'He seemed to lift himself from the ground proceeding by leaps. She spent 14 years in Tibet in the early part of this century, and observed one of these 'runners' bounding along like a ball. One such report of lung-gom, a training that allowed adepts to overcome gravity and reduce their body weight, so enabling them to move at astonishing speeds, was written by the British theosophist Alexandra David-Neel. Especially after the closure of Lhasa, which became 'the forbidden city' to the Europeans in the 19th century, Tibet also nurtured among Westerners a climate of belief in which they would readily accept miracles.īuddhist lamas and mystics were credited with extraordinary powers, and many a Western traveler has come back with reports of having personally witnessed unexplainable phenomena. This circumstance helped foster a highly spiritual society ruled from the monastery-citadel Potala at Lhasa by the Dalai Lama. Until being overtaken by the Chinese in 1950, the high plateau of Tibet could claim to be the remotest place on earth.

' The question still remains: Did this hidden paradise actually exist or was its reality wholly spiritual?

The lama answered: 'It is the mighty heavenly domain. In 1928 he asked a lama whether Shambhala was a real place. The Russian-born traveler Nicholas Roerich records in his Shambhala (1930) several visits to Tibet. Shambhala, another name for Shangri-La, was reputed to lie in or north of Tibet, where seemingly impassable mountains enclosed secret valleys that were both fertile and verdurous. In Russia, it was said that if the path of the Tartar hordes was followed all the way back to Mongolia, Belovodye would be found, where holy men lived apart from the world in the land of the White Waters.

Belief in it was once wide-spread-in China, the Kun Lun Mountains were rumored to contain a valley where immortals live in perfect harmony, while in Indian tradition there was a place called Kalapa, north of the Himalayas, where lived 'perfect people.' Early Buddhist writings call it Chang Shambhala and describe it as a source of ancient wisdom. It may be based on traditions long current in the Far East of a hidden paradise. He retired as a Principal Defense Scientist and his specialty in High Altitude Physiology and Medicine took him to remote Himalayan areas, only to be mystified by a sheath of preservation, a place that stood the test of reckless time.Īs with the other utopias, Lost Horizon is perhaps not a pure invention. He looked into my eyes and said ‘I believe in Shangri – La, It does exist.’ It struck me so strange because I harbor the same feelings till today. Lost Horizon written by James Hilton was published in 1933.After reading the book I had asked my uncle, the reasons for it being so special. My uncle, a biochemist at Armed Forces Medical College, Pune presented my mother this book, a book which has been his favorite since its publication.

Strange story tibet mystifies