Early texts, like the Vimalaprabhā or the Lam yig of Man luṅ pa, do not describe Śambhala as a paradise on earth. They rather stress the spiritual qualities of the country and its inhabitants. Later works, especially the smon lam, the most popular texts on Śambhala among the Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist lay people, concentrate on the paradisiac nature of the hidden kingdom.

The paper explores how the Tibetan Buddhist vision of Śambhala functions as both a utopian ideal and political symbolism. It traces the myth’s evolution from spiritual paradise to political metaphor, compares it with European utopian traditions, and cites key Tibetan and Mongolian sources.