incorporation of the latter into the former, of the feminine
into the masculine. In their detailed research on this
subject, available on the internet as an extensive text under
the title ‘The Shadow of the Dalai Lama’, Victor and
Victoria Trimondi argue that the very essence of both early
Buddhism and the ‘Diamond Vehicle’ of Tibetan Buddhist
Tantrism (Tantrayana) is ‘androcentrism’ – the subjugation,
subordination and sacrifice of the divine feminine to the divine
masculine. They themselves spell out their ‘core hypothesis’
as follows: “The mystery of Tantric Buddhism consists in
the sacrifice of the feminine principle and the manipulation
of erotic love in order to attain universal androcentric
power.” Rather than seeking to summarise the evidence
they provide for this core hypothesis in all its historical
detail, I will cite here only their own amplification and
summation of its aims and claims, and the conclusion they
draw from it:
- The “sacrifice of the feminine principle” is from the
outset a fundamental event in the teachings of Buddha. It
corresponds to the Buddhist rejection of life, nature and
the soul. In this original phase, the bearer of androcentric
power is the historical Buddha himself. - In Hinayana Buddhism, the “Low Vehicle”, the
“sacrifice of the feminine” is carried out with the help of
meditation. The Hinayana monk fears and dreads women,
and attempts to escape them. He also makes use of