May 9, 2010
Shangri-La
I can’t remember when I first heard about Shangri-La … perhaps as a teenager or young adult … certainly a long, long time ago. The scant information I received at the time … some sort of paradise on earth … was stored deep in the bowels of my memory for decades and only came back into my consciousness about five years ago.
While visiting China for the first time in 2005, I ran out of Canadian cigarettes and was compelled to choose a local Chinese brand. Seems my choice of brand was another manifestation of serendipity in my life. The brand I switched to was called ‘Shangri-La’. Thanks to my smoking habit, for the next year or so I would see and say the word Shangri-La every day, until one day there were no more Shangri-La cigarettes ... the brand was suddenly discontinued. Hmmm!
Somewhere along the way … during my stay in China … I learned about the existence of a place called Shangri-La in the province of Yunnan, China. My curiosity and interest was immediately aroused and the seed was firmly planted in my mind that some day I would visit this place called Shangri-La.
The journey from ‘idea in my mind’ to actual arrival was long, difficult and mysterious; taking three attempts during the next several years. The frustration and misery associated with my journey to Shangri-La reminds me of my first experience with the Camino Santiago. In June 1999, I boarded a ship in Dover England that I thought was headed for Spain. That boat cruise turned out to be a bus ride across France and into San Sebastian, Spain. Hmmm!
In my usual style, now that my journey is complete I’ve done some research concerning the history of Shangri-La.
Some definitions of the word Shangri-La are:
The word Shangri-La is derived from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition; Shambhala … a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia. It is mentioned in various ancient texts, including the Kalachakra Tantra and the ancient texts of the Zhang Zhung culture which predated Tibetan Buddhism in western Tibet.
A question that begs to be asked is how is it that a self professed servant of the Virgin Mary is pursuing Buddhist tradition and folklore? I don’t know! I can only say that for more than fifteen years I have been trying to follow the Virgin Mary’s direction regardless of where it may take me. Some may say that I have been deceived ... so be it! Others may say this current brush with Buddhism is simply a manifestation of “Human Oneness”.
The parallels with the story of Jesus Christ are certainly evident in the following statement:
“The Kalachakra prophesizes that when the world declines into war and greed, and all is lost, the 25th Kalki king will emerge from Shambhala with a huge army to vanquish "Dark Forces" and usher in a worldwide Golden Age”
After reading and reflecting on the above information it seems to me that all people are searching for Shangri-La; certainly if one accepts the word Shangri-La as a synonym for the word happiness. All people want to be happy. All that we do is in pursuit of personal happiness … the only variant is the recipe for achievement of personal happiness.
There exists a plethora of recipes and a grand mosaic of individual preferences for happiness. The question that begs to be asked is why so few people find lasting happiness? We all experience glimpses of happiness yet holding on to the happy condition is almost impossible. Why?
Perhaps the answer lies in the above comments about Shangri-La. Several of the statements refer to a place that is isolated, remote, secluded and hidden from man. All of these adjectives suggest permanent happiness is not to be found in the City of Man … in our world of cultures and societies. Again … why?
The only logical and rational answer is that mankind’s sojourn on earth is one of persistent struggle … we will continue with this struggle until we reach the point of self destruction or spiritual transformation.
The above hypothesis is embedded in the story of Genesis in the Bible … where we are banished from Eden with a promise that one day we will return. Perhaps this universal desire for happiness and peace stems from our collective memory of our existence in Eden. Likewise, the persistent and universal life of struggle reflects our desire to return to Eden ... perhaps explaining the popularity of the notion of Shangri-La.
What is different today from any other time in history?
We traveled together from Suzhou to Nanning where we got separated a long story and he went on alone to Kunming without his backpack. He traveled for several days with only his money belt … we sent his backpack ahead to Lijiang where he picked it up.
After such an unpleasant experience I buried the idea of visiting Shangri-La.
In September 2007 after a tiff with Lilly I again decided it was time to visit Shangri-La … solo. I purchased a train ticket to Kunming and was sitting on the train waiting for it to start rolling when I got the feeling something is not right. I got off the train and fortunately a kind security man helped me to get a refund for my train ticket.
So what circumstances triggered the third attempt to visit Shangri-La?
The timing seemed auspicious … we would arrive in Kunming the morning of April 28th … the anniversary of my dad’s passing and the Feast Day of St Louis de Montford, who is instrumental in my spiritual journey with the Virgin Mary.
We almost purchased airplane tickets to Kunming but in the end decided to save a couple of hundred RMB and take the train … what a disaster! We purchased the most expensive train tickets … two lower bunks in a compartment for four people. We felt blessed when the train pulled out of Nanning …we had the whole compartment to ourselves. We looked forward to sleeping most of the fourteen hour train ride to Kunming, knowing we still had a long ways to go after Kunming.
All was well until around midnight when two gentlemen invaded our private compartment … apparently they decided to upgrade their tickets from coach to sleeper and try to get some sleep.
They immediately engaged in a loud conversation … neither Lilly or I got any sleep for the rest of the trip. The real ‘coup de grace’ occurred as we were pulling into the Kunming train station. Putting on my sandals I could feel my big toe getting wet … there was a huge gob of spit on my sandal. Apparently one of the gentlemen in the upper bunks decided to spit during the night. Not a good omen.
We decided to stay in Kunming for a few days to recover from our sleepless night. Fortunately, we met a kind gentleman while leaving the train who escorted us to a cheap hotel next to the train station and we immediately went to bed.
We planned to take the train to Lijiang … another thirteen hour train ride however both trips to the station to buy tickets were thwarted by long lines of people waiting to buy tickets. We decide to go back late in the evening when there would likely be much fewer people.
Around the middle of the afternoon we decided to visit the local park … Kunming has a large lake on the fringe of the city. When we arrived at the park a friendly and talkative woman from Sichuan Province approached Lilly and tagged along with us for the next hour or so.
This unexpected encounter may turn out to be one of the jewels of our trip … Lilly and this woman got talking about health and Chinese medicine and turns out this woman’s son is a doctor who has discovered some special combination of Chinese herbs for treating high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other cardio vascular ailments. She called her son and got the information for Lilly. We purchased the medicine and will see if it works over the next several months.
There was a high-rise building in Kunming with a large sign “NOAH”S ARK BUILDING” in English and a shopping plaza called “SHALOM PLAZA. Hmmm
A few hours later, walking along the streets near the railway station looking for someplace to eat we were approached by a young woman who was peddling bus tours to Shangri-La. She was very tenacious and Lilly finally agreed to visit her office after we found something to eat. The young woman escorted us to a restaurant near her office and made it clear she would not let us escape her grip.
As mentioned above we had no intention of taking a bus tour. Both Lilly and I are very independent minded and prefer to travel on our time table and follow our own agenda. We had a very disappointing bus tour experience to Vietnam several months ago.
Never say never! We ended up booking a six day bus tour to Shangri-La … once again economics [money] played the decisive role … we figured we would save money with the package deal … travel, meals and accommodations were all inclusive … no more decisions to make … no more looking for a place to eat or a place to sleep.
Reflecting on this as I write it occurs to me that worrying about money while searching for Shangri-La … that land of peace and happiness … is incongruous. On the other hand we may never have arrived at Shangri-La had we not purchased the bus tour. Exhausted and frustrated every time we stopped for the night, we swore we would not continue on the bus tour. We both threatened to go home several times during the six days. The next morning our distaste for not getting something we paid for seemed to push us along to the next stage.
Lilly was checking the paperwork for the bus tour at the hotel that evening and discovered a small discrepancy in the numbers on the receipt. The amount written in words was different than the amount written in numbers. Lilly being a lifetime accountant is a real stickler for details … some may say a fanatic. She called the tour operator who reassured her that this minor detail was not important … no need to worry.
There is no way his reassurance on the telephone could stop Lilly from worrying. The next day when we arrived at the departure location a woman from the travel agency we had met the night before greeted us with a big smile. Lilly immediately launched into her concern about the receipt. This wiped the smile off the lady’s face very quickly. Apparently the agent had gone home for the day and she had to call him to come back to the office and deal with this receipt issue.
He arrived several minutes later and Lilly engaged him in seemingly endless conversation about this minor clerical error. When this issue was satisfied Lilly started on the insurance issue. She wanted a certificate detailing the insurance coverage we purchased with the tour package. Seems such a certificate was not available. After a long time listening to them batter back and forth and watching people getting on the bus I lost my patience. I got really angry and threatened to go home … actually started walking away from the bus.
So much for the land of peace and happiness eh!
Within a few minutes I calmed down and we got on the bus. The bus remained parked for another hour or so while an argument was settled with a group of people in the back of the bus. Apparently one member of a group of passengers couldn’t make the trip and a substitute was taking his place. Their agent wouldn’t allow the substitution and they screamed at each other for what seemed an eternity.
The bus was scheduled to leave at seven PM … it’s now about eight thirty PM and we haven’t left the parking lot. We have four or five hours of driving ahead of us before we stop for the night and tomorrows schedule starts at six AM. It’s going to be another night with little or no sleep. Yuk
Just before leaving we were asked to change our seats … move up to the front row of the bus. At the time I considered the move a privilege … we would have a better view etc. A few hours later the exchange of seats turned out to be a curse. I am dead tied and nursing a headache. I’ve had the headache off and on since leaving Nanning.
A young boy is carried to the front row by his mother … kicking and screaming … throwing a fist rate tantrum. The boys mother was passing him off to his grandmother who was sitting across form us in the font row. Granted the entire bus could hear his screaming …which continued for a long, long time … but he was screaming right into my ear. As uncomfortable as this was it only foreshadowed what I would be compelled to endure for the next several days. The bus tour included a tour guide who would scream into a microphone hour after hour all the way to Shangri-La … and I couldn’t understand a word.
The next day the boy’s grandfather apologized to us and told us that it had never happened before. How is it that the search for peace and solitude attracts so much noise and aggravation?
When we arrived at the hotel for the night I was broken … exhausted, irritated and angry. The notion of Shangi-La had lost all of its’ appeal.
Shangri-La
I can’t remember when I first heard about Shangri-La … perhaps as a teenager or young adult … certainly a long, long time ago. The scant information I received at the time … some sort of paradise on earth … was stored deep in the bowels of my memory for decades and only came back into my consciousness about five years ago.
While visiting China for the first time in 2005, I ran out of Canadian cigarettes and was compelled to choose a local Chinese brand. Seems my choice of brand was another manifestation of serendipity in my life. The brand I switched to was called ‘Shangri-La’. Thanks to my smoking habit, for the next year or so I would see and say the word Shangri-La every day, until one day there were no more Shangri-La cigarettes ... the brand was suddenly discontinued. Hmmm!
Somewhere along the way … during my stay in China … I learned about the existence of a place called Shangri-La in the province of Yunnan, China. My curiosity and interest was immediately aroused and the seed was firmly planted in my mind that some day I would visit this place called Shangri-La.
The journey from ‘idea in my mind’ to actual arrival was long, difficult and mysterious; taking three attempts during the next several years. The frustration and misery associated with my journey to Shangri-La reminds me of my first experience with the Camino Santiago. In June 1999, I boarded a ship in Dover England that I thought was headed for Spain. That boat cruise turned out to be a bus ride across France and into San Sebastian, Spain. Hmmm!
In my usual style, now that my journey is complete I’ve done some research concerning the history of Shangri-La.
Some definitions of the word Shangri-La are:
- Eden: any place of complete bliss and delight and peace.
- An imaginary remote paradise on earth; utopia
- A distant and secluded hideaway, usually of great beauty and peacefulness.
- A permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world.
- Used as metaphor and figure of speech … often used in a similar context to which "Garden of Eden" might be used, to represent a paradise hidden from modern man. It can sometimes be used as an analogy for a life-long quest or something elusive that is much sought. For a man who spends his life obsessively looking for a cure to a disease, such a cure could be said to be that man's "Shangri-La". It also might be used to represent perfection that is sought by man in the form of love, happiness, or Utopian ideals. It may be used in this context alongside other mythical and famous examples of somewhat similar metaphors such as The Holy Grail, El Dorado, The Fountain of Youth
The word Shangri-La is derived from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition; Shambhala … a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia. It is mentioned in various ancient texts, including the Kalachakra Tantra and the ancient texts of the Zhang Zhung culture which predated Tibetan Buddhism in western Tibet.
A question that begs to be asked is how is it that a self professed servant of the Virgin Mary is pursuing Buddhist tradition and folklore? I don’t know! I can only say that for more than fifteen years I have been trying to follow the Virgin Mary’s direction regardless of where it may take me. Some may say that I have been deceived ... so be it! Others may say this current brush with Buddhism is simply a manifestation of “Human Oneness”.
The parallels with the story of Jesus Christ are certainly evident in the following statement:
“The Kalachakra prophesizes that when the world declines into war and greed, and all is lost, the 25th Kalki king will emerge from Shambhala with a huge army to vanquish "Dark Forces" and usher in a worldwide Golden Age”
After reading and reflecting on the above information it seems to me that all people are searching for Shangri-La; certainly if one accepts the word Shangri-La as a synonym for the word happiness. All people want to be happy. All that we do is in pursuit of personal happiness … the only variant is the recipe for achievement of personal happiness.
There exists a plethora of recipes and a grand mosaic of individual preferences for happiness. The question that begs to be asked is why so few people find lasting happiness? We all experience glimpses of happiness yet holding on to the happy condition is almost impossible. Why?
Perhaps the answer lies in the above comments about Shangri-La. Several of the statements refer to a place that is isolated, remote, secluded and hidden from man. All of these adjectives suggest permanent happiness is not to be found in the City of Man … in our world of cultures and societies. Again … why?
The only logical and rational answer is that mankind’s sojourn on earth is one of persistent struggle … we will continue with this struggle until we reach the point of self destruction or spiritual transformation.
The above hypothesis is embedded in the story of Genesis in the Bible … where we are banished from Eden with a promise that one day we will return. Perhaps this universal desire for happiness and peace stems from our collective memory of our existence in Eden. Likewise, the persistent and universal life of struggle reflects our desire to return to Eden ... perhaps explaining the popularity of the notion of Shangri-La.
What is different today from any other time in history?
- Our weapons of destruction are exponentially more lethal. For millenniums our weapons could only kill one person at a time (bow and arrow, sword) whereas today we can wipe out a city of millions with a single atomic bomb or a small canister of biological poisons.
- The ‘oneness’ of the globe ….insulated and independent regions have disappeared. Again for all of history most of the world was sheltered from regional strife and warfare. Even the Roman Empire at its zenith only affected a small portion of the globe. Today all areas of the globe are integrated and it has become a battle of the titans … the classic West versus East. The prize is global dominance and it is a battle to the death.
- Communications technology has virtually eliminated language and distance barriers. We live in the period known as the Tower of Babel. Mankind has pooled and disseminated its knowledge via the internet. Translation software allows one individual to instantaneously address virtually all of mankind in his/her mother tongue.
- The consolidation of power! Whether it’s individual bankers, corporate tycoons, politicians or religious leaders, the hands on the levers of global power are exponentially fewer than at any time in history. A dangerous situation indeed!
- My first plan to visit Shangri-La occurred in November 2005. I had just finished a year of teaching conversational English in Suzhou and we were looking forward to a vacation. About the same time an acquaintance from Canada emailed to say he was coming to China for a visit and wondered if we would be willing to travel around some part of China with him. I suggested we visit Shangi-La together. Seems just talking and thinking about visiting this place attracted all kinds of negative forces … the trouble started the moment he landed in Shanghai. His airplane arrived late, making the train tickets we purchased to bring us to Suzhou useless. Since it was so late we no choice but take a taxi from Shanghai to Suzhou. The next day while trying to get his laptop connected to the internet the software CD became stuck in the drive and it took several days of frustrating experiences wandering around Suzhou to get it fixed. Some holiday so far
We traveled together from Suzhou to Nanning where we got separated a long story and he went on alone to Kunming without his backpack. He traveled for several days with only his money belt … we sent his backpack ahead to Lijiang where he picked it up.
After such an unpleasant experience I buried the idea of visiting Shangri-La.
In September 2007 after a tiff with Lilly I again decided it was time to visit Shangri-La … solo. I purchased a train ticket to Kunming and was sitting on the train waiting for it to start rolling when I got the feeling something is not right. I got off the train and fortunately a kind security man helped me to get a refund for my train ticket.
So what circumstances triggered the third attempt to visit Shangri-La?
- For several weeks we had been talking about visiting Lilly’s fathers family in Hunan … Shangri-La was not on the radar.
- A few weeks before I had found the new Catholic church in Nanning and attended mass for the first time in more than a year.
- I found the book “City of God” by Augustine at the library. I read this book more than 10 years ago but forgot all but the main message … on earth we live in the City of Man and in eternity we will live in the City of God. Seems Augustine’s ‘City of God’ is synonymous with Shangri-La. I made special arrangements at the library to keep the book for an extended period so I could bring the book along on the trip. As it turned out I never opened the book until after we returned from Shangri-La.
- Lilly woke up one morning and suggested we go to Shangri-La. She had the feeling it was important to her that I fulfill my dream of visiting Shangri-La.
The timing seemed auspicious … we would arrive in Kunming the morning of April 28th … the anniversary of my dad’s passing and the Feast Day of St Louis de Montford, who is instrumental in my spiritual journey with the Virgin Mary.
We almost purchased airplane tickets to Kunming but in the end decided to save a couple of hundred RMB and take the train … what a disaster! We purchased the most expensive train tickets … two lower bunks in a compartment for four people. We felt blessed when the train pulled out of Nanning …we had the whole compartment to ourselves. We looked forward to sleeping most of the fourteen hour train ride to Kunming, knowing we still had a long ways to go after Kunming.
All was well until around midnight when two gentlemen invaded our private compartment … apparently they decided to upgrade their tickets from coach to sleeper and try to get some sleep.
They immediately engaged in a loud conversation … neither Lilly or I got any sleep for the rest of the trip. The real ‘coup de grace’ occurred as we were pulling into the Kunming train station. Putting on my sandals I could feel my big toe getting wet … there was a huge gob of spit on my sandal. Apparently one of the gentlemen in the upper bunks decided to spit during the night. Not a good omen.
We decided to stay in Kunming for a few days to recover from our sleepless night. Fortunately, we met a kind gentleman while leaving the train who escorted us to a cheap hotel next to the train station and we immediately went to bed.
We planned to take the train to Lijiang … another thirteen hour train ride however both trips to the station to buy tickets were thwarted by long lines of people waiting to buy tickets. We decide to go back late in the evening when there would likely be much fewer people.
Around the middle of the afternoon we decided to visit the local park … Kunming has a large lake on the fringe of the city. When we arrived at the park a friendly and talkative woman from Sichuan Province approached Lilly and tagged along with us for the next hour or so.
This unexpected encounter may turn out to be one of the jewels of our trip … Lilly and this woman got talking about health and Chinese medicine and turns out this woman’s son is a doctor who has discovered some special combination of Chinese herbs for treating high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other cardio vascular ailments. She called her son and got the information for Lilly. We purchased the medicine and will see if it works over the next several months.
There was a high-rise building in Kunming with a large sign “NOAH”S ARK BUILDING” in English and a shopping plaza called “SHALOM PLAZA. Hmmm
A few hours later, walking along the streets near the railway station looking for someplace to eat we were approached by a young woman who was peddling bus tours to Shangri-La. She was very tenacious and Lilly finally agreed to visit her office after we found something to eat. The young woman escorted us to a restaurant near her office and made it clear she would not let us escape her grip.
As mentioned above we had no intention of taking a bus tour. Both Lilly and I are very independent minded and prefer to travel on our time table and follow our own agenda. We had a very disappointing bus tour experience to Vietnam several months ago.
Never say never! We ended up booking a six day bus tour to Shangri-La … once again economics [money] played the decisive role … we figured we would save money with the package deal … travel, meals and accommodations were all inclusive … no more decisions to make … no more looking for a place to eat or a place to sleep.
Reflecting on this as I write it occurs to me that worrying about money while searching for Shangri-La … that land of peace and happiness … is incongruous. On the other hand we may never have arrived at Shangri-La had we not purchased the bus tour. Exhausted and frustrated every time we stopped for the night, we swore we would not continue on the bus tour. We both threatened to go home several times during the six days. The next morning our distaste for not getting something we paid for seemed to push us along to the next stage.
Lilly was checking the paperwork for the bus tour at the hotel that evening and discovered a small discrepancy in the numbers on the receipt. The amount written in words was different than the amount written in numbers. Lilly being a lifetime accountant is a real stickler for details … some may say a fanatic. She called the tour operator who reassured her that this minor detail was not important … no need to worry.
There is no way his reassurance on the telephone could stop Lilly from worrying. The next day when we arrived at the departure location a woman from the travel agency we had met the night before greeted us with a big smile. Lilly immediately launched into her concern about the receipt. This wiped the smile off the lady’s face very quickly. Apparently the agent had gone home for the day and she had to call him to come back to the office and deal with this receipt issue.
He arrived several minutes later and Lilly engaged him in seemingly endless conversation about this minor clerical error. When this issue was satisfied Lilly started on the insurance issue. She wanted a certificate detailing the insurance coverage we purchased with the tour package. Seems such a certificate was not available. After a long time listening to them batter back and forth and watching people getting on the bus I lost my patience. I got really angry and threatened to go home … actually started walking away from the bus.
So much for the land of peace and happiness eh!
Within a few minutes I calmed down and we got on the bus. The bus remained parked for another hour or so while an argument was settled with a group of people in the back of the bus. Apparently one member of a group of passengers couldn’t make the trip and a substitute was taking his place. Their agent wouldn’t allow the substitution and they screamed at each other for what seemed an eternity.
The bus was scheduled to leave at seven PM … it’s now about eight thirty PM and we haven’t left the parking lot. We have four or five hours of driving ahead of us before we stop for the night and tomorrows schedule starts at six AM. It’s going to be another night with little or no sleep. Yuk
Just before leaving we were asked to change our seats … move up to the front row of the bus. At the time I considered the move a privilege … we would have a better view etc. A few hours later the exchange of seats turned out to be a curse. I am dead tied and nursing a headache. I’ve had the headache off and on since leaving Nanning.
A young boy is carried to the front row by his mother … kicking and screaming … throwing a fist rate tantrum. The boys mother was passing him off to his grandmother who was sitting across form us in the font row. Granted the entire bus could hear his screaming …which continued for a long, long time … but he was screaming right into my ear. As uncomfortable as this was it only foreshadowed what I would be compelled to endure for the next several days. The bus tour included a tour guide who would scream into a microphone hour after hour all the way to Shangri-La … and I couldn’t understand a word.
The next day the boy’s grandfather apologized to us and told us that it had never happened before. How is it that the search for peace and solitude attracts so much noise and aggravation?
When we arrived at the hotel for the night I was broken … exhausted, irritated and angry. The notion of Shangi-La had lost all of its’ appeal.