Editor's note: Laurence Brahm first came to China as a university exchange student from the US in 1981 and has spent much of the past three and a half decades living and working in China. He is a lawyer, an economist and founding chairman of the Himalayan Consensus. He is also an award-winning documentary film director specializing in extreme Himalayan expeditions. His latest film Searching for the Lotus-Born Master (2018) has received a dozen international film festival awards and accolades.

Starting Nov 14, China Daily is publishing behind-the-scenes stories about the documentary every Wednesday, with nine episodes total. Please stay tuned and join this incredible journey.

The first manifestation we sought to understand is: The Lotus King "Pema Gyalpo". He is a magnetizing force, surrounded by Dakinis, or feminine energy forces. He is depicted as the king of Oddiyana, the ancient Buddhist kingdom on the Silk Road. Some scholars say that Oddiyana is the prototype for the mystical realm of Shambhala or Shangrila. There are copious records of the Oddiyana kingdom in the Tang dynasty annals. The kingdom was in a unique location in the Swat Valley of what is today, Pakistan. Because it was such an important stop on the Silk Road, there was a confluence of ideas coming together in Oddiyana, from Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist and Shaman, that became of the essence of Tantric.

我們試圖探討的第一個化身是：蓮花王"貝瑪嘉波"。他是一種磁化力，被空行母眾（一種女性神祇）環繞。他被描述為絲綢之路上古老佛教王國烏仗那的國王。一些學者認為烏仗那國是秘境香巴拉（即香格里拉）的原型。在唐代史冊中有大量關于烏仗那國的記載。烏仗那國位于一個獨特的位置，在現今巴基斯坦的斯瓦特河谷。烏仗那國是絲綢之路上的重要一站，它融合了印度教、佛教、道教與薩滿教等不同的教義，匯聚了密宗的精髓。

In searching for the Lotus-Born Master, one expedition team went to Swat Valley in search of Oddiyana. The expedition was led by Professor Li Xiguang of Tsinghua University, and they found the actual ruins of the lost kingdom of Oddiyana. They were able to found this by following the records from Tang dynasty monk, Xuanzang. There were many records of the Tang dynasty describing Oddiyana as a kingdom of Tantric Buddhism with over 1,400 temples along the Swat river.

在尋找蓮花生大士的過程中，我們的一支探險隊前往斯瓦特河谷尋找烏仗那國。該探險隊由清華大學李希光教授帶隊，他們根據唐朝玄奘法師的記載，找到了失落的烏仗那國遺址。在唐朝諸多記載中都將烏仗那國描寫為一個密宗佛教的王國，沿著斯瓦特河畔建立了1400多所寺廟。