|
THE WAY TO SHAMBHALA |
|
by Edwin Bernbaum, Ph.D. Excerpt from "The Way to Shambhala" The traveler to Shambhala seeks not just a King, but also a special place, a sacred country. Like the Children of Israel in the biblical story of the Exodus, he journeys across a wilderness to a promised land. In the Bible, this promised land is a land of freedom, the end of a journey out of slavery in Egypt. But before they are allowed to enter it, the Children of Israel must, through their years of wandering in the deserts of Sinai, become a free people; a new generation that trusts in God and obeys his laws must arise. In a similar way, the traveler to Shambhala must leave his old self behind and attain a certain degree of trust and inner freedom before he can reach his destination. The most striking biblical parallel to the myth of Shambhala is, however, the prophecy of the Messiah. The prophets of the Old Testament, Isaiah in particular, speak of an anointed one who will deliver Israel from bondage and establish the Kingdom of God throughout out the world. The New Testament identifies this Messiah with Christ, who will return to defeat the forces of evil at Armageddon and bring to pass “a new heaven and a new earth.” According to the Christian prophecy, he will defeat the Antichrist, an evil figure who takes over the world much as the barbarian tyrant does in the Tibetan myth. In the Revelation of John, we see a vision of a divine King, like Kalki and the King of Shambhala, riding forth on a white horse to lead a heavenly host into battle against the forces of evil. A thousand years of peace under the reign of Christ will follow his victory and then, after a temporary return of Satan, the Last Judgement will take place and the world will be made new again. This corresponds to a belief held by many Tibetan lamas that the golden rule of Shambhala will also last a thousand years, to be followed by the return of degenerate times before Maitreya, the next Buddha, finally comes to restore the teachings of truth. Islam has a similar prophecy about a redeemer called the Mahdi, who will also come to deliver the world from evil and establish a golden age. According to some accounts, he will slay al-Dajjal, the Deceiver, or else assist Christ in slaying him. According to others, he will be Christ himself, returned to teach Islam and confound Jews and Christians alike. The idea of a divine redeemer who appears at the end of the world probably originated in the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. According to that religion, which had a strong influence on later religions, a descendant of the prophet Zoroaster named Shaoshyans will come at the end of history to fight on the side of Ahura Mazda, the god of light, against Ahriman, the embodiment of darkness. After finally defeating the forces of Ahriman once and for all, Shaoshyans will transform the world into a paradise of peace and truth. It seems very likely that this prophecy contributed to the development of the myth of Shambhala in Central Asia. The themes we have found in myths related to Shambhala appear in modern literature as well. The most obvious example of this occurs in Lost Horizon, but many other novels that have nothing to do with Tibet or Asia show striking similarities to the Tibetan myth. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand comes remarkably close to the prophecy of Shambhala in its story about the breakdown of the American Economy and the emergence of a new order from a sanctuary hidden in the mountains of Colorado. The events of The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann take place in a sanatorium high in the Swiss Alps, isolated from the turmoil of the outside world and even from the passage of time. Mount Analogue, an allegorical novel by Rene Daumal, postulates the existence of an invisible mountain whose ascent leads to a community of enlightened people such as those found in Shambhala. Like the guidebooks to the hidden kingdom, The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse describes a journey through the physical world—in this case, Europe—that involves encounters with magical places and mythical figures that ordinary people cannot perceive. The goal of this journey is “the home and youth of the soul,” embodied in earthly paradises like Shambhala. In novels such as Island by Aldous Huxley and Walden Two by B.F. Skinner, the theme of the earthly paradise appears in its modern form—that of the utopian society. Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984, on the other hand, describe the kind of world the Tibetan prophecy envisages under the materialistic rule of the barbarians. Many other works of science fiction deal with a version of the apocalyptic theme that concerns everyone today—nuclear war and its aftermath, the possibility of a new world emerging from an atomic holocaust. In addition to influencing modern literature, myths related to Shambhala have had a profound influence on the course of history right up to the present day. Messianic prophecies gave Christianity much of its original appeal and the power it needed to take over the decadent Roman Empire. Since then, similar prophecies have inspired numerous movements and revolutions, both secular and religious. As Mircea Eliade and other scholars have shown, biblical myths of an earthly paradise and a golden age to come helped motivate the discovery and colonization of the New World and eventually gave rise to the American idea of progress that has spread around the globe. Christopher Columbus certainly had these myths in mind when he declared, “God made me the messenger of the new heaven and the new earth of which he spoke in the Apocalypse of St. John, after having spoken of it by the mouth of Isaiah; and He showed me the spot where to find it.” Some of the Spanish conquistadors who followed Columbus went on to search for legendary places that promised the treasures of paradise—the Fountain of Youth and the golden realm of El Dorado. Many of the Protestants who colonized North America believed that Europe was dominated by the Antichrist and that their destination was to be the future garden of Eden; they and immigrants of later centuries came in search of an earthly paradise where they might find a new life and a spiritual renewal.
|