BEYUL There is a tradition in Tibetan folklore of beyul -- secret or hidden lands, usually described as valleys. The tradition of the Himalayan Buddhist Elders -- the the Nyin Nyinm ma! a!a a -- says says that that "uru "uru #in! #in!oc oche he em!o em!o$er $ered ed %&' %&' of thes these e havens, !laces $here there $as !eace and !ros!erity, and s!iritual !roress $as facilitated. This article deals $ith (emako, )hambhala *or, )hambala+ and )hanri-la. There are many more -- real, leendary, mytholoical, mytholoical, and imainary. imainary. (emako Lotu Lotuss-la land nd or (ema (emako ko is some some$h $her ere e on the the bord border er of East East Tibe Tibett and and northeast northeast ndia, !erha!s !erha!s ssam. Terma or hidden teachins teachins describin describin the $ay to (emako $ere revealed by #idin /etsun Nyin!o *%0'0-%101+ and also by #idin 2udu% 2or3e *%1%0-%145.+ Nov. 567&8, )9 "ate revie$ of The Heart of the :orld; /ourney to the Last )ecret (lace by an Baker< introduction by the 2alai Lama; 9or nearly 5,&&& years, the notion of an earthly !aradise hidden amon the !eaks of sia has ca!tivated the human imaination. n the fourth or fifth century =.E., a =hinese !oet named Tao >ian $rote of a !each blossom !ath that a fisherman follo$s follo$s to a secret tunnel. ?n the other side of the !assae lies a lavish s!iritual oasis, the first hint of /ames Hilton@s A)hanri-La.A 9ifteen centuries after Tao >ian, British e!lorers combed the canyons of southern Tibet for 3ust such a beyul, a Ahidden landA of bliss and nectar that, as described in ancient Buddhist tets, lay in a sacred rane called (emako. Enliv Enlivenin enin their their search search $as a eora eora!hi !hical cal oddity oddity.. 2ee! 2ee! in that that remote remote rei reion on of Tibe Tibet, t, the the mih mihty ty Tsan Tsan! !o o #ive #iver, r, $hich $hich flo$s flo$s onto onto the the ndi ndian an subcontinent as the Brahma!utra, churns around a reat bend. The river then disa!!ears from siht, lost in an inaccessible canyon flanked by sheer cliffs. This A9ive Cile "a!A had never been e!lored and $as believed to boast the hihest $aterfall in sia -- the AHidden 9alls of the Brahma!utra.A Behind those cascades, Tibetan tets claimed, lay the door to Yansan, the ultimate hidden land of immortality, reachable only by those $ith !urified hearts and minds. an Baker, a Dathmandu-based $riter, e!lorer and Tantric scholar *and a clos close e coll collea eau ue e and and conf confiidant dant duri durin n many many of my o$n Him Himalay alayan an adventures+, first learned of beyuls in %44, $hile studyin Buddhist scroll !aintin in Ne!al. They Fuickly became an obsession, and in subseFuent
audiences $ith hih Buddhist lamas, he refined his understandin of ho$ one miht reach them. The 2alai Lama, in one of several audiences, assured Baker that it $ould take more than a ood com!ass. ?nly after masterin their innermost de!ths, His Holiness said, could Buddhist !ractitioners ain entrance to these hidden realms. Beyuls do eist on earth, Baker $as assured, but lie beyond the rane of our ordinary senses. At@s a bit like Fuantum !hysics,A the 2alai Lama e!lained, A$hich reconies !arallel dimensions and multi!le universes.A :ith a deree of conviction almost unimainable in this ae of attention deficit disorder, Baker bean his do-or-die search for Yansan. "uided by =hatral #in!oche -- a "andalf-like lama $ho had ained some kno$lede of (emako@s secrets -- Baker bean a series of lon, solitary retreats in remote Himalayan caves, subsistin on dried meats and rains. He continued to live and study in Dathmandu, learnin the Tibetan lanuae and !orin over terma, lon-concealed tets that, like $eathered treasure ma!s, !rovide clues to the $hereabouts of the hidden lands. Baker made his first tri! into the Tsan!o area in !ril %6 as a member -in body, if not in s!irit -- of #ick 9isher@s e!edition to raft the merciless $aters of the ore. lon $ith a fello$ e!edition member named Den )torm /r., Baker se!arated from 9isher@s luckless rou!. The t$o men *alon $ith local !orters and Cr. "unn, as their !laintive =hinese uide "en >uanru called himself+ s!ent $eeks thrashin throuh the (emako 3unles, attem!tin to access the still-hidden corners of the Tsan!o. True to the $arnins of saes and e!lorers, (emako itself $as far from Athe (romised Land of Tibetan !ro!hecyA that British e!lorer 9rank Dindon :ard had souht in %58. Even Dindon :ard, a botanist $ho loved (emako, $rote of the A!er!etual rain, snakes and $ild animals, iant stinin nettles and myriads of bitin and blood-suckin ticks, hornets, flies and leeches,A none of $hich s!ared Baker and )torm. But (emako, accordin to Buddhist tradition, is more than its rocks, s$am!s and leeches. t is the earthly re!resentation of a Tibetan oddess named 2or3e (amo. Each cliff, cave and $ater$ay is !art of her body. Bet$een %6 and %', Baker, accom!anied sometimes by the cerebral )torm and often by his rakish friend and fello$ scholar-e!lorer Hamid )ardar, $ould make half a doen e!editions throuh her anatomy. chronicle of their hardshi!s $ould fill this entire section. (orters abandoned them< =hinese bureaucrats attem!ted to th$art their !lans. Torrential rains, clouds of tiny nats and voracious leeches drove them to des!air *at one !oint, )ardar $akes u! screamin, $ith a tier leech affied to the roof of his mouth+. The $aterfall they souht could easily be a mere
chimera. A:e G$ere 3ourneyin $ithout real !ermission,A Baker concedes, Ato a !lace that did not eist, as far as overnments and ma!s $ere concerned. :hat $e $ould find there $as even more uncertain.A True believers, Baker, )torm and )ardar never abandoned their res!ect for the oddess $hose body they had entered. :ith dry ood humor, Baker ackno$ledes his half-mad desire to !ersevere, a desire that seems, at times, more the obsession of a =a!tain hab than an enlihtened seeker. s a character in his o$n narration, Baker Fuickly emeres as a sort of modern avatar of )ir #ichard 9rancis Burton, driven eFually by brilliance and hubris. Baker@s t$in oals $ould have humbled ndiana /ones; to locate the leendary $aterfall and $in entrance into the mythical realm $e kno$ as )hanri-La. t@s no$ a matter of record that he succeeded at one of these Fuests. The Hidden 9alls of 2or3e (amo, as Baker renamed them, $ere AdiscoveredA by his National "eora!hic-s!onsored team on Nov. ', %'. *Local hunters, not sur!risinly, had kno$n ho$ to reach the falls all alon. t took Baker, $ith his command of the local lanuae and res!ect for Buddhist ritual, to $in their trust.+ But $hat of YansanI :hat of )hanri-LaI ?ne of the book@s many delihts -- and AThe Heart of the :orldA is amon the most com!le, com!ellin and satisfyin adventure books have ever read -- is to follo$ Baker@s inner 3ourney as he tries to balance his Buddhist as!irations $ith an admittedly materialistic desire to find the key into Yansan. t one !oint, Baker seeks that key -- an actual, literal key -- on the lichencovered face of a sacred cliff; AThe mist, the rain, the veetal ro$th, the microoranisms veiled from siht, all entered throuh the !ulsations and cuts in my scratched and torn hands,A Baker $rites at one !oint, Aand $here could not o could only yield and be entered. . . . ll (emako seemed to coalesce into the sFuare foot of rock directly before me, and all its hidden de!ths $ere concealed only by my limited a$areness and the mechanisms of mind itself.A He faces similar frustrations in the ore itself. Tibetans, Baker reminds us, vie$ $aterfalls as an interface bet$een the !hysical and ethereal universes -the $orlds of body and s!irit. nd Asome doors cannot be o!ened, A he allo$s, Auntil they o!en in us first.A ?n occasion, Baker@s narration becomes a bit esoteric, and -- lest $e have any doubt about the ethereal nature and symbolic meanin of $aterfalls -- he makes the above observation for innumerable !ers!ectives. t@s a forivable ecess. By the book@s end, Baker and his com!anions have 3ourneyed into the !uratorial Tsan!o "ore half a doen times, overcomin every obstacle to find their rail. The conflictin emotions
s!arked by their historic discovery -- !ride and humility, ehilaration and ehaustion, !ure 3oy and an inevitable sense of anticlima -- can be reconciled only $ithin the contet of Tibetan Buddhism and its doctrine of nonduality. There are no o!!osites, and no se!arations. This $orld is a dis!lay of interlaced !henomenon, $hich the mind reflects as an im!lacable mirror. To ras! this realiation, Baker concedes, is the ultimate oal of all seekers. AThe Heart of the :orld,A thouh not easy to absorb, is one of the most etraordinary tales of adventure and discovery ever told. ?n the !rosaic level, it@s the search for a hidden $aterfall that eluded e!lorers for more than a century. But it is also -- !erha!s !rimarily -- an e!loration into the heart of Tibetan Buddhism, $hich vie$s the animistic s!irits of sacred eora!hy as meta!hors for the nature of mind. Both 3ourneys are fascinatin, and each is de!endent on the other. 9rom harro$in encounters $ith tribal !oisonin cults to a descent into the roarin AthroatA of a Buddhist oddess, Baker@s Fuest is an unforettable saa. Like his fello$ e!lorers, $e find our o$n inner doors o!enin alon the 3ourney. century from no$, AThe Heart of the :orldA $ill still inite the imaination of anyone $ho loves to e!lore and seeks the dee!er meanin of his e!lorations. fearless adventurer in both body and s!irit, Baker has $ritten one for the aes.
