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No doubt there is a spiritual component to Shambhala which
transcends any historical reality, which we shall not
explore. What is of interest for this work is the actual
physical kingdom that was the basis for the historical
accounts of Shambhala, which is also rendered Shamballah, Sambala, Shamballa, etc.
The core of our argument lies in the identification of
Shambhala as the source of the Buddhist tantric doctrine
known as Kalachakra.
The Kalachakra tantra is central to Tibetan Buddhism.
However, it wasn't the first form of Buddhism brought
to the country. It arrived only around the 11th century
from India. The Kalachakra, or at least the developed form of the doctrine, came less than a century earlier
to India from Shambhala.
Tradition says that the Buddha first conveyed the Kalachakra dharma
to the Shambhala king Sucandra at a stupa in the southern Indian state
of Andhra Pradesh. From there it was brought by the king
back to Shambhala and preserved there, and only there, until
its return to India in the 11th century.
A close examination of Tibetan history concerning the origin
of the Kalachakra is somewhat divergent.
One version credits the Indian holy man Tsilupa with
bringing the doctrine from Shambhala to India in
966 or 967 AD. This is known in Tibet and Nepal as the
Rva Tradition.
The opposing version is known as the Dro Tradition and
it credits the Shambhala king Sripala with bringing
the Kalachakra to India at about the same time mentioned
in Rva Tradition.
The Tibetan scholar Geshe Lhundub Sopa theorizes that
the Shambhala king Sripala may have been from the area
known in Indian texts as Suvarnadvipa1. He notes that
Sripala is said to have been from the "southern ocean,"
which in Indian geography refers to the eastern
Indian Ocean and South China Sea.
Suvarnadvipa was the Indian term for what we know
today as insular Southeast Asia.
Sopa's theory is not all that far-fetched when one
considers that when the great Indian guru Atisha
visited Suvarnadvipa, he found the Kalachakra Tantra
already well established there.
Inscriptions and artifacts from insular Southeast
Asia verify the presence of Kalachakra doctrine
in the region although they don't tell us exactly
when they first appeared there.
The Kalachakra Tantra is always found within the
context of Vajrayana Buddhism and we know this
form of Buddhism flourished in the region
for centuries before Atisha's time.
The idea of the Shambhala king Sripala, also known
as Kalki Sripala as he belonged to the Kalki or
Kulika lineage, hailing from the Southern Ocean
is supported by traditions popular in Tibet.
The traveller Nicholas Roerich mentions these
traditions that place Shambhala "far beyond
the ocean."
Another view, especially popular in the West is
that Shambhala is located somewhere to the north of
Tibet.
These views seem to stem mainly from passages in
Tibetan texts that mention Shambhala as located
north of the river Sita, or that state travel to
the region started by going in a northern direction.
Those who place Shambhala to the north equate the
Sita with some river to the north, usually the
Jaxartes in present-day Xinjiang.
However, there is also a very strong argument
for the river Sita being located to the east
of India.
The Sita is often said to run through the island
known in Indian texts as Sakadvipa. A number
of important sources state quite explicitely
that Sakadvipa is located to the east of India2.
Futhermore, they give an idea of a tropical location
lush with tropical flora and fauna.
The idea of traveling north to reach Shambhala need not
be problematic if one considers that most of the
ancient itineraries to this destination mentions several changes of direction
on the way to the fabled kingdom. Including in some of
these guidebooks is the mention of voyages across the
ocean.
The early texts that mention voyages to Shambhala tell
of students and pilgrims who stay there for prolonged
periods of time before returning to Tibet. They no
doubt spoke of a real rather than a mythical place. In
latter texts, the voyages become rare and more fantastic
in nature. They tend to appear only in texts not written
in a historical fashion.
At some point, it appears that the real voyages to
Shambhala ceased for some reason.
However, during the period of historical contact we
know that a direct southern route to Suvarnadvipa
would have probably been more difficult than taking
the Silk Road to the north.
From there one could take a ship from ports on the
East Asian coast particularly off South China. We
know that this was the route taken by many European
travellers during the 13th and 14th centuries
including Marco Polo.
There is one strong argument for a northern location
though -- the mention of the snow-capped mountains
around the capital of Shambhala. We will deal with
this problem in the conclusion when we offer a theory
on a more precise location for the kingdom.
In contrast to the mention of snow mountains,
there are indications of a southern location for
Shambhala as well.
There is a garden there known as Malaya, which is
lush with tropical vegetation including sandalwood
trees. Of course, the
word "malaya" or "malay" is a common placename in insular
Southeast Asia.
Some sources tell of visitors to Shambhala returning
with mangoes or other tropical products.
The many points of coincidence between Shambhala and
the descriptions of the kingdom of Prester John
also allow us to look toward a tropical location
in the "Indies."
The most important document concerning the historical
Prester John is the letter from that fabled monarch to the
the kings of Europe including the Byzantine and
Holy Roman Emperor.
While it is popular these days to dismiss the letter
as a hoax, there is a strong argument of authenticity
as well. We will discuss this in the section on Prester
John's kingdom.
If we accept the description given in Prester John's
letter, we first note that he claims his kingdom extends
over the "Three Indias."
The idea of Three Indias first appears in Europe in
the Ravenna Cosmography which was written in the
7th or 8th century. The concept conforms to that
of the Islamic view of the three Indies -- Hind,
Sind and Zanj.
These were known respectively in Europe as India Major,
extending from Malabar to India extra Gangem (East Indies),
India Minor, from Malabar to Sind, and India Tertia,
the coast of East Africa, specifically the Tanzania region
to the Muslims (Zanj).
The idea of a Central Asian or Siberian region as part of the
the "Three Indias" was not found at this
time, so we can see the southern direction of the kingdom
of Prester John
There a number of interesting correspondences between the
kingdoms of Prester John and Shambhala, which are listed
below:
An account related in the Chronicle of Otto, Bishop of Freising in 1145 appears to allude to a passage
in the Book of Revelation that tells of the drying of the Euphrates River to open the "way of the Kings
of the East." The chronicle states that Prester John was attempting to make his way to rescue Jerusalem.
From the historical perspective, Shambhala is a real land from whence
the Kalachakra came to India and Tibet. The only candidate that we know
of that could fit the bill is Suvarnadvipa.
However, Shambhala continued to be an important destination for pilgrims
and students long afterward.
Tibetan annals not only describe, in a matter-of-fact fashion, Tibetans
going to visit, stay and return from Shambhala, but likewise visitors
from Shambhala are said to come regularly to Tibet! so we know for sure
that there was a period of historical contact between the two regions.
Insular Southeast Asia again fits the bill here and better than any
region in the world.
During the relevant centuries, the region was the premier learning
center in the world of Buddhism. As early as the 7th century, we
hear from the Chinese pilgrim I-Ching about a place in insular
Southeast Asia known as Foshi.
I-Ching wrote that at Foshi "the level of the sciences has reached such a
state, that one can say all the knowledge of the world flows from this
island4." He recommended that Buddhist scholars from China should first
come to Foshi and stay for a year or two before going to India.
In the early 11th century as already mentioned, the great Indian scholar
Atisha came to study under the Buddhist master teacher of Suvarnadvipa
known as Serlingpa or Dharmakirti.
We also learn that the inhabitants of Suvarnadvipa were also interested
in traveling and promoting Buddhism in far-off places. Kings and scholars
from this region ventured into India and donated monasteries and other gifts
particularly in the 10th and 11th centuries.
So Suvarnadvipa in the "southern ocean" fits very well when we consider that
Shambhala was also know as a great place of pilgrimage that sent its
own pilgrims as well. It was likely the home of King Sripala who came
from the same ocean and is credited in the Dro Tradition with bringing
the Kalachakra to India.
1 Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Roger Jackson, John Newman, Beth Simon.
The Wheel of Time: The Kalachakra in Context. Snow Lion Publications,
1991
2 Mahabharata XII.14.23. See also Brihat Parasara Horasasta.
3 See Edwin Bernbaum. The Way to Shambhala. Random House, Inc. 2001; Mipham, Commentary on the Shambhala sections of the Kalachakra Tantra; and Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival.
4 Hui-li. The life of Hiuen-Tsiang. Westport, Conn., Hyperion Press, 1973.
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The Tibetan people have many stories about the kingdom of
Shambhala, where the mystical Kulika kings ruled.
Kalachakra in Suvarnadvipa
Shambhala in the "North"
A tropical paradise?
Links with Prester John's land
What is equally of interest is the fact that we first hear of Prester John's kingdom in
Europe about a century after the Kalachakra begins to spread to India and Tibet.
"These accursed fifteen nations will burst forth from the four quarters of the earth at the end of the world, in the times of Antichrist, and overrun all the abodes of the Saints as well as the great city Rome, which, by the way, we are prepared to give to our son who will be born, along with all Italy, Germany, the two Gauls, Britain and Scotland. We shall also give him Spain and all the land as far as the icy sea. The nations to which I have alluded, according to the words of the prophet, shall not stand in the judgment, on account of their offensive practices, but will be consumed to ashes by a fire which will fall on them from heaven."
"Near the wilderness trickles between barren mountains a subterranean rill, which can only by chance be reached, for only occasionally the earth gapes, and he who would descend must do it with precipitation, ere the earth closes again."
Land of Pilgrimages
Footnotes
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