OUR WORLD
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Talking Story Excerpt From Chapter 7 – Keys To Shangri-La
Lama was animated, his voice expressive and melodious. “It is believed that many keys to the beyul
(hidden valleys, secret paradises) are hidden here,”
he said.
“What do you mean by the keys?” I asked eagerly.
Agu Lama pointed to his flat hand and said, “They
are texts that explain the hidden valley, where it is,
how it is— and the keys will indicate when it is the
time to reveal the secret paradise.”
On our way to Limitang later that morn-ing, Agu
Lama led us to a sacred cave, of which he is the
guardian and to which he had never given photographic access. He had not mentioned it when we
had discussed our travel plans, so the cave was a
wonderful surprise. The bephuk (hidden cave) was
initiated as a power spot in the eighteenth century
by Agu Lama’s grandfather, Lama Kushog Lunbo.
Since then, the responsibility of caring for the cave,
maintaining the knowledge of its significance, and
protecting its contents has fallen to his descendants.
Agu Lama unlocked the padlock on the wooden door that sealed the cave entrance with a key
that hung by a string around his neck. Before we
entered, he pointed to the outline of an imprint
above the door, which he said was the figure of
Padmasambhava wearing a hat— evidence of the
great saint’s presence and a symbol of the sacred
nature of the cave. Legendary imprints like this are
found in many places considered holy by Tibetan
Buddhists, and reveal an enlightened being’s mastery over the material world— the ability to alter
the density of stone into malleable matter.
Inside the cave was a statue of Padmasambhava
surrounded by eight miniature conical towers containing religious relics. Agu Lama began to speak
with a passion and urgency we hadn’t yet witnessed from him, and Tsewang, who was translating for his father, had difficulty keeping up. Agu
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Tsewang clarified his father’s message: in the
eighth century, Padmasambhava and his consort,
Yeshe Tsogyal, placed keys to heavenly realms, or
magical kingdoms, in caves throughout the Himalayas. They did so with the hope that they could
be accessed here on earth at a later time. These
keys were to be discovered by highly evolved sages in a future time of rampant famine, disease, and
war. The sages, or tertons (treasure dis-coverers,
revealers), are the chosen ones who can decode
and reveal the meaning of the keys. Within the hidden treasure teachings are instructions on how to
reach the beyul, where the blessed would be led
to a paradisiacal existence. In essence, these keys,
or treasure teachings, could be likened to a time
capsule of sacred information set aside for future
generations to discover.
“So these days, are there any treasure discoverers
to reveal the hidden valleys?” Tsewang asked his
father.
“When the time is not yet ripe, it’s not beneficial to
open the hidden treasure. When the right time and
the need to reveal the hidden valley coincide, then
it will be beneficial,” Agu Lama replied.
As we left the cave, he added, “These days, people just go around seeing and taking photographs
of the external landscape only. They don’t know
the inner meaning that exists.” I asked Agu Lama if
these hidden valleys, secret paradises, or magical
kingdoms are actual physical places or meta-phors
for a metaphysical state of being. His answer was,
“Yes.”
Talking Story is a book and an award-winning
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