I had this dream around 2016
There are nights when the veil thins, and you wake not in your bed, but somewhere ancient, sacred, high in the Himalayas, with the clouds curled around a red lacquer temple adorned with dragons of gold.
I found myself in this Tibetan temple, in an elevator going up to the last floor, ascending through layers of self and story. At the top floor, guardians awaited: a stranger, familiar and foreign, and a Buddhist monk in a red and gold gown colored just like the temple, his palms pressed in namaste, eyes ancient, smile humble.
He bowed. He motioned onward off the cliff of the temple. But there was no bridge, no road, nothing, only a balcony that opened onto mist and the endless mountain range below. My heart hesitated. He simply said:
You donโt know where you are? Youโre at the bridge to Shangri-La. Youโve been invited, accepted. The bridge is there if you believe. And so, I stepped forward. And the impossible path appeared, I learned, sometimes you have to trust the unseen before it reveals itself.
The next moment, I was there: in Shangri La, the sanctuary of wisdom but also in Nepal, land of peace and agelessness at the same time. There was a mountain full of the clothing of all whoโd crossed the bridge, as if each soul, in passing, had shed their old life, their old skin by taking off their clothes and throwing it on the mountains.
I woke up, heart pounding from my dream. That day coincidentally, my friend wanted to go to the Asian buffet and the universe, mischievous as ever, sent a fleet of orange robed monks into my waking life walking into the Asian buffet,
as if to say, See? It wasnโt just a dream. Welcome to higher understanding.
As I was writing this a flash of ancient myth struck me: this experience was just like Ishtarโs descent to the underworld. In the oldest stories, the goddess Ishtar must surrender her jewels and garments at each gate, stripping away everything she clings to until nothing remains but her true essence. Only by letting go of her worldly identity (Ego), can she pass through, transform, and return renewed.
And I realized, my dream, where we all shed our clothes on the mountain just as we entered shangrila, like Ishtarโs journey, was an initiation: A call to shed the old, to trust the invisible, to walk boldly into the unknown, knowing youโll come out changed.
That experience changed me. I enrolled in Buddhism classes. I earned my certificate. But more than anything, I let myself cross the invisible bridges, the ones made of faith, of synchronicity,
of the subtle, sacred knowing that weโre always being called to let go of who we were and step into who weโre becoming.
And to those who ask: Yes, Shangri-La is real. Itโs a place, a path, a moment of courage when you say yes to what you cannot see.
Update: Right after posting this I opened the Tik Tok app and said let’s see what Tik Tok has for me, and right away, the first video I saw was Buddhist Monks! Furthermore, I was born in November. So
After my dream, I saw Buddhist monks in 2016, then way in the future in 2025, I post about the dream finally and again I see Buddhist Monks on top of that the video has my birthday month in it!! You can’t make this up!
โ Yshatar ๐