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Nicholas Roerich, Song of Shambhala: Thang-La (1943)

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala (also spelled Shambala or Shamballa; Tibetan: bde 'byung, pron. De-jung) is a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia. It is mentioned in various ancient texts, including the Kalachakra Tantra and the ancient texts of the Zhang Zhung culture which predated Tibetan Buddhism in western Tibet. The Bön scriptures speak of a closely related land called Olmolungring. Whatever its historical basis, Shambhala gradually came to be seen as a Buddhist Pure Land, a fabulous kingdom whose reality is visionary or spiritual as much as physical or geographic.

It was in this form that the Shambhala myth reached the West, where it influenced non-Buddhist as well as Buddhist spiritual seekers — and, to some extent, popular culture in general. he Western fascination with Shambhala has often been based upon fragmented accounts of the Kalachakra tradition, or outright fabrications. Tibet was largely closed to Westerners until the twentieth century, and so what information was available about the tradition of Shambhala was haphazard at best. The first information that reached western civilization about Shambhala came from the Portuguese Catholic missionary Estêvão Cacella, who had heard about Shambala (which they transcribed as "Xembala"), and thought it was another name for Cathay or China. In 1627 they headed to Tashilhunpo, the seat of the Panchen Lama and, discovering their mistake, returned to India. The Hungarian scholar Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, writing in 1833, provided the first geographic account of "a fabulous country in the north...situated between 45' and 50' north latitude".

During the 19th century, Theosophical Society founder HP Blavatsky alluded to the Shambhala myth, giving it currency for Western occult enthusiasts. Blavatsky, who claimed to be in contact with a Great White Lodge of Himalayan Adepts, mentions Shambhala in several places without giving it especially great emphasis. (The Mahatmas, we are told, are also active around Shigatse and Luxor.) Blavatsky's Shambhala, like the headquarters of the Great White Lodge, is a physical location on our earth, albeit one which can only be penetrated by a worthy aspirant.

Later esoteric writers further emphasized and elaborated on the concept of a hidden land inhabited by a hidden mystic brotherhood whose members labor for the good of humanity. Alice A. Bailey has Shamballa (her spelling) to be an extra-dimensional or spiritual reality on the etheric plane, a spiritual centre where the governing deity of Earth, Sanat Kumara, dwells as the highest avatar of the Planetary Logos of Earth, and is said to be an expression of the Will of God. Nicholas and Helena Roerich led a 1924-1928 expedition aimed at Shambhala. Apparently inspired by Theosophical lore, Soviet agent Yakov Blumkin led two Tibetan expeditions to discover Shambhala, in 1926 and 1928. Similarly, Heinrich Himmler and Rudolf Hess sent a German expedition to Tibet in 1930, and then again in 1934-35, and in 1938-39. Some later occultists, noting the Nazi link, view Shambhala (or the closely-related underground realm of Aghartha) as a source of negative manipulation by an evil (or amoral) conspiracy. The "Shangri-La" of James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon may have been inspired by the Shambhala myth (as well as then-current National Geographic articles on Eastern Tibet).

Many New Age writers, notably James Redfield, have written about Shambhala. Chögyam Trungpa used the "Shambhala" name for certain of his teachings, practices, and organizations (e.g. Shambhala Training, Shambhala International, Shambhala Publications) aimed at American Vajrayana practitioners. In Trungpa's view, Shambhala has its own independent basis in human wisdom that does not belong to East or West, or to any one culture or religion. Shambhala has been appropriated in a variety of modern comic books including The Shadow, Prometheus, 2000 AD, Gargoyles #6, and Warlord. The American rock band Three Dog Night recorded the song spelled 'Shambala' in 1973 track 5 on the album cyan. Partial lyrics include "Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain with the rain in Shambala." Written by Daniel Moore.

Thomas Pynchon includes Shambhala in his 2006 novel Against the Day. In his portrayal, Shambhala is an underground city and the subject of intense searches by European powers in the early part of the 20th century, which include underground desert ships.

Source

From the book Invisible eagle by Alan Baker:
cassiopaea.org