by natha.net

There once were many texts that described Shambala, but most of them have been lost or were destroyed together with the libraries of the devastated monasteries.

 But the lamas (Tibetan monks) say that the esoteric aspect of Shambala was never described in texts, as it was an oral tradition, transmitted from the spiritual master to the disciple.

The Tibetan texts vaguely place Shambala in the North of Bodh Gaya, a city situated in the East of Benares, where there is the tree under which Buddha received final enlightenment. Therefore, the place is symbolic.

But if the many Tibetan routes are very confused, the description of the Holy Kingdom is almost the same in all texts:
A first chain of high mountains covered with glaciers form the exterior, inaccessible fortifications covered by clouds. The daring peaks form a huge bright crown around the Holy Kingdom. One cannot pass over these peaks. Some Tibetan lamas say that one must master levitation to be able to pass them, and others say that there are some secret underground passages that allow the entrance.

Inside this circle, a huge natural mandala rises to the sky, formed by mountains even higher than the first ones, separated from them by rivers and green plateaus. This ensemble has the shape of a blossoming lotus flower.

Each petal of the lotus flower has 12 principalities therefore we have ninety six small kingdoms. A third chain of immaculate icy mountains surrounds the centre of this huge lotus flower.

This is where Kapala, the capital of Shambala, is found. In the East and West of the city, two half-moon shaped lakes reflect the glaciers of the peaks. In the South there is a park with sandal trees. In the capital of Shambala there is a huge mandala created by the first king, which contains all the secret teachings of the doctrine, the entire traditional wisdom of the world. Finally, in the centre of the Kapala capital there is the castle of the king priest Kulika. This castle is like a piece of jewellery made of gold, pearls and precious stones, which evoke the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem.

In reality, it is about a world in the subtle level. The clairvoyants who contemplated the palace of Shambala were astounded by its beauty. As spiritual Master, the King of the World, spiritual sovereign of the subtle energetic flows that sustain cosmic order and people’s lives, Kulika from Shambala leads people’s spiritual evolution on Earth.

At the exit from China, the Silk Road towards the west split into two paths that met in Kachangar, in this way avoiding the deadly desert in Taklamakan.

In this deserted part of Central Asia, one of the most mysterious parts of the planet, Asian traditions kept their legends and dreams, despite the industrial development of communist China. For a certain number of lamas, the mysterious kingdom of Shambala is there.

This area has been famous for a long time: blossoming and prosperous cities developed in the oasis nourished by the waters descending from the neighbouring mountains. They vanished together with the drought that gradually took over that land. Archaeological diggings revealed vestiges of evolved civilizations, such as the one from Khotan, researched by Sven Hedin, as well as important libraries, like for example the one in Touen-hang. Beyond the Gobi desert one can still find the ruins of the Karakorum fortress, the capital of Genghis Khan’s huge empire. China’s ancient traditions place the Jade Mountain, where the immortals used to live, in the same place. In Hindu mythology, the mystic mountain Meru, symbolic centre of the world, is placed there. Indra, the king of Gods, lives there, in his palace made of precious stones.This place should not be mistaken for Mount Kailash, an important place for pilgrimage.

In the same place, in the north of their country, the Tibetans have placed – and some still do - the secret kingdom of Shambala, where the great almighty spiritual bodhisattva, the King of the World, lives (a bodhisattva is a being that reached supreme realization, but out of selfless sacrifice, he continues to remain in the manifestation, in order to help other beings to evolve).

 “The land of the wise men” is also indicated on a map from the 17th century, published in Anvers by the Catholic authorities. Csoma de Koros, Hungarian philologist of Romanian origin, who spent 4 years in a Buddhist monastery in Tibet, from 1827 to 1830, indicates the geographic position of Shambala as being between 45 and 50 degrees north latitude, above the river Syr Daria.

There are a few specific Tibetan flags, representing the land of Shambala. These are decorated with artistic and prophetical images that describe Shambala as the centre of an oasis surrounded by mountains covered with snow. The waters of a river or of a lake bathe the Sacred Land. This positioning explains one of the names of the Land of the Gods: “The Island of Shambala”.

 An encompassing image of the mysterious land of Shambala is offered in a letter addressed by the venerable Mahatma Morya to A.P. Sinett in 1881, published in 1926 in London:
“At a certain spot not to be mentioned to outsiders, there is a chasm spanned by a frail bridge of woven grasses and with a raging torrent beneath. The bravest member of your Alpine clubs would scarcely dare to venture the passage, for it hangs like a spider's web and seems to be rotten and impassable. Yet it is not; and he who dares the trial and succeeds - as he will if it is right that he should be permitted -- comes into a gorge of surpassing beauty of scenery - to one of our places and to some of our people, of which and whom there is no note or minute among European geographers. At a stone's throw from the old Lamasery stands the old tower, within whose bosom have gestated generations of Bodhisattvas.”  [The Mahatma Letters; letter #29]

Another source of information about the land of Shambala is the writings of doctor Lao Tsin, published at the end of 1920, in Shanghai. In one of the most important passages of his narrations, he gives many details about the difficulties of the trip, done together with the Nepalese yogis, regarding the crossing of the desert and of the high plateaus of the Valley. There he found a group of very advanced yogis. The descriptions of the activities, rituals, laboratories, temples are strikingly similar to the description of the same place, coming from other sources. He speaks about many miraculous scientific experiments done there and about the complex manifestation of the remote psychic and telepathic force.

New aspects of the Land of the wise men are given in other writings:
“This distant region is full of wonders. The mysterious Emperor who leads it has a pure emerald sceptre. In front of his palace there is a magic mirror, in which the sovereign can observe all the events that appear in any place of his kingdom but also in any area of the universe."
“The flying dragons” rapidly transport people through the air. An “potion of truth” purifies any person that takes it, offering her spiritual discernment. This is the reason why impure beings do not dare and cannot approach the Kingdom.”
The country’s greatest attraction is “the Well of Eternal Youth”. If men or women wish to become young again, it is enough for them to imagine a period of their youth and then to drink three times from the well. Illness or old age disappears and they regain their youth. It is said that priest John himself prolonged his life to the patriarchal age of 562.   

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