Tales from the Island of Serendip

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Ironically, Andrade had no conception of it's meaning. Indeed he typically displayed nothing but contempt for the various eastern religions he encountered. (He was a champion of the Inquisition in Goa where he thought nothing of whipping sadhus who dared to cross his path.)

The Tsaparang mission was not a success. Brother Manuel Marques, who had accompanied Andrade on his initial mission was still there in 1642 but by 1650 the mission was abandoned. There were several reasons for failure. There had always been opposition from the Jesuits in Goa and those sent to Tibet after Andrade's death lacked his vision and vigor. The perceived favoritism towards the Christians was viewed negatively by the Buddhists of Tsaparang, and in 1830, upon the departure of the Jesuits, the locals cajoled the king of Ladakh to invade, ultimately leading to the demise of the kingdom.

Rediscovered in Calcutta in the 19th century, Andrade's account was republished in 1926 under the title Discovery of Tibet, and Hilton's Lost Horizon, published seven years later, obviously owes much to this work.

"Nowhere has the life of Buddha been represented with so many details, with such a richness of scenes and with such a movement as here at Tsaparang. These frescoes have to be singled out as works of art. … Still above, the Buddha standing with the pindapatra in his right hand, indicates his resolution to deliver the famous first sermon. He starts walking towards Sarnath and en route meets the ajivaka Upagana, here represented with the ascetic stick: it is to him that he reveals his proposal to go to Banares to preach the law. The scene of preaching is, in fact, represented on the following panel. The Buddha sits on a throne covered by a rich canopy, with his hands in the attitude of the preaching mudra. On the basement of the throne are the traditional symbols of this culminating moment in the life of the Saint of the Sakyas namely, in the middle, the wheel representing, according to ancient symbolism, the first preaching; and on both sides two deer, reminding of the park actually called “the Deer Park”, where the famous ceremony was pronounced. Around him, in the act of devoted concentration and kneeling as a mark of homage, is a numerous crowd of every kind of creature: garuda above, nagas slightly below, gandharva and kinnaras, and then deities guided by Brahma and ascetics. The five emaciated yogins praying in the foreground possibly reproduce his first disciples."

Giuseppe Tucci

When the German-born Lama Anagarika Govinda (Anagarika means "homeless") made a pilgrimage to Tsaparang in 1948 he was astounded to find the art of this lost kingdom had scarcely been affected by the passing centuries.

They represent some of the greatest Buddhist art yet surviving, though many works were damaged during the later cultural revolution.

Fascinatingly, they include paintings chronicling the construction and consecration of the temple, in which it is as if the long lost kingdom returns to life. Musicians celebrate the completion of the temple. There are princesses, visiting dignitaries from Kashmir wearing turbans, and artisans hauling the building's huge timber beams into place with the help of animals.

His book, The Way of the White Clouds, contains a moving account of his visit.

"While emerging from a gorge and turning the spur of a mountain - we suddenly beheld the lofty castles of the ancient city of Tsaparang, which seemed to be carved out of the solid rock of an isolated, monolithic mountain peak, we gasped with wonder and could hardly believe our eyes".

"One of the caves proved to be the entrance to a tunnel; that led upwards in a wide curve inside the rock, from time to time lit up by narrow openings in the outer rock-wall. With a beating heart I followed the tunnel, climbing higher and higher … I stepped into the light of sun again and realized that I was standing on the very summit of Tsaparang."

This idea of a lost kingdom somewhere in the Himalayas has also circulated in Tibetan Buddhist teaching for centuries, and may well itself have been told at the court of Akbar. The name Shambala first appears in a text known as the Kalachakra tantra - or Wheel of Time teaching. The Kalachakra doctrine belongs to the highest level of Buddhist Mahayana teaching, and those who follow it can reach enlightenment in just a number of years rather than a whole lifetime.

In this doctrine, the place named Shambala appears as a mystical conception, a spiritual rather than a geographical goal. The Buddhist Kalachakra tale tells of a land behind the Himalayas, ruled by a gracious King Sucandra, who was the first to learn the Kalachakra doctrine from Buddha Sakyamuni himself.

"In Shambala, the people lived in peace and harmony, faithful to the principles of Buddhism, and the concepts of war and sorrow were unknown."

"Shambala is a magic land, unlike any place on earth, and rests in the shadow of a magnificent white mountain." (Mount Kailash, sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists, lies to the east of Tsaparang.)

"The land of Shambala lies in a valley. It is only approachable through a ring of snow peaks like the petals of a lotus ... At the centre is a nine-storey crystal mountain which stands over a sacred lake, and a palace adorned with lapis, coral, gems and pearls. Shambala is a kingdom where humanity's wisdom is spared from the destructions and corruptions of time and history, ready to save the world in its hour of need."

Kalachakra tantra

Whatever its historical basis, Shambala 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.

"Nowadays, no one knows where Shambala is. Although it is said to exist, people cannot see it, or communicate with it in an ordinary way. Some people say it is located in another world, others that it is an ideal land, a place of the imagination. Some say it was a real place, which cannot now be found. Some believe there are openings into that world which may be accessed from this. Whatever the truth of that, the search for Shambala traditionally begins as an outer journey that becomes a journey of inner exploration and discovery."

The Dalai Lama

The sacred mountain of Dolpo is called She-Re Drug da, which translates as "Dolpo Crystal Mountain of The Dragon's Roar".

 

 

That is stunning!

It's a log time since I've see it but I always liked Capra's version of Lost Horizon.

Just catching up, but thanks again for a lovely stroll down Memory Lane with regard to Nepal and Tibet.

 

I spent a couple of months in both places in 1992, and your pics of Nepal, especially, dragged memories back to the forebrain.

 

I think it should be pointed out that it is illegal to climb Macchapucchre AT ALL.

 

It's forbidden, because it's sacred.

 

The "Fish Tail" peak is noticeable all over Nepal (not from Kathmandu - get on down to Pokhara) and truly beautiful.

 

Great thread. Keep it up (thumbs u <--- the good one

Thanks for the encouragement guys - it's always appreciated!

Informative, fascinating and much appreciated that your sharing this knowledge with us. I'm going to have to sit down for a few hours and dig through this thread. Great stuff!

Just catching up, but thanks again for a lovely stroll down Memory Lane with regard to Nepal and Tibet.

 

I spent a couple of months in both places in 1992, and your pics of Nepal, especially, dragged memories back to the forebrain.

 

I think it should be pointed out that it is illegal to climb Macchapucchre AT ALL.

 

It's forbidden, because it's sacred.

 

The "Fish Tail" peak is noticeable all over Nepal (not from Kathmandu - get on down to Pokhara) and truly beautiful.

Although I was a student in India for two years back in the early '80's I never managed to get to either Nepal or Tibet - maybe one day!

You are quite right about Machhapuchhre - though therein hangs a tale. In 1957 a British team led by Jimmy Roberts did climb to within 150 feet of the top - a height of 22,793 feet. But having promised not to set foot on the summit, they turned back.

Since then, the mountain has been declared sacred, and it is now closed to climbers.

In 1926 Hugh Ruttledge had seriously planned to climb Mount Kailash, the most sacred mountain in the Hindu, Buddhist, Bön and Jain religions. Fortunately he ran out of time.