September 05, 2007
Secrets of Shangri-La Revealed!
I know it is unusual to write a press release for an expedition that has yet to return. But I am confident in our findings. Even as our band of fourteen bold adventurers cross remote 16,000 foot mountain passes in northern India … I know success is guaranteed.
Why? Because I found the map long ago. IN fact, this map has become the guiding principle of not only our expeditions but also the highly successful Executive Team Coaching that we currently bring to the top leadership at cutting edge organizations like eBay and Microsoft.
But let me explain…
In the mid-Eighties, while traveling on horseback living incognito among yak herders on the Tibetan plateau, I chanced upon a remarkable site. On a sun-drenched hillside sat a walled city, glimmering in morning light. For weeks I had heard of this place – Tzong Di Gompa – a monastic community high atop a hill. A place, according to the locals, never before visited by anyone from the outside world.
 I was, at the time, traveling at top speed across the top of the world attempting to escape the Chinese police who were in hot pursuit. They had been on my trail for weeks and I eluded their grasp on a number of occasions by – Butch Cassidy-like - spurring my Tibetan ponies onward across the rugged landscape, leaving my uniformed nemeses behind me unable to follow, cursing and frustrated in the dust.
The young monks of Tzong Di Gompa streamed out to meet me. Having never before seen a foreigner, I was treated with respect, mixed with curiosity and mistrust. Who was this big-nosed, wide-eyed stranger dressed in local garb? For many days I stayed with the monks. My senses were elevated by the aroma of butter lamps and incense. My spirit expanded by the sound of chanting voices, horns, bells and drums. When the high lama finally deigned to see me he recognized at once why I had come.
"You are here to find the lost land Shambala (Shangri-La) are you not?" he inquired.
I owned that I was.
"Then you must go north."
"North?" I asked. "You mean Shambala is located up nearer to Mongolia?’
"North" he replied again.
"You mean somewhere in Siberia?’
"More north yet," murmured the high lama enigmatically.
"But If you head any further north," I complained "I’d cross the pole and be back in North America…. where I came from."
"Ahhh. That is where you will find your Shambala. It is where we belong. It is in our own minds and heart or it is nowhere at all." twinkled the lama.
He then led me down long steps, past the chanting halls and across courtyards till we came to the outer entryway to the monastery itself. He pointed to the painting I had seen near the portal of every Mahayana Tibetan monastery I had ever visited. It is called the "Wheel of Life". Always in the past I had walked right by.
"Here is your map to Shambala" beamed the wise one.
Even when the Chinese police appeared at the monastery and apprehended me a few days later I did not mind. I smiled as they led me away. It no longer mattered. The map was firmly in my grasp.
I had found what I was after. It was only right that the nice policemen should too.
Said to have been created by the original Buddha to allow the complex process of attaining enlightenment accessible to ordinary men and women, The Tibetan Wheel of Life is a priceless tool in attaining success and happiness in human existence.
While a true understanding of the mult-faceted lessons conveyed by the wheel can occupy a lifetime, it is safe to say that the core teaching is simply this: everything we experience in life is a result of the choices we make.
Once we have overcome ignorance of the way life works, we are all capable of navigating wisely through the world, making choices that impact every aspect of life in positive ways. It is all a matter of choice.
This wonderful and timeless roadmap to positive change is the guiding spirit behind our current expedition. It has, over the years, also become the informing principle behind the teambuilding programs we have brought to organizations (such as Motorola, Disney and McKinsey). In this era of unprecedented social and economic change it is exciting to discover how many individuals and organizations are leaving habituated patterns of behavior behind and seeking out ‘timeless certainties for uncertain times".
To learn more about the ‘timeless wisdom’ behind The Tibetan Wheel of Life via a wonderful interactive tour – click here. Or better yet…. join us on next year’s Way of Adventure trek to the Himalayas!
 Meanwhile, wish us luck as we explore the remote lakes, valleys and snow capped beauty of Spiti and Lahaul and stay tuned for an actual update next month when we return from this year’s Mountains and Monasteries Expedition – In Search of Shangri- La 2007.
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