Shambhala is a magical land which is shaped like an eight-petalled lotus flower. It has been ruled by priest-kings for many thousands of years; in fact, the legend of this magical land predates the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet. In the aboriginal Bon religion, this magical land is known as Olmolungrung, and is based on the square instead of the circle.

Shambhala forms a gateway between the physical and spiritual realms. It is endowed with riches, and is ideally suited for the habitat of enlightened souls. They are not attached to the fruits of karma, and are but one step from Buddhahood. This is the realm to be sought for rebirth if one desires the swiftest path to Nirvana.

Many western explorers, hearing tales of a Golden City of Shambhala, sought to find it in the frozen wastes of northern Tibet. This resulted in the present-day term "Shangri-la," which, like El Dorado, signifies an unattainable goal. This is an unfortunate misunderstanding, for ultimately Shambhala is a place accessible to anyone, if only one can be free of karmic attachments.

The Buddha preached the teachings of the Kalacakra to an assembly of holy men in southern India. Afterwards, the teachings remained hidden for 1,000 years until an Indian yogi-scholar went in search of Shambhala and was initiated into the teachings by a holy man he met along the way.

The Kalacakra then remained in India until it made its way to Tibet in 1026 AD. Since then the concept of Shambhala has been widely known in Tibet, and Tibetans have been studying the Kalacakra for the least 900 years, learning its science, practicing its meditation, and using its system of astrology to guide their lives.

Tibetan religious texts describe the physical makeup of the hidden land in detail. It is thought to look like and eight-petaled lotus blossom because it is made up of eight regions, each surrounded by a ring of mountains.

In the center of the innermost ring lies Kalapa, the capital, and the king's palace, which is composed of gold, diamonds, coral, and precious gems. The capital is surrounded by mountains made of ice, which shine with a crystalline light.

The technology of Shambhala is supposed to be highly advanced; the palace contains special 'skylights' made of lenses which serve as high-powered telescopes to study extraterrestrial life, and for hundreds of years Shambhala's inhabitants have been using aircraft and cars that shuttle through a network of underground tunnels.

Strange sightings in the area where Shambhala is thought to be seem to provide evidence of its existence. Tibetans believe that the land is guarded by beings with superhuman powers. In the early 1900s an article in an Indian newspaper, the Statesman, told of a British major who, camping in the Himalayas, saw a very tall, lightly clad man with long hair.

Apparently, noticing that he was being watched, the man leaped down the vertical slope and disappeared. To the major's astonishment, the Tibetans with whom he was camping showed no surprise at his story; they calmly explained that he had seen one of the snowmen who guard the sacred land.

A more detailed account of these snowmen guardians was given by Alexandra David-Neel, an explorer who spent 14 years in Tibet. While traveling through the Himalayas she saw a man moving with extraordinary speed and described him as follows: "I could clearly see his perfectly calm impassive face and wide-open eyes with their gaze fixed on some invisible distant object situated somewhere high up in space. The man did not run. He seemed to life himself from the ground, proceeding by leaps. It looked as if he had been endowed with the elasticity of a ball, and rebounded each time his feet touched the ground. His steps had the regularity of a pendulum."

While people - especially Tibetan lamas - have been searching for Shambhala for centuries, those who seek the kingdom often never return, either because they have found the hidden country and have remained there or because they have been destroyed in the attempt.

Tibetan texts containing what appear to be historical facts about Shambhala, such as the names and dates of its kings and records of corresponding events occurring in the outside world, give Tibetans additional reason for believing that the kingdom exists.

Recent events that seem to correspond to the predictions of the mythic kingdom add strength to their belief. The disintegration of Buddhism in Tibet and the growth of materialism throughout the world, coupled with the wars and turmoil of the 21st century, all fit in with the prophecy of Shambhala.

To reach Shambhala is to move one's frequency past that of third dimension - and into faster moving frequency called higher light where one no longer needs a physical body to experience.

In our reality - we look for answers with higher spiritual entities called ascended masters (click here to learn more). These masters supposedly live in realities of higher frequency of light. Shambhala is the name given to one of these places.