“There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger. In this time, great powers have arisen, barbarian powers. And although they waste their wealth in preparations to annihilate each other, they have much in common. Weapons of unfathomable death and devastation and technologies that lay waste to the world. And it is just at this point when all the future of all beings hangs by the frailest of threads that the Kingdom of Shambhala emerges.”
The month of June holds a special significance for Tibetan Buddhists. It’s the month of Saga Dawa, an annual holiday that celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the World Honored One, Shakyamuni Buddha (vegan).
In the Tibetan language, Dawa means “moon” and “month,” and Saga refers to the most visible star during this auspicious period. Some astrologers identify this star as Spica, the brightest one in the Virgo constellation.
This holy month falls on the fourth lunar month of the Tibetan calendar. In 2026, it extends from May 17 to June 15, with the main festival day being on May 31.
Saga Dawa is regarded as “a month of merit.” It’s believed that merits earned during this month can multiply manyfold. Believers often devote this month to worshipping, praying, and doing meritorious deeds, including keeping the vegan diet.
“Hundreds of thousands of Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims pack Lhasa, the regional capital of Tibet, circumambulating temples and paying homage to the Buddha.”
“I have started circumambulating on the Lingkor Road since yesterday. I do not have an exact plan for this month, but I think that as long as I can walk, I will do as many circumambulations as possible. I wish everyone an auspicious year.”
“Today is the first day of the holy month of Saga Dawa, so we have gathered here to pray and have a ritual walk. We are praying for world peace.”
“During the month, Buddhists will observe the vegetarian rules, refrain from killing animals, and give out alms.”
“In the fourth month of every year, we celebrate our Saga Dawa for the whole month. We refrain from eating meat this month. We eat no meat nor eggs. We only eat vegan food.”
The highlight of the month is Saga Dawa Düchen, the 15th day or the full moon of the month, and a special celebration usually takes place around Mount Kailash in Ngari Prefecture of Western Tibet. Countless people honor this day by making pilgrimages to this sacred site.
Standing 6,638 meters tall, Mount Kailash is one of the few mountains in the world that remains unclimbed by any human. It’s a site revered not only by Tibetan Buddhists, but also by Hindus, other Buddhists, Jains, and Bon practitioners. Ancient texts point to this region as the very location of the mythical kingdom of Shambhala.
“There are very old legends of a place where people are immortal, a city or Kingdom which only the great sadhus, sages, and yogis, who are devoid of bad karma, are able to enter, if they break through the psychic barriers and dimensions. This place is not only mentioned in Hindu texts, but also in Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist texts. This location is known as Siddhashram or Shambhala and is often described in Hindu scriptures as the birthplace of Avatar Kalki. Some believe that this place exists on a different plane from reality, and therefore, cannot be detected by satellites.”
After his Himalayan expedition in 1999, Dr. Ernst Muldashev, a Russian surgeon ophthalmologist, concluded that Shambhala resides under Mount Kailash, along with another underground city, Agartha.
The word Shambhala means “Source of Happiness and Peace” in Sanskrit. It’s a legendary place said to be only populated by spiritually advanced beings. Many individuals in history have attempted to contact the exalted beings living there, some through telepathy, others through physical travel.
The Esteemed Madame H.P. Blavatsky (vegetarian), the Founder of Theosophy, revealed in her book “The Land of the Gods,” that she was guided to Shambhala and met the Lord of the Kingdom. She described the beauty of the land as follows:
“Before me was a valley surrounded by mountains of evidently inaccessible height, where Nature and art seemed to have combined to endow it with an almost superterrestrial beauty. Like a vast ocean bay, it opened before my sight, closing in the distance with a natural amphitheatre. It was covered with short grass and planted with maple trees, and on all sides, there were forests and groves, small lakes and lovely creeks. Immediately in front of me, but still at a considerable distance, rose the vault of a sublime mountain peak high into the blue ether of space, presenting a cavity with overhanging rocks, looking like the hollow space under a gigantic wave, which had been petrified by some magic spell. The sides of the mountain sank in energetically drawn lines towards a lower declivity and then rose abruptly to an imposing height. In the presence of so much sublimity, I became silent, awe-struck.”
The respected British-born esoteric writer, Alice Bailey, received messages about “Shamballa” through a Tibetan spiritual teacher. In her book “Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II,” she described the Kingdom in the passages below:
“Shamballa, with its life and intention focused in the Council Chamber of the great Lord, Sanat Kumara. Here is known and embodied the Purpose of the planetary Logos under the meditative impression of the group which knows His will and which wields the Law of Synthesis. […]
This kingdom is the planetary group or centre which expresses in time and space all the Divine aspects— sometimes in latency and sometimes in potency. Here lies the clue to the entire mystery of Divine guidance, and here is also to be found the guarantee of the Divine Will-to-Good.”
From the 1920s to the 1940s, expeditions to the Himalayan regions were made by parties of different countries and interests with the intention to uncover the mysteries of Shambhala.
“1938, Tibet. A team of German SS officers arrives at a remote monastery. They’re not there to pray, they’re measuring skulls, taking thousands of photographs, asking monks about ancient legends. Their mission, find the hidden kingdom of Shambhala.
1920s, Moscow. In a secret laboratory run by the Soviet secret police, a cryptographer experiments with Tibetan meditation techniques. His goal, according to later accounts, merge Buddhist Tantra with communist ideology to engineer the perfect Soviet citizen. He’s planning an expedition to retrieve the wisdom of Shambhala.
Same decade, Nicholas Roerich, a Russian mystic, spends five years wandering Central Asia with a peace banner funded by Henry Wallace, who would later become US vice president. He paints visions of glowing cities in the mountains, claims telepathic contact with hidden masters. He’s looking for Shambhala.
Alexandra David-Néel, French explorer. In the early 20th century, she spends 14 years studying Tibetan Buddhism and becomes the first Western woman to reach Lhasa. Instead of searching for a hidden kingdom, she interviews monks and travelers who claim they have visited Shambhala. She documents stories of lung-gom runners, practitioners said to move extraordinary distances in trance-like states. Her conclusion is more historical. She suspects Shambhala may once have been a real Buddhist center around ancient Balkh in Afghanistan, a civilization destroyed by conquest, its teachings preserved in hidden valleys. It’s a historical explanation for a myth that refuses to disappear. She spends the next 50 years writing about Tibetan mysteries, and she never stops wondering if Shambhala might be real.”
Whether Shambhala truly exists or not, it’s clear that the paradise-like Kingdom is a source of fascination and inspiration for people all over the world.
The US environmental activist, author, and scholar of Buddhism, Dr. Joanna Macy, drew strength and hope from Shambhala in her fight for eco-preservation. Growing up with a Christian background, Dr. Macy was attracted to Buddhism when working with Tibetan refugees in northern India in 1965. From her Tibetan teacher, she learned a prophecy and shared it with the Western public.
“In the Tibetan tradition, there is a prophecy that has taken on great meaning for me and my friends and colleagues. It was made 12 centuries ago, and when I went back to the community that I’m very close to in northwest India Tashi Jong, where I’ve belonged to it in a way for the last 45 years since we were there in the Peace Corps – when I went back in the 1980s, they were talking about this prophecy is coming true in our time. So I said, ‘Oh, what’s it about?’ And they said, ‘It’s so amazing! It’s coming, but it’s about a very dark time.’
My dear friend and teacher Drugu Choegyal Rinpoche tells it this way, and I share it in that same way. And it has been like getting my marching orders for this time of the great journey. So it goes like this: ‘There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger. In this time, great powers have arisen, barbarian powers. And although they waste their wealth in preparations to annihilate each other, they have much in common. Weapons of unfathomable death and devastation and technologies that lay waste to the world. And it is just at this point when all the future of all beings hangs by the frailest of threads that the Kingdom of Shambhala emerges.’”
ETC…
To Dr. Macy, the Kingdom of Shambhala is a metaphor for an enlightened state of existence, rather than an actual place. She shares her interpretation.
“Now, you can’t go there. It’s not a place. It exists in the hearts and minds of the Shambhala warriors. Actually, you can’t tell a Shambhala warrior by looking at her or him because they wear no uniforms, no insignia, with no banners, have no barricades on which to climb to threaten the enemy or behind which they can rest and regroup. They don’t even have any home turf. Forever and always, they must move across the terrain of the barbarian powers.”
Who are the Shambhala warriors, and what kind of training do they need to go through, according to Dr. Joanna Macy? We’ll find out in the next episode.
