Characters
John
The main character. John goes this time to Tibet, as his friends Wil and Natalie told him to do. Wil is gone when John arrives in Tibet.
Bill
Natalie's father. Has helped John with some gardening.
Natalie
Bill's daughter, who sets John out on his journey through Tibet.
Wilson James (Wil)
A steadfast character in The Celestine Prophecy, and in The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision. Located in Shambhala.
Yin Doloe
Wil sent Yin to meet John as he goes to Tibet. Yin has a deep hate for the Military of the Republic of China. He is with John throughout most of his journey.
Jampa
A friend of Yin's. Jampa is a monk at the monastery where Lama Rigden lives, and has followed Lama Rigden for over 10 years.
Lama Rigden
The protagonists visit him for more information about the whereabouts of Wil. He understands the legends of Shambhala more than anyone else.
Hanh
He helps John concentrate on what he eats.
Colonel Chang
The one who wishes to destroy Shambhala.
Ani
The first human John meets after coming to Shambhala.
Pema
Initially about to give birth to a baby child; but the child is gone.
Tashi
Ani's son. He wants to enter John's world.
Dorjee
Pema's husband.
Lhasa is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet. The inner urban area of Lhasa City is equivalent to the administrative borders of Chengguan District, which is part of the wider prefectural Lhasa City.
The Potala Palace is a dzong fortress in the city of Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and has been a World Heritage Site since 1994.
Kham is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas, and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham presently covers a land area distributed between five regions in China, most of it in Tibet Autonomous Region and Sichuan, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces.
The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure is a 1993 novel by James Redfield that discusses various psychological and spiritual ideas rooted in multiple ancient Eastern traditions and New Age spirituality. The main character undertakes a journey to find and understand a series of nine spiritual insights in an ancient manuscript in Peru. The book is a first-person narrative of the narrator's spiritual awakening as he goes through a transitional period of his life.
Tashi Paljor, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was a Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters. Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from 1988 to 1991, he is also considered an eminent proponent of the Rime tradition.
Thubten Choekyi Nyima (1883–1937), often referred to as Choekyi Nyima, was the ninth Panchen Lama of Tibet.
Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, founded in 1447 by the 1st Dalai Lama, is the traditional monastic seat of the Panchen Lama, and an historically and culturally important monastery in Shigatse, the second-largest city in Tibet.
Kyabje Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje was known as Terchen Drodül Lingpa and as Dudjom Rinpoche. He is considered by many Tibetan Buddhists to be from a line of important Tulku lineage, and a renowned Tertön. Lineage wise, he was a direct incarnation of both Padmasambhava and Dudjom Lingpa (1835–1904). He was a Nyingma householder, yogi, and a Vajrayana and Dzogchen master. According to his disciple Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, he was revered as "His Holiness" and as a "Master of Masters".
Kyabje Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche was a major modern teacher in the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and patron of the Vajrayana Foundation. He was the eldest son of Dudjom Rinpoche, the former head of the Nyingma lineages, and also the father of Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche and Dungse Garab Rinpoche. His association with the Dudjom Lineage is a long one: he is held to be the incarnation of Tulku Drime Oser, who was one of seven sons of Dudjom Lingpa. He also was considered to be an emanation of Longchen Rabjam, the great 14th-century Nyingma scholar and siddha who composed the Seven Treasuries. He died in California on December 26, 2011, according to the Tibetan Buddhist Lunar Calendar the 2nd day of the 11th month of the Iron Rabbit year. His cremation was held in a public buddhist cremation ceremony in Paro, Bhutan on March 3, 2012, which was attended by several thousand people, including some of Bhutan's royal family.
The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision is the second novel in the Celestine Series, beginning with The Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield. It was published in 1996.
Seven Years in Tibet is a 1997 American biographical war drama film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. It is based on Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer's 1952 memoir Seven Years in Tibet, about his experiences in Tibet between 1939 and 1951. Seven Years in Tibet stars Brad Pitt and David Thewlis, and has music composed by John Williams with a feature performance by renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Kumbum Monastery, also called Ta'er Temple, is a Tibetan gompa in Lusar, Huangzhong County, Xining, Qinghai, China. It was founded in 1583 in a narrow valley close to the village of Lusar in the historical Tibetan region of Amdo. Its superior monastery is Drepung Monastery, immediately to the west of Lhasa. It is ranked in importance as second only to Lhasa.
The location of Tibet, deep in the Himalaya mountains, made travel to Tibet extraordinarily difficult at any time, in addition to the fact that it traditionally was forbidden to all western foreigners. The internal and external politics of Tibet, China, Bhutan, Assam, and the northern Indian kingdoms combined rendered entry into Tibet politically difficult for all Europeans. The combination of inaccessibility and political sensitivity made Tibet a mystery and a challenge for Europeans well into the 20th century.
Agvan Lobsan Dorzhiev, also Agvan Dorjiev or Dorjieff and Agvaandorj, was a Russian-born monk of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, sometimes referred by his scholarly title as Tsenyi Khempo. He was popularly known as the Sokpo Tsеnshab Ngawang Lobsang to the Tibetans.
Orgyen Kusum Lingpa (1934-2009) was a Tibetan terton and Nyingma lineage holder within Tibetan Buddhism. His name means "Holder of the Sanctuary of the Trikaya of Oddiyana Padmasambhava."
Karma Thinley Rinpocheཀརྨ་འཕྲིན་ལས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་, is an important master of the Kagyu Mahamudra, Sakya Lamdré and Chod traditions of Tibetan Buddhism active in the west and Nepal. He is also well regarded by Tibetans as a scholar, poet and artist.
Khenpo Gangshar Wangpo was a highly respected lama in Eastern Tibet and one of the primary teachers of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and the 9th Thrangu Rinpoche. Khenpo Gangshar was trained in Shechen Monastery, a monastic center established in the end of the seventeenth century and part of the Mindröling lineage within the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
Padma Choling is a Chinese politician of Tibetan ethnicity. He was the eighth chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), but in January 2013, was replaced by his deputy Losang Jamcan. Later he served as the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Congress. As Chairman of TAR, Choling was the "most senior ethnic Tibetan in the regional government", though he was subordinate to the TAR Communist Party Chief Zhang Qingli, and later his successor Chen Quanguo.
The Shigatse Dzong, also known as Samdruptse Dzong, is located in Shigatse, Tibet, China. It is spelt Rikaze Dzong.
Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist teacher and meditation master. He is the abbot of Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal. He is the author of several books, founder of meditation centers around the world, and an international teacher.
