Not Delusional ▎The Map of Shambhala (Part 1)
"The Pure Land of Kalachakra / Shambhala in the North"
Inner Vision, circa 19th century, Private Collection
Detail of the above: The Great Kalachakra Temple
འཛམ་གླིང་ཆུང་ངུ་ལས་ཀྱི་ས་པ་ཡི།
བྱང་ཕྱོགས་གངས་ལྡན་ཡུལ་གྱི་ནུབ་ཕྱེད་ན།
སྤྲུལ་པའི་ཆོས་རྒྱལ་རིགས་ལྡན་རིམ་བྱོན་གྱི།
བསྟི་གནས་གྲུབ་པའི་ཞིང་མཆོག་ཤམྦྷ་ལ།
དབྱིབས་ནི་ཟླུམ་པ་པད་མ་འདབ་བརྒྱད་གཟུགས།
The Land of Karmic Results in the Small Jambudvīpa,
To the west of the Snow Land in the north,
Is the pure land of Shambhala, eternally abiding,
Where the Emanated Kings and Dharma-lineage holders reside.
Its form is like a cluster of eight lotus petals.
From "A Prayer for Rebirth in the Supreme Pure Land of Shambhala"
（གྲུབ་པའི་ཞིང་མཆོག་ཤམྦྷ་ལར་སྐྱེ་བའི་སྨོན་ཚིག།）
By the Eighth Kirti, Losang Trinle Dampa Gyatso
（ཀིརྟི་༠༨་；1849-1904）
"The Pure Land of Kalachakra / Shambhala in the North"
External Realm, circa 19th century, Private Collection
Detail of the above: Tashilhunpo Monastery
1935 – The "Madman" Scholar
"Grünwedel Copying a Mural in the Cave"
Cave 4, Kizil Caves, 1906
Collection of the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin
Two years before Albert Grünwedel (1856-1935) passed away, the Nazis had already fully seized power in Germany. This post-WWI defeated nation, much like the ailing Grünwedel, was gradually descending into a dark hour. By this time, academic suspicion and criticism towards him had long surpassed the initial abundant praise. Researchers today believe that although his progressive neurological disease did not affect Grünwedel's vigorous creativity, in the works he wrote after his retirement (1921), one can still glimpse his cognitive state hovering between reality and fantasy. In his later years living in Lenggries, besides mistaking others for his eldest son, who had been missing since 1917, several words became his catchphrases, among them Shambhala, Avesta, and Manichaeism.
Cover of the book *The Path to Shambhala*
2006, originally published in 1915 (Munich, Germany)
"The Sixth Panchen Lama, Palden Yeshe"
18th century, Collection of the Musée Jacquemart-André
Grünwedel's interest in Shambhala was not a fleeting whim. In his early works on South Asia, Tibet, and Mongolia (late 19th to early 20th century), this pure land of Kalachakra, interwoven with reality and imagination, had already become a subject of his in-depth research. In his 1915 publication *Der Weg nach Śambhala* (The Path to Shambhala), Grünwedel took the *Shambhala Lamyig* (Guide to Shambhala) written by the Sixth Panchen Lama (1738-1780) as the core text. Through translation and analysis of sources, he provided his own unique insights into Shambhala, namely that Shambhala must have a prototype, but that this space had been endowed with more complex and grander philosophical significance. A turning point occurred in 1920. That year, Grünwedel published the book *Alt Kutscha* (Ancient Kucha), which immediately caused an uproar in academic circles.
Inside page of the book *Alt Kutscha*
Published in 1920, Berlin, Germany
"Grünwedel's Copy of a Mural"
Cave 8, Kizil Caves, 1906
Collection of the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin
Germany was the second country, after Russia, to send the "Turfan Expedition teams," conducting a total of four expeditions. Grünwedel primarily participated in the first (1902-1903) and third expeditions (1905-1907). Coming from an artistic family (with exceptional talent in painting), he had always held a great interest in lines and colors. Compared to the extremely violent and unprofessional excavation methods of the "non-specialist" Albert von Le Coq (1860-1930), Grünwedel focused more on meticulous recording (though he also obtained murals using the method of cutting). Before the publication of *Alt Kutscha*, Grünwedel had already introduced the results of these two expeditions in two books, which had established him as a leading authority in the field of Central Asian studies in Europe. Therefore, upon its initial release, *Alt Kutscha* was regarded as a special extension of Grünwedel's many years of research.
"Grünwedel's Manuscript / Prince or Bodhisattva Holding an Incense Burner"
1902–1903, Collection of the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin
"Sergei Oldenburg"
St. Petersburg, Collection of the Hermitage Museum
*Holds a neutral stance towards the "Map of Shambhala"
However, in the introduction to *Alt Kutscha*, Grünwedel presented a set of materials that have been debated to this day: the Maps of Shambhala. It should be noted that these materials were not originals, but rather copies or replicas obtained by Grünwedel, and their sources were not entirely consistent. The "Maps of Shambhala" comprise five maps and one complete copy of a manuscript. In the book, Grünwedel stated that he "superimposed the original Tibetan map text onto his own site plans." Based on this, it is extremely difficult to judge the authenticity of these materials. No wonder Pelliot, in his reply to the Russian scholar S. F. Oldenburg (1863-1934), directly concluded that "they must be forgeries" and that Grünwedel "must be mad." Even so, such harsh criticism was not enough to resolve the questions.
"Map of Shambhala - 1: Mrici"
From *Alt Kutscha*, 1920
Also known as the "Map of the Kizil Caves"
"Map of Shambhala - 2: Shambhala in Tokharistan"
From *Alt Kutscha*, 1920
Also known as the "Map of Kucha"
The two academic attitudes arising from these materials—complete rejection or total acceptance—are both understandable. When introducing and analyzing the "Maps of Shambhala," Grünwedel's language was not as insane as one might imagine. On the one hand, he regarded these materials as a key to exploring the historical space of "Shambhala" (influenced by the Western "Shambhala craze"); on the other hand, he emphasized the possible influence of ideas such as Manichaean doctrine on the formation of the "concept of Shambhala." Therefore, to further understand these exceptional materials, we must trace their origins: namely, Grünwedel's experiences in St. Petersburg, his contact with Sherab Sengge, the relationship between Tibet and the Western Regions (especially Kucha), and the spread of Manichaeism in Tibet. These are precisely the contents of the following text.
Kalachakra with Four Faces and Twenty-Four Arms
14th century, Private Collection
Maps of Shambhala from the Western Regions