The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh Insight by James Redfield

a whole generation. On some level they all sensed it: the ones
     who fought, the ones who made the arms, the ones who provided the food. They saved the world at the time of its greatest peril.”
    He waited as though he expected me to ask a question, but I just looked at him.
    “The calling of your generation is different,” he said. “You, too, must save the world. But you must do so in a different
     way. You must understand that inside you is a great power that can be cultivated and extended, a mental energy that has always
     been called prayer.”
    “So I’ve been told,” I said. “But I guess I still don’t know how to use it.”
    To this he smiled and stood up, looking at me with a twinkle in his eye.
    “Yes,” he said. “I know. But you will, you will.”
    * * *
    I lay down on the cot in my room and thought about what the Lama had told me. He had ended the conversation abruptly, waving
     off my remaining questions.
    “Go and rest now,” he had said, calling in several monks by ringing a loud bell. “We will talk again tomorrow.”
    Later both Jampa and Yin had made me recount everything the Lama had said. But the truth was that the Lama had left me with
     more questions than answers. I still did not know where Wil had gone or what the call of Shambhala really meant. It all sounded
     fanciful and dangerous.
    Yin and Jampa had refused to discuss any of these questions. We had spent the rest of the evening eating and looking out at
     the landscape before going to bed early. Now I found myself staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, thoughts whirling
     in my head.
    I replayed my whole experience in Tibet in my mind several times and then finally drifted into a fitful sleep. I dreamed of
     running through the crowds of Lhasa, seeking sanctuary at one of the monasteries. The monks at the door took one look at me
     and shut the door. Soldiers pursued. I ran down dark lanes and alleyways without hope until, at the end of one street, I looked
     to my right and saw a lighted area similar to the ones I had seen before. As I moved closer, the light gradually disappeared,
     but ahead of me was a gate. The soldiers were coming around the corner behind me, and I dashed through the gate and found
     myself in an icy landscape…
    I woke up with a start. Where was I? Slowly I recognized the room and got to my feet and walked to the window. Dawn was just
     breaking toward the east, and I tried to shake off the dream and go back to bed, an idea that proved to be totally fruitless.
     I was wide awake.
    Pulling on a pair of pants and a jacket, I walked downstairs and outside to the courtyard by the vegetable gardens and sat
     down on an ornate metal bench. As I stared out toward the sunrise, I heard something behind me. Turning, I saw the figure
     of a man moving toward me from the monastery. It was Lama Rigden.
    I stood up and he bowed deeply.
    “You are up early,” he said. “I hope you slept well.”
    “Yes,” I said, watching him as he walked forward and sprinkled a handful of grain in the fountain pond for the fish. The water
     swirled as they consumed the food.
    “What were your dreams?” he said without looking at me.
    I told him about the chase and seeing the lighted area. He looked at me in amazement.
    “Have you had this experience in your waking life as well?” he asked.
    “Several times on this trip,” I said. “Lama, what is going on?”
    He smiled and sat on a bench opposite me. “You are being helped by the dakini.”
    “I don’t understand. What are the dakini? Wil left Yin a note in which he referred to the dakini, but I’d never heard of them
     before that.”
    “They are from the spiritual world. They usually appear as females, but they can take any form they wish. In the West they
     are known as angels, but they are even more mysterious than most think. I’m afraid they are truly known only by those in Shambhala.
     The legends say that they move with the light of Shambhala.”
    He paused