Kingdom of Shambhala
Research Into the Myths, Legends, Historical Realities and Numerous Levels of Meaning of The Ancient Kingdom of Shambhala and the Deity Shiwa Okar
August 2008
email....okarresearch@gmail.com
"RIMAY TRADITION.... (Rime, Ris med) : "Jamgon Kongtrul The Great....(1813-1899) His background was Bonpo (his father was an illustrous lama of the Khyungpo, or Garuda clan..[Kongtrul: 1995..pg 15]) and both he and Jamyang Kyentse were particularly open to the Bon tradition. The most significant Bon teacher in the Rimay movement was Shardza Trashi Gyantsen (1859-1935)". [Samuel:1993..p.542]...."Since the second propagation on the Buddist doctrine in Tibet, in which teachings of non-Indian origin were dismissed, the ancient Nyingma teachings had been severely suppressed. Therefore the teachings of the Dzogchen system of the Nyingma [and Bonpo] traditions received the greater attention of the three great Rimay masters." (Kongtrul:1995..pg 28)..."The rimay movement began in Kham and leaned more to the shamanic and popular rather than to the centralized, clerical, heirarchical, and academic of the central Tibetan school. (Samuel: 1993..pg 543)..."
"We are working with iconography as a journey, rather than as entertainment or excitement or cultural fascination. We are talking about personal experience, how we actually see this world. There is a basic iconographic pattern in the universe, like the existence of the seasons and the elements, but how we react to that is individual.""....(Trungpa: Dharma Art.:1996...pg 94)
BASIC GOODNESS.....Küntu Zangpo is one of the peacful Bonpo deities, his name means "The All-Good" and he is seen as the supreme deity of all knowledge and has strong links to Shenla Okar in the sense that both are hierophanies of the bönku or "The body of Bon", the ultimate Truth..... Küntu Zangpo is Künzang Akor which means "The All-Good cycle of A", "A" being the last letter in the Zhan Zhung-alphabet ....the White A......Important Dzogchen Practices in the Bonpo Tradition
Click here for Notes on Shiwa Okar and Shenlha Okar
Click here For Table of Contents
"Texts that we commonly call the Shambhala teachings stem from the visions that the Druk Sakyong, the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, had from an early age in Tibet......These visions came from the Rigden and from Shiwa Okar......the Vidyadhara often said that he was merely writing them down...." Sakyong Mipham......Public Letter....January 23, 2005
Current research focuses mainly on Iranian and Central Asian traditions and includes ......the Kalachakra text and Shambhala predictions..........Shiwa Okar, Shen Lha Okar, Primordial Purity and Basic Goodness in Bon and Shambhala.....Parsee rituals and pre-muslim Iranian sufism .... ..the relationship of the Five Elements of Dzogchen and Kalachakra with the 4 Dignities in the the Shambhala Teachings ....... Okar References in the Bon and Buddhist versions of the Kalachakra, Gesar, and Dzogchen texts ........the Shambhala teachings in Mithraic and Manichaean sects in Western Europe from pre-Roman Pantheism and early Christianity......Shiwa Okar and Mithra.....
These are unedited, random notes exploring various spiritual, physical, historical, military, economic and geographical traditions relevant to the historical Kindom of Sham.bha.la ...........including the ancient multi-theistic elemental cultures of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kasmir and the great Cultural and Linguistic Nations of Ancient Central Asia.... .... Persian Mithraic......Shang Shung, Tibetan & Persian Bon......Tibetan Manichaeism.......Northern Silk Route and Iranian Buddhism.......Early Tibetan Tantric Nyingma.........Altaic Shamanic Elemental Kam.......Japanese Elemental Secular Drala Shinto..... Pre-Islamic Sufism.....Islamic Manichaeism......Essene and Cathar Christianity......Manichaeist Central Asia Taoism...... Greek and Roman Pantheism.....European Secret Lodge "Mystery Religions"...... French Celtic Druidae and Cathar Traditions...... Sham Ash Sun Gods...... Khazaric Semitic Kabbala....... Indo-Iranian (Aryan) Sky Gods & Earth Goddesses.... Kashmiri Tantric Shaivism................Eastern Caribbean African Pre-Christian Elementalism ..... etc.........Numerous viewpoints on Elemental Magic are sought and presented......
Click here for notes on Sol Invictus, Shiwa Okar, Mithra, and The Great Eastern Sun
"Those who have been fearless in their search and fearless in their proclamation belong to the lineage of master warriors, whatever their religion, philosophy, or creed...They are the fathers and mothers of Shambhala.".......Chogyam Trungpa
Trungpa Rinpoche once said that the Shambhala teachings most likely had "Iranian origins"....there are indications that the Bon teachings also originated in ancient pre-Islamic Iran (Tagzik).......
" The linguistic history indicates that the Aryans ("Indo-Europeans"....."Iran"....) originally formed a single people until the beginning of the 2nd millenium BC when the Deva worshipping Indian Aryans and the Asura worshiping Iranian Aryans went separate ways." (Yarshater: 1987..pg 684)... ...
The Kalachakra discusses the expulsion of the Deva worshippers from Shambhala and refers to the Rigden kings as Asura...... "
"The Rigdens other than Rigden Raudrachakrin are of the asura family because of bestowing fear. If one thinks this explanation is not suitable, Palden Raudrachakrin having a short spear bestows fear in the asura family. So it is taught. "
Buddhism describes the Asuras as "Jealous Gods"......Chogyam Trungpa preferred the term "Fiesty Gods" in the Shambhala description.....the historical conflict between the Bon and Buddhist Tibetans may reflect the Indian and Iranian origins of their traditions............
Tenzin Wangyal Center in Virginia......... The Practice of Seven Cycles of Clear Light. This final part of the re-structured presentation of the Chag Tri contains "Chapter Ten: Magical Wheel of the Channels and Prana," and "Chapter Eleven: The Practice of the Seven Cycles of Clear Light" for the dark retreat. These two chapters provide the instructions for the traditional dark retreat of forty-nine days duration.
Click here Notes on the Dark Retreat in the Bon Tradition
Click here Notes on various Ancient Tibetan Lineages of Dzogchen
Salvation is a foreign idea in Shinto...When you look into the mirror you know who you are more deeply. Knowing is important. Deeper knowledge is important." (Yamamoto Negi of the Tsubaki Grand Shrine at RMSC in 1992)...."In Shinto, the ceremonies connecting with summoning anew the spirit of a deity are called 'chinza-sai'. They are usually ceremonies of mysterious grandeur carried on with the utmost solemnity during the darkness."...(Jinja: 1958...pg
After the fall of the Uigur Kaganate, some Manichaean Uigurs emigrated to the west banks of the Yellow River in Kansu, a second group emigrated via Yetti Su to the southern part of Khan Tengri (Tian Shan in Chinese) in Eastern Turkestan, the third and the largest group of Uigurs emigrated to the northern part of Khan Tengri where their ancestors were still living. The Manichaean Uigurs who emigrated to the west banks of the Yellow river in Kansu established a kingdom in 850 known as the Kan-Chou Uigur Kingdom, later absorbed in 1228 by the Tankut state Western Hsia. These Uigurs still live in the Kansu area under the name Sarik Uigurs or Yellow Uigurs, preserving their old Uigur tongue. The Manichaean Uigurs who emigrated to the northern part of Khan Tengri in Eastern Turkestan established the second Uigur Kingdom in 846 known as Karakhoja Uigur Kingdom near the present day city of Turfan. The Manichaean Uigurs who settled in the southern part of Khan Tengri, established the Karakhanid Kingdom in 840 AD with the support of other Türks, the Karluks, Turgishes and Basmils, with Kashgar as their capital. In 934, during the rule of Satuk Bughra Khan, the Karakhanids embraced Islam. Thus, in the territory of Eastern Turkestan were two Uigur kingdoms: the Moslem Karakhanids, and Buddhist Karakhoja Uigurs.
In the Kalachakra text's list of Prophets we find mention of the "White-Clad One", probably referring to Mani. Buddhists believe that Buddha himself gave this Root Kalachakra Tantra in the ninth century B.C. and that the First Kalki King of Shambhala wrote The Abridged Kalachakra Tantra in the second century B.C. The Kalachakra Tantra appeared in India in the late tenth century and was probably written about this time. It predicts the coming of an Islamic Messiah figure named Mahdi about 2424 AD.
Click here Exploration on the Lalo Prophets of the Kalachakra
Click here for the Berzin Archives
Click here for the Warrior Ghenghis Khan
Click here for notes on Kalachakra and Islam
The Turkic Ghaznavids conquered Kabul in the 980s. It was at about this time that the Kalachakra teachings openly appeared in India, transmitted in visions to two Indian masters attempting to reach Shambhala. Although the Muslim Ghaznavids tolerated Buddhism and Hinduism in Kabul, they smashed the Ismaili Islamic state of Multan in north central Pakistan in 1008. The Ismaili Fatimids in Egypt were the rivals of the Ghaznavids for supremacy over the entire Muslim world. After this victory, the Ghaznavad ruler Mahmud of Ghazni, driven undoubtedly by greed for more land and wealth, pressed his invasion further eastward as far as Madhura, south of Delhi. He looted and destroyed the wealthy Buddhist monasteries that lay in his path. When the Ghaznavad troops pushed northward from Delhi, however, and tried to invade Kashmir, the Kashmiri King Samgrama Raja, a supporter of both Buddhism and Hinduism, defeated them in 1021. This was the first attack on Kashmir by a Muslim army. The Kalachakra Tantra reached Tibet from Kashmir in 1027, the year predicted by the First Kalki.
"SHAMBHALA...."In 624 AD, a Moslem invasion weakened the Kingdom of Shambhala."(Roerich: 1974..pg 753) (Geoffrey Hopkins: 1985..pg 60)
"622 AD is the first year of the new Mohammedian era according to the Islamic tradition...Year of Hegira (flight from Mecca)...
in 624 C.E., a non-Indic religion will arise in Mecca. Because of a lack of unity among the brahmans?people and laxity in following correctly the injunctions of their Vedic scriptures, many will accept this religion when its leaders threaten an invasion. To prevent this danger, Manjushri Yashas united the people of Shambhala into a single "vajra-caste" by conferring upon them the Kalachakra empowerment. By his act, the king became the First Kalki ?the First Holder of the Caste. ........... As the founding of Islam dates from 622 C.E., two years before Kalachakra? predicted date, most scholars identify the non-Indic religion with that faith. Descriptions of the religion elsewhere in the Kalachakra texts as having the slaughter of cattle while reciting the name of its god, circumcision, veiled women, and prayer facing its holy land five times a day reinforce their conclusion.
In 624 AD the Sassian Shah Yazdigird is defeated by the Arabs at the battle of Nahavand....."in the era of the Mlecchas, the starting year of the Kalacakra chronology is the first year of the Hijra, calculated from the year 624 AD."..(Roerich:1949...pg 753)....
624 AD...'the Emperor Heraclkes captures the Persian residence of Ganzaca (Ganjak) with its cosmic throne room." (Sacral Kingship: 1959..pg 484)...
633 A.D. (5383) Muhammad declares himself the prophet of God and originates Islam. It is well known that Muhammad's principal teacher was the Assyrian monk Sargis Bkheera. This accounts for the extraordinary doctrinal similarity between some aspects of Islam and the Assyrian Church of the East.
624 AD..(Arabic Historians)......"The Great Battle of Badr took place two years after the Hijra in 624 AD. .....caravan which was returning to Mecca from Sham." ......At this battle the pagan army from Sham consisted of 950 warriors.........
ZHIDAG....."Tibetan Buddhists believe that there are countless types of beings other than humans and animals. Some are more powerful, happier, and more intelligent than humans, and others less so. Usually if there is no common karma or karmic connection, beings of different types will not encounter each other. Spirits are not necessarily births of the ancestors from a particular locality, but may have come from any kind of birth or realm." (Hidden Teachings of Tibet)
FRAVASHIS......"A class of higher intelligence that are ancient Persian guardian warrior spirits. The 19th day of every month is consecrated to them. King Phraortes' (647 BC) Persian name is derived from the term."(Dhalla:1963..pg 235)..... "Hence Finite Time and Finite Space control man's destiny from the cradle to the grave. Yet the whole of the macrocosm is kept in being by the Fravashis (Dralas ??), the spiritual powers that are indissolubly linked with each human being and with humanity as a whole. Finite time-space, then, is not a kenoma, an empty nothingness, but a pleroma, a 'full' and vital organism...."...(Zaehner..1961..pg 150)...
Current research focuses on Primordial Purity and the relationship of the Five Elements of Dzogchen and the 4 Dignities in the the Shambhala Teachings of Chogyam Trungpa....... Of particular interest are the ancient traditions of .... Persian Mithraic......Shang Shung & Tibetan Bonpo......Tibetan/Uighur Manichaeism....
Of particular interest is information on the main Shambhala deity.........the Shambhalian "God of Gods"........Shiwa Okar...(Shiwa'i Od'kar)...... "The body of the Bon Deity Shen - Lha Okar is white...In the Bon tradition his ontological status is that of a bonku, 'unconditioned being' or 'supreme being', corresponding to the Buddhist category of dharmakaya...His association with light suggests Manichaean influences....The colour of his body is like the essence of crystal...his ornaments, attire, and palace are adorned by crystal light..."................"Shenlha Wokar, the Bon deity who is the source of the lineage of teachings of the Dzogchen (rDzogs chen), the Great Perfection, in the lands of Lha, Nyen, and Lu". ....Kungtuzangpo gave the teachings to Shenlha Okar who passed them to Shenrab Miwo who taught them in Zhang Zhung............From the white pure light arises the deity Shenlha Okar at the center of the mandala.........Lama Tenzin Wangyal"
Click here
Tibetan Uighur Manicheans, Bon, and the Shambhala Connection.....Shenrab, Mithra, and Mani
Click here For Thangka of the Bon Peaceful Deity - Shiwa'i Lhatsog
The Following Published Texts Are Important in This Research:
Chogyam Trungpa..."Shambhala, The Sacred Path of the Warrior"...1984........
Campell, Leroy A......"Mithraic Iconography and Ideology"....Leiden:1968......Persian and Avestan sources........
Norbu, Namkhai "Drung, Deu, and Bon: Narrations, Symboloic languages, and the Bon traditions in ancient Tibet"... 1995.......descriptions of the Drala and Werma deities... translation of important Bon Texts...
Notes on the Cathar Christians.....the Shambhalians (Manichaeans or Bonpos) of France?.....
The Shambhala Teachings and Tibetan Manichaeism........"In A.D. 1000 the Arab historian Al-Beruni wrote: "The majority of the Eastern Turks, the inhabitants of China and Tibet, and a number in India belong to the religion of Mani, the Buddha of Light"........
MANICHAEISM.........The Five Elements are at the core of 2nd Century Manichaeism......
The Shambhala Diet & the Manichaen Diet ........
"NYIDA: The vegetarian diet of Shambhala. Nyi stands for yellow and green foods, primarily vegetables and fruits, and da for white foods such as milk, yogurt, cheese and tofu....
One of the main principles of the Manichaeans was a vegetarian diet of mainly green and yellow foods. Supposedly, light was concentrated in these foods......
"Is Manicheism the source of the Dzogchen teachings of Tibetan Buddhists. Beginning with an ancient Persian form of Zarathustrianism which penetrated the Tibetan region in the 5th Century BC, and followed by a heretical Pudgalavadin form of Buddhism in the 3rd century BC, both of which pave the way for the influx of the teachings of Mani in the late 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th centuries AD.
This Manichaean faith became totally dominant in northern Tibet when the Uighur King converted to Manichaeanism in 762 AD. ....
"According to Kuznetsov, Bon was introduced to Tibet in the fifth century BC, when there occurred a mass migration of Iranians from Sogdhiana in north-east Iran to the northern parts of Tibet.." .....June Campbell: "Traveller in Space"..
INSCAPE.........In his journals, the English Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins used two terms, "inscape" and "instress," which can cause some confusion. By "inscape" he means the unified complex of characteristics that give each thing its uniqueness and that differentiate it from other things, and by "instress" he means either the force of being which holds the inscape together or the impulse from the inscape which carries it whole into the mind of the beholder:
"There is one notable dead tree . . . the inscape markedly holding its most simple and beautiful oneness up from the ground through a graceful swerve below (I think) the spring of the branches up to the tops of the timber. I saw the inscape freshly, as if my mind were still growing, though with a companion the eye and the ear are for the most part shut and instress cannot come. "
The concept of inscape shares much with Wordsworth's "spots of time," Emerson's "moments," and Joyce's "epiphanies," ......But Hopkins' inscape is also fundamentally religious: a glimpse of the inscape of a thing shows us why God created it. "Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:/ . . myself it speaks and spells,/ Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came. "
****************************************** YUGEN.........In Japan...... art moves with its own spirit, turning in unpredictable ways to become something surprising. Japanese literature asserts that all great works of art embody "YUGEN" in which we get a glimpse of the secrets of the eternal world. Yu-gen means cloudy-impenetrable…obscure, unknowable, mysterious and beyond intellectual rationale.
Experiences in life unveil bits and pieces of the picture, each petal of the lotus flower unfolding to reveal its own beauty. Seeing through the mist that momentarily clears to reveal yet another mystery to search—Yugen. The whole art must be completed before it is fully revealed.