which the tantric philosophy and practices of
Vajrayana offers him as a spiritual goal. The Westerners believe that
enlightened consciousness still has something to do with a self. In
contrast, a teacher of Tantric Buddhism knows that the individual identity
of the pupil will be completely extinguished and replaced by a strictly
codified, culturally anchored army of gods. It is the Tibetan Buddhas,
herukas, Bodhisattvas, deities, demons [dharmapalas] and the
representatives of the particular guru lineages who take the place of the
individual pupil's consciousness. One must thus gain the impression that
an ‘exclusive club' of supernatural albeit culturally bounded beings [Buddhas,
Bodhisattvas, gods, etc.] has managed to survive by time and again
occupying human bodies anew [until these wear out]. Tibetan Buddhism is
not aimed at the enlightenment of individuals but rather at the continuing
existence of a culture of superhumans [yogis, gods] in the form of
possessed people [the pupils]. It is concerned here to perpetuate a
priestly caste that does not need to die because their consciousnesses can
be incarnated into the human bodies of their followers again and again.
This caste and their deities are considered sacrosanct. They live beyond
criticism. Their symbols, deeds, and history are set up as exemplary; they
are the cultural inheritance which may not be analyzed but must be taken
on blind faith by believers.'
The universal
formula of Buddhism is the ‘empty mind' and ‘emptiness of the reality of
phenomenon', releasing attachment and annihilating the personal self
[realizing its illusory character]. To vanquish selfishness and render the
personal self transparent for spiritual love is one thing; the cast of
egoism in the matrix of superhumanity and magic powers quite another. But
this is rarely understood by the seeking westerner due to his
individualistic, materialistic and mental approach, as I have tried to
point out in my criticism of individualism. He is easily impressed by
skills of energy-manipulation and finds them convincing, because they meet
his first and simple criterion of spirituality: anything out of the
ordinary scientific world-view and the familiar pattern of our culture.
Unfortunately, Christianity in its traditional interpretation has
neglected the reality of the spiritual and energetic dimensions and falls
short of these expectations. It has forgotten its ‘working agenda', and as
you can understand I'm very unhappy about this situation. It leaves the
Christian spirituality vulnerable to all kinds of falsification by Eastern
interpreters and new-age-leveling of spiritual differentiation. It makes
me sad to see how people in our society reach out for Eastern religions in
their spiritual search, because they can't find any useful and necessary
guidelines in our own tradition. So I write in order to highlight this
problem and render the words of Christ accessible in our time. And also to
make people closely aware of the completely different attitudes in Western
and Eastern spirituality and point out the incomparability of the
philosophy of life and man. I especially regret the education of man
promoted by Tibetan Buddhism, and I don't see how this patriarchal and
closed cultural-religious complex is in any way compatible with our own
values of freedom, equality, brotherhood and individuality.
I have seen the
senseless destruction of these values from the social organization of the
Center I was part of for some years. I have witnessed the treatment of
people not out of love for one's neighbor, but out of fixation with power.
And there is no doubt in my mind that the true explanatory context is
found in the social matrix of tantric lamaism, showing nothing but
emotional incompetence. Why doesn't it occur to everyone that the typical
lama is unexperienced with relationship and love affairs, one of the most
important institutions of human social life, except for his usage of
tantric consorts? How can he offer any guidance in interpersonal matters?
On the contrary, there is a real and imminent danger that his cultivation
of mental control and dismissing of mental content in reality involves
intellectual reduction and emotional debasement of the other, building on
his fear of powerlessness. Likewise, the patriarchal management of
sexuality in tantra involves secret partners and ritual mastery, denying
the other equality, position and respect. Seemingly, the male attainment
of 'enlightenment' is reached at the expense of someone else, a horrific
idea, quite acceptable to the Tibetan Buddhist himself, who thinks women
are of inferior karma. These Vajrayana techniques of mastery of the other
[sexuality, evil, incarnation], thus generating energy for enlightenment,
are a risky flirtation. The energy is drawn out from the phenomenon
without any true integration or offering. The excitement is thereafter
preserved and contained in the non-attached [non-involved] condition,
forming a bond, not a resolution. Perhaps there is even an ongoing
energy-transportation for the use of sublimation. I suspect that this
unloving relational pattern has had conditioning consequences of a very
deep nature and forms the energy-exchange and social dynamic of the lamas.
As described in the case of B and Gyatrul, there appears in and around the
personality a kind of magnetic draw or suction, accepting and receiving
nothing but appraisal and offering. Of course, this is partly culturally
determined since the lamas are worshipped unconditionally from their
childhood after the initial traumatism of bonding [being removed from
their mother]. But I'm sure that the conditioning of the energy-system
through tantric techniques also plays an important role. The male initiant
is 'sucking' energy out of the partner in many ways. Just the fact that he
is involved in intimacy and relation without the offer of love and mutual
respect, but with the purpose of preserving, extracting and potentiating
energy for his own expansion, is doing harm, ennobling and raising
himself, debasing the other. But what about all the other bizarre
technicalities and energetic tricks involved in his trade? Is he not
paving a sort of food chain for himself through an exploitive circulation
with the world of his fellow men? He is rebounding into 'light' on the
'negative' other, never involving with or integrating the otherness in
himself, showing no true solidarity with the other, and reducing the other
to emptiness. Thus he casts the shadow twice on the other. He is much like
those who take an advantage of poor refugees and steal their last money.
This character description also applies to B in many respects and his
conditioning of both himself and his adherents.
All in all there is
a need for spiritual differentiation and reevaluation of values and ideas,
starting with a sound criticism of the Buddhist notion of enlightenment,
which has exercised such an attraction and a magic spell on Westerners
over the last decades. We have to understand that we might be looking at
nothing but a heavy cultural, mental, behavioral, and energetic
conditioning! Buddhist enlightenment is a condition of energy and mind,
and a product of elaborate techniques, that requires a turning away from
life and people. It's ultimate goal is to get out of here or disappear as
a person, which is called liberation. But what are its products? The whole
system of enlightenment seems to be negative, like a bank that accumulates
deposits endlessly. The purpose of enlightenment is to reproduce itself
and in the end we all disappear? But why are we here in the first place?
And what do we really know about this extreme condition or conditioning?
From where do we get true standards to evaluate its benefit and
expediency? Perhaps it's a total misunderstanding of life. Perhaps the
enlightened lamas are all sent back to earth immediately with this
message: 'Live the life you escaped'. Or they could be trapped in their
own energy-construction and never reach the level of the soul, lingering
around in an obscure dimension of energy they mistake for true light, not
fully incarnated or disincarnated, thereby producing what they term a
conscious rebirth. We must not forget that this is all philosophy. There
is no absolute and objective criterion to verify the claims of
transcendental and universal truth brought forward by Buddhism. So, in
conclusion to this discussion, I once again wish to draw attention to the
teachings of Jesus, forming the basis of our longstanding societal and
personal value system. Let us not shape society or life from the ideal of
enlightenment found in Tibetan Buddhism.
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