Discovering the Lost Horizon of Shangri-La

Eminent Russian writer and globetrotter Ferdinand Ossendowski has called Shambhala or Shangri-La by many names: an earthly paradise and an abode of peace and enlightenment, covering the stretches of Tibet, China and Mongolia. During his China tour, Ossendowski claimed to have noticed times when men and beasts on the walk across Eurasian valleys paused, silent and immobile, as though listening. Herds of horses, sheep and cattle stood transfixed and Mongol guides prostrated themselves on the ground praying. Speaking with Buddhist monks and lamas about the traditions associated with the lands and religious beliefs of the Buddhist monasteries, there was one story he said he encountered everywhere in Eurasia: he called it the “Kingdom of Agharti”.
According to the legend of Shambhala (Sanskrit) or Shangri La in the Chinese language < http://www.mindsabroad.com/GENERAL/School_Intro.htm >, Agharti is said to be a mysterious underground kingdom situated somewhere underneath the Asiatic landmass and linked to other continents by a lattice of tunnels. Partly natural and partly constructed by warriors of this subterranean kingdom, these passageways have been the thread of contact with foreign lands outside China since time immemorial. Guarding the doorways of this vast storehouse of secret knowledge are cryptic maps and sacred Buddhist texts. The exact location and the means of entry are said to be known though only to a handful number of high leaders of the cult.
James Hilton, in his 1933 classic Lost Horizons, is believed to have modeled his fictional trans-Tibetan utopia on this legendary place between the Kunlun mountain ranges. While there are engaging fables and differences in opinion about the actual location of this ethereal land, Western explorers and Sinologists have constantly sought to discover the golden city of Shambhala over the past centuries, eventually ending in heartbreaking failures. However, the culmination of the attempts of these explorers is today’s "Shangri-La," which, like El Dorado, signifies an unattainable goal.
Hilton is believed to have read the journals of Évariste Régis Huc, a Catholic missionary who had toured China, Tibet and Mongolia in the nineteenth century. Before commencing his China tour, he trained to become a missionary at a Lazarist seminary and study Chinese < http://www.mindsabroad.com/StudyAbroad/why-study-chinese.htm > languages. The Abbé, a close similar to the character of the ageless High Lama in the fictional work Lost Horizons, was also a missionary who had trained at Luxembourg before his China travels.
Central to the idea of Shangri-La is a mountain that is often represented in sacred diagrams of Tibetan Buddhist religious wisdom. Many Hindu temples, including Angkor Wat, the principal temple of Angkor in Cambodia, have been built in symbolic representation of the mountainr
The quest for this exotic paradise has given rise to an idea that the mythical land does exist in the realm of physical reality. Following travelers’ and enthusiasts’ claim that Zhongdian County in the Deqing prefecture of Southwest China’s Yunnan Province has striking similarities to the idyllic paradise of James Hilton’s Shangri La, the Chinese government approved Zhongdian’s request for a name change to Shangri-La in the summer of 2002. Surrounded by icy mountains, lakes and gorges, this region has evolved into a popular tourist destination even among the Chinese in China < http://www.mindsabroad.com/GENERAL/Other-Recommended-Trips.htm >. The Meili Xue Shan or Meili Snow Mountain to the Northwest is one of its major attractions. Kawagebo the highest point of the mountain is one of the most sacred mountains for Tibetan Buddhists as the spiritual home of a warrior god which pre-existed Buddhism's arrival in Tibet.