The other day I told my American friend that there really exists a place Shangri la as described in the book Lost Horizon. "Oh ? ", my friend raised his eyebrow, " I thought Shangri la is in one's heart."
I was a little surprised by what he said. But on a second thought, I have to agree. Even though we claim the place (Di2 Qin4, or Dao4 Chen2) in Yuan Nan as Shangri la, there is actually no a real place called Shangri la. It is an imaginary place in the fiction, a beautiful valley where people live harmoneously, which of course the author Johns Hilton idealized from some pictures of a place in Yuan Nan which published in National Geography the 1920s. (or 1910s). Those places claimed to be Shangri la are of course beautiful, but they are used to attract tourism.
Then, I asked my friend where he got such a philosophical idea. He told me that he is now interested in Buddhism. He said that he believes that there is a spiritual God, but not the God in Christian. He said that the God in Christian is too biased :). He also told me that Dalai lama is very popular in the states and so is the Buddhism. That's interesting. I am a Chinese but I am now more interested in Christian, while he grew up in a Catholic family but more interested in Buddhism.
Anyway, since we are human being, we were constantly seduced by evil forces, in our deepest heart, I believe that everyone is longing for something almighty to purify ourself.
So,my friend ,search no more, Shangri la is in your heart,
