Searching for Shangri-la

Deep down inside, we all know our planet is not sustainable the way it is being run. We need a new economic approach that embraces our environment, with new measures of success – both national and personal, that seeks balance between the material and spiritual. In Himalayan Notes we journey to the heart of ourselves to ask a hard question: is there another way? Ancient Tibetan sutras predicted that we are now in the Age of Kali, the age of destruction, a time when short-sighted human greed results in cycles of war, poverty, and environmental destruction. In the end we all suffer. Nobody benefits. However, these types of sutras also teach that we can avoid self-destruction.

In this first app of the Himalayan Notes Series, Searching for Shangri-la, we meet a unique group of artists, dancers, musicians, lamas, monks and nomads who together are calling for protection of our environment, by getting back to values of culture and spirituality rather than materialism. Among them are: one of Asia’s greatest composers ethnic  Mongolian San Bao, legendary dancer and choreographer and ethnic Bai, Yang Liping, new age music singer Dadawa, ethnic fashion designer diva Flora Cheong-leen, rock star Kaiser Kuo, pop singer Ai Jing, together with Tibetan artist An Sang, art curator Cheng Xingdong, and a host of lamas, monks, environmentalists and nomads, all calling for a new set of values for sustainable living on a planet of diminishing resources.

Together these individuals each in their own way draw upon rich sources of Himalayan values drawn from holistic philosophies of Buddhism, ethnic traditions, music, dance, art, living as a part of nature, not apart from it. Each individual story emphasizes community over individual, greater social benefit over self, and the importance of helping those less fortunate than we are.

Now finally, after more than ten years, the full journey documenting this incredible 2002 expedition, Searching for Shangri-la is available without borders or censors.